Not one of my more original subject headings but I wanted to spend the time going through the extras rather than worry about a pithy title.
DVD extras are rarely reviewed in any great detail since the film itself must surely be the biggest selling point for most publications. That said, there are some wonderful articles in a couple of the mags currently on the news stands. My last blogpost linked to
The Incredible Suit's piece which I have now read. We seem to have been amused by the same things and also the unquenchable desire for a proper crew hoodie.
This is not a review of the extras. It's a self-indulgent as-if-liveblog while I'm watching the main extra featurette and to that end, I must warn you that it contains many, many spoilers.
I was watching the Blu-ray but the DVD has the same content. The DVD commentaries are on the main film disc, of course but all the other extras are on the second. I suspect my tenses are all over the place. Deal with it. I can't do this if it becomes a chore.
As the disc settles into it's nice, round, laser-lit bed and determines how long it will keep you on a knife edge before it allows you to watch anything, you should gather drinks and snacks around you to last a good couple of hours.
Unlike some distributors, the nice people at Optimum (now Studio Canal) let you skip the trailers but their films are so good, you're not likely to want to on the first viewing, at least.
There are some cool, cavernous sound effects as the main menu comes up and if I had one criticism this early, it is that the menu is a bit small and feint. The main screen is the smoke filled corridor of the block with a POV from the opened lift doors. It's a clever device to use the lift buttons for the menu but they're really not all that easy to read. The menus are hierarchical and thus expand across the screen in various options, justifying the far right placement but for the stab-and-go player, it might be frustrating. Of course, if you have a flick-off, huge telly, you'll not know what I'm on about. As Mr Suit's screengrab shows, the DVD menu works much better on lovely image of the Block although the logo fights with the lines of the block in a disturbing way, imo. I'll bet you're glad this kind of thing doesn't bother you.
The main Behind the Block feature kicks off with a seemingly random montage of the film's title being said or demonstrated by cast and crew larking around. This gives into another quick montage of silly teased moments taken from longer sequences, yet to come. We even get our first glimpse of a 'raw' creature with untreated teeth and fur. As with the film itself, your attention is required from frame one and you know this will not have any down time. Pay attention. I did warn you to get some snacks. I shall also flag up that there will be several shots of Joe in a variety of hats and headgear ranging from Pest's tassels to one I like to think was originally fashioned for Oblio.
Remember that original red and black logo? The one featured on the crew hoodies that I have not yet been able to wrestle away from anyone? This is used in a lovely little animation to bring us the title of "Behind the Block".
Now we're into the production diary and first of all it takes us through the kids' casting process. We're shown brief, b/w footage from each of the boys' sessions and then a short summary of how it worked for them. Nira Park talks about the overall process while we see some of Zac's beautiful drawings. Jodie & Luke did some sessions with the kids and we learn that Franz was originally considered for Moses. Jodie reveals she was a little star struck at her audition. John was aware of the Adam and Joe Show and wondered if the film was going to be a spoof but Joe soon put him right. There's a lovely moment when Michael Ajao rates his teacher, Miss Duggan and little Sammy Williams is rolling his eyes within an inch of having his gorgeous cheeks pinched. We see some lovely footage from the read-throughs. Joe's reading of Dimples' line feels really weird. He's such a silly, tall, white boy. All credit to the kids. Not one of them laughed at him, however lovely Paige does express surprise that a man of Joe's age could write such slang.
We're only at five minutes into the feature and we get a crash zoom on the call sheet followed by an introduction from Joe with a title that says "Day 01 - Night Shoot, South London". This device is used throughout and is good, clean orientation tool. I mention this because it implies that we're clearly going to see how this process grew, not only for Joe but for the young cast as well.
They clearly adored Jodie and she seems completely immersed in their joy and unflapped* by their antics. What a wonderful set dynamic. Of course, these things always lead down from the top. (*Oow, look. 'Unflapped' isn't a real word.) It's funny hearing Joe asking for quiet, please. There's a sweet mixture of thrill and nervous anticipation in John's voice.
By the time we see 'Day 03' Joe's introduction is already tinged with the weariness of having his body clock rudely turned up-side-down. I remember this day fairly well (3rd March 2010) because Youtube suddenly had a few seconds of Brewis' Dad's car being blown up. Fortunately, the culprit was swiftly persuaded to take it down.
We now cut to Day 07 on the Heygate Estate where the little fellas are racing around the walkways. The camera is on a high crane arm or somesuch and we see one of those silly big clappers that look more like a chevroned version of a blackboard compass.
Day 09 details the irony of having the youngest cast members, restricted to working for only 4 hours in every 24 by law, totally banjaxed by a generator breakdown which it later transpires may have been caused by neglecting to refuel the beast. Number ones going tits-up before the end of week two can't be a good feeling. Joe is clearly very grumpy and I get a sense that some comments in this edit are there to make the culprit cringe all over again, as they certainly should. It's a horrid thing to happen on any shoot but so early in a first timer's who has already set himself up with so many potential obstacles, is cruel. Ah well, what doesn't kill ya makes ya more alive or sommat.
The downtime does afford our glorious featurette maker the time to catch some lovely moments, particularly Terry Notary messing with the very young kids. There's also a great shot of the unit nurse trying to keep the little blighters warm, to little avail. Joe & his team are so ridiculously sweet and polite. He looms above those kids and touches their cheeky, little heads as he thanks them but they take the time to say 'you're welcome'. Why don't I meet kids with such good manners? Joe even gives the behind-the-scenes camera a bit of a slap-about 'thank you' which is followed by a montage of what can only be a fraction of the times when Joe took his frustration out on this poor, disrespected piece of equipment and it's valiant operator.
Day 11 is the first shoot day for those awesome, sassy young ladies. I love every scene they're in (mute point - I love almost every scene). The tone on the set must have changed dramatically. Lovely Leeon even jokes 'that girl has intercepted my mates'. Danielle is a hoot and remarkably, she doesn't appear to like the beautiful texture of her voice. There's an element of showing-off from the boys at this stage. It's only natural. As Mr Suit mentions, there's a lovely moment when Phil points out that Franz's style is a bit Timmy Mallet and Franz admits he doesn't know if that's a compliment.
Day 15 brings us another example of how well this little piece has been put together. It opens with a montage of various crew members calling out for the assistance of another crew member and then we cut to Joe talking about how amazing the crew are. We've been seeing shots of Tom Townend throughout but I don't think we actually hear him speaking until the Creature Feature, which is just as well because it he sounds as cute as he looks, I'm in trouble. If I had an anniversary special edition wish, it would be for a commentary with Tom and maybe Marcus Rowland and Terry Notary.....and Joe, of course....oh and Jonathan Amos. Perhaps I could just get them all round for tea one day (a smoothie for Joe). I could always do muffins.
There are some shots of the more tense moments with Joe trying to get his shots right and then to a lovely shot of Michael stuffing his face and Sammy asking Joe where he got the idea of the film from. There are so many gently gorgeous little nuggets in this piece ..... erm .... .trust.
This is all followed by a testimonial to Simon Howard. He was clearly well loved and respected by all concerned and there's a lovely shot of Joe picking imaginary nits from his impressive head of hair. Having admitted that his jump from the high walkway was aided by the use of a stunt man, we now see that the small jump and subsequent run into the recycling bin were all his own work though he may have paid a high price for it in the procreation department.
We're into day Day 23 by now and exploring John's amazing stunt with the Union Jack. I'm sure it seems like fun in hindsight but must have been a bit worrying at the time.
At various points throughout, most of the crew interviews are shot against a brick wall and it looks like the alien pod from the park has been up-ended and propped up behind them......unless it's just an object d'art at Three Mills Studios.
Next up is a section about Nick Frost and of course, this is a blend of love, respect and naughtiness.
Day 27 and they've been shooting for a calendar month but Joe chooses to talk about two days prior to this when they shot the crowd scene. Joe talks about the technicalities of those shots and gives a tearful thank you to all the Extras who stood out in the cold all through the night. It's at this point when I realise to my great joy, that the little behind the scenes package we saw a few weeks ago (scroll down to the
bottom here) was not a cut-down from this film. It has some additional footage.
Moving on, we have a couple of lovely chitty-chats with a lady who thinks the director is called Joe Cushion (only just managed to suppress any jokes about sitting on him and plumping him up) but she's pretty and gives a little kissy pout with it so she is charming. The same cannot be said of everybody's favourite Elvis impersonator. Joe's mouthed comment from behind is probably the most succinct, one word review this gentleman's work has ever had.
This next segment concentrates on those lovely girls, but that brings us on to talk about moral compasses and love. Inevitably, Paige and Danielle are most often mentioned in reviews but all these ladies have good things to say and were clearly very professional and sorted on set.
Day 28 is in East London. This is the crash, down in the lock-ups, between Hi-Hatz's whip and the bully van. I don't know how Felix would have explained that loss away, har har. Joe talks about the logistics of only affording one car to wreck, necessitating three cameras to make sure the shot was well covered and that safety measures dictated they could not be operated so they're all locked-off. He talks about the fact that the airbags have to be seen to go off lest that brand of car be shown in a bad light. I'll digress for a moment to say that in Nicolas Winding Refn's wonderful "Drive" (which incidentally 'steals' all of Tom's night time colour palette), there's a shot of the dashboard showing what I guess might be dummied light reading "Air Bags Off". Interestingly, (I thought, in my capacity as a girl, unaccustomed to stunt shoots) the ATB BMW does momentarily hit reverse gear when the police van impacts. I presume that's so the damage to the front isn't too ridiculous but that skills, right?
You should know that while I'm trying to write this, I'm forever having to rewind because I've become so engrossed in watching all the little details going on, I forget to write.
Now we cut to something slightly contentious. Joe is talking about his cruel abuse of an almost minor as he made poor Alex Esmail give 22 cracks for a shot that he latterly realised he had in the can by take four. That's not the contentious bit. He's telling us about this while being expertly pummelled by heated bean bags . Now, in the original specs for the DVD, "Joe's Massage" was listed as a separate feature and one that Joe seemed quite proud to amuse us with when he told everyone at Kapow about it. This item was dropped from Optimum's press release and whilst I had a few months fiddling with inappropriate images in my mind's eye, I can't help but think it would have sat very strangely on the disc as a stand-alone feature and the sound quality probably fluctuated during the course of that footage. Furthermore, you can't relax and benefit from a massage properly if you're thinking and talking so I hope a lot of the content would have caused the nonsense button to go off.
Alex clearly has no respect for Joe as he tells us he laughs when Joe tries to encourage them. I'm joking, of course. They all love him and they're laughing because Joe's never far away from a funny quip. There's a lot of love shown for Alex from the cast and a little demo of his ninja skills.
Sweet, sweet Selom Adawdzi is up next, talking about playing Tonks. Once the gate is declared clear, Joe chews on is bloody, prosthetic throat while Selom says his thankyous. HOW could Joe murder such a lovely man? That said, you'd go a long way to find a better bit of gruesome dying. Furthermore, his final words are amusing and very much to the point.
Finally, the shoot moves away from location and into the relative comfort of Three Mills Studios in Bromley-by-Bow. This is day 33 and Joe shows us the fake lift doors. This is a chance for me to say that I didn't think the lift floor indicators looked rough and skanky enough for a block like that but we've all had different life experiences and I bow to the art department's superior research skills. We've already ascertained that I'm a picky little munchkin.
John takes us around his bedroom set and the rest of his flat after he's dismissed his director. We really get a good look at the work of Marcus Rowland and his team including a detailed shot of the shittiest sink and draining board I've seen since last night apocalyptic supper debacle.
This leads on to the cast talking about youths and the structure of the film over a montage of lovely shots that no doubt didn't fit comfortably into the rest of the featurette. This is so nicely put together. Did I say that already?
It cuts to Joe saying his piece which ends with one of his quips that has had me laughing out loud three times. I'm not proud of this. It's a silly quip but it's they way he says it that creases me.
Paige suggests that Tia's bedroom is just like her own with a few exceptions which she details. Those exceptions pretty much demonstrate that this room is nothing like her own bedroom. Danielle muses that she'd like to live in that set but realises the sole impediment is that there's no ceiling.
The boys look on as the young girls and Jodie do a little Attack the Block rap. It's rather charming because they seem to have adopted Jodie's accent (a bit like Ms Hathaway did, only sweeter and with more consistency, ha). The boys pretend to be unimpressed. Paige gives the sweetest chitty-chat just before she does her lines to camera.
This is a good time to point out that the cast and crew clearly love Phil Stoole, our man behind, the behind-the-scenes camera. He seems totally present at all times and as much a part of the team as anyone else. John has a bit of fun with him from behind the sofa where he's apparently been stuck for three days with no food.
Everyone gives their opinion of Franz. Where does he get his energy from? Fortunately, Joe managed to locate his 'off' switch.
Somehow, we've arrived at day 38 in Tia's flat to stage the demise of Dennis. Most of the cast are in this scene with the exception of Ron, Brewis, Hi-Hatz and Tonks. This ought to be tricky but apparently it's a doddle because Joe and Paige have loads of time to stage an eyebrow contest. I'm still not sure who won it but Paige doesn't always know left from right. I'm convinced Joe uses his eyebrow skills as an hypnotic mind weapon to get his own way.
There's a very odd shot thrown in which seems to be a crew member having an asthma attack but it turns out he's operating the creature's jaw remotely, though you may not realise that until you watch the Creature Feature.
I can't believe they got as far as Day 42 without any speed-reading but clearly there was enough vital energy going down for them not to need it.
For reasons never explained, Luke introduces himself wearing a full face mask, no doubt from a smoke-filled corridor scene and there's a lovely little bit with him around the read through table.
Now this next scene totally floored me. I knew from various mentions when Joe interviewed Edgar at the BFI and perhaps that time he called into Edgar, Nick & Simon's New Year 6Music show, that he had a google alert for his film and I'd assumed he was getting the same stuff as I do. Apparently, he must have received a lot more shit than me because what he describes implies that he'd not put "attack the block" in inverted commas so he'd get news of anything that has those three words in it, even if they're not consecutive. No wonder he's impressed by my searching skills. I don't do anything special. I'm just a strict mistress with Google.
There's a lovely shot of him trying to convince himself that he doesn't mind knowing the script has been uploaded. It had gone up some time before Joe got the link and as far as I can surmise, not from anyone on the current cast or crew. Amusingly, there's a watermarked name all through the thing so the original careless culprit can hang his head in shame. I'd like to think he didn't know that would happen to it when he thoughtlessly discarded it. Am I being naïve?
The penultimate set of cast testimonials are about Leeon and there's some lovely stuff from the day he dies on screen. There's a huge smoke tunnel and then Leeon responding unintelligibly to a call from his sister while he has the blood rig in his mouth.
As we reach Day 56, four days from the end of principal photography, people are getting a little sad and give their thoughts about John who is clearly adored and respected. I do hope these young men have a master plan to regularly touch base with each other in the years to come. Do they realise they've had a unique experience that should bind them together forever?
On Day 60 Joe asks them what they've learned about making a film and discusses their next engagements with his usual lack of respect for the truth.
The whole thing wraps up with a montage of people hugging and saying their farewells and Joe tipping his pan hat like a good Squadron member.
Mr Phil Stoole has done a lovely job of shooting and directing this piece and credit must also go to Ben Wisemen for the truly Original Music and Paul Trewartha for the editing and graphics. A bloody marvelous treat.
Check
AdamAndJoe.com for Amazon links. If you prefer, you can get the Glow in the Dark Cover version from
Play or a version with the free Little White Lies mini booklet from
HMV. They also have a foil sleeved version. It should be in the usual stores too.
