Sweet Sixteen (2002) :: Crew Notes

Production Crew Notes

Director - Ken Loach
Writer - Paul Laverty
Producer - Rebecca O'Brien
Director of Photography - Barry Ackroyd
Production Designer - Martin Johnson
Editor - Jonathan Morris
Composer - George Fenton

Director » Ken Loach

Filmography

Up the Junction (1972)
Cathy Come Home (1974/6)
Poor Cow (1974/6)
Kes (1970)
Family Life (1972)
Days of Hope (1974/6)
Black Jack (1974/6)
The Gamekeeper (1979)
Looks and Smiles (1980)
Fatherland (1985)
Hidden Agenda (1990)
Riff-Raff (1991)
Raining Stones (1993)
Ladybird Ladybird (1994)
Land And Freedom (1995)
Carla's Song (1996)
My Name Is Joe(1998)
Bread and Roses (2000)
The Navigators (2001)

Writer » Paul Laverty

Paul Laverty worked as a lawyer in Glasgow and then for a human rights organisation in Central America before turning his hand to screenwriting. This is his fourth collaboration with Loach. "We are always talking about different possibilities but in the end you have to put something down on paper," says Laverty. "You need something concrete, whether it's just the age, gender, or where the character is from. It's often good just to write a scene or two to give them a voice. Then you have some sense of forward motion, even if it's to work against what's on paper."

After much discussion Laverty and Loach decide if the idea is worth pursuing. "It's got to motivate both of us, give us that little spark. If it passes the great cup of coffee test and we feel there is some energy to it then I'll get stuck in." Once some research has been undertaken, Laverty introduces Loach to some of the people he has met. "It's a way of becoming familiar with the territory and subject matter," says Laverty. "I'll send a first draft much earlier to Ken than I probably would to others. We've been working together for a long time and I've got a lot of confidence that we'll just test it, probe it for all its inconsistencies which might lead us off elsewhere."

"I should also mention another key figure in the process - Roger Smith, the script editor. He sees the script with a fresh eye and I think he has a wonderful instinct for homing in on the weak bits and asking all the tough questions. Even the casting helps refine the characters so it all changes gradually." Once the filming has started the script still continues to develop. "It's a process that doesn't really stop."

Filmography

Producer » Rebecca O'Brien

"I think it took about a year to 18 months from Paul's idea before we started shooting the film. So it was quick, like My Name Is Joe," explains Rebecca O'Brien. "We were able to commission the script ourselves." This gave freedom right from the start for the script to develop without having to depend on outside sources for finance. "We put it together piecemeal so there is no one major funder, and that's key, because it means the burden of finance and cost is spread. It also means we keep control of the film ourselves. Providing we keep the budgets down to a reasonable level it makes sense for us to make films in this way. I don't know if it will last forever but we're still making films the same way we did seven or eight years ago."

Sweet Sixteen is a co-production with Road Movies in Germany and Tornasol and Alta in Spain, Scottish Screen has invested in it and the BBC has the British TV and Theatrical rights. The film has been pre-sold to Diaphana in France; BIM in Italy; Cineart in Belgium and Holland; and the Glasgow Film Fund have given a grant for working in the region. Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen also gave funding.

O'Brien was pleased to see Laverty tackle the subject of adolescence. "I think it's uncompromising, I think it will hit the audience between the eyes - it's tough. But I think it's funny as well."

Filmography

Friendship's Death (1987)
Echoes (1988)
Hidden Agenda (Cannes Jury Prize) (1990)
A Statement of Affairs (1992)
Dispatches. The Doughty Street Papers (1993)
Land And Freedom (European Film of the Year) (1995)
Bean (1997)
My Name Is Joe (Best Actor Cannes) (1998)
Princesa (2000)
Bread and Roses (2000)
The Navigators (2001)

Director of Photography » Barry Ackroyd

"The camera is always in a fixed position, at eye level with a longish lens. It's as if you are stood in the doorway watching," explains Barry Ackroyd. "That is the psychology of Ken Loach's films - you feel this connection to the subject almost too closely. Sometimes if it is painful and emotional you may not want to be in the room. That is what it is like when you watch in the cinema. You are a witness, not passive, but you can't change events." This approach is helped by the fact that an actor may not be given the complete script for a scene. "Sometimes you are filming an emotional scene - one actor is surprised on camera, no one can help them, and you capture that on film. It's not embarrassing but you do feel for them." Ackroyd says his own emotional response is another gauge for Loach on how a scene has gone. "We've worked together so much and have a good rapport so we don't need long discussions. He knows and I know when it's worked."

Ackroyd felt the story is almost a prequel to My Name Is Joe and wanted to keep a continuous feeling in terms of how both films look. "I emphasised the darkness of the story by lighting it naturalistically and exposing the film darkly. There is an intrinsic beauty when you use the camera completely functionally." The landscape around the Clyde estuary is dramatic and stunning but Ackroyd explains it is never filmed just for the sake of it - it has to be of consequence within the story. "The weather conspired against us some of the time, but you have to go with what you've got. One day when we were filming Liam (Martin Compston) the sun broke out across the water and drew a line around him - the light represents hope. If you go with the weather sometimes it gives you more than you expected."

Filmography

Riff-Raff (1990)
Raining Stones (1993)
Ladybird Ladybird (1994)
Land And Freedom (1995)
Carla's Song (1996)
Stella does Tricks (1997)
Under the Skin (1997)
My Name Is Joe(1998)
The Lost Son (1999)
Beautiful People (1999)
The Escort (2000)
Bread and Roses (2000)
The Navigators (2001)
Very Annie Mary (2001)
Dust (2001)
Sunday (2001)

Production Designer » Martin Johnson

Long time collaborator Martin Johnson has worked with Loach on many TV dramas and feature films. "We try to make somewhere so believable that it is an actual place. It is not a set, so the actors don't have to act as if they are actually in a real place. All I've tried to do in the films is provide the right environment for Ken to shoot in."

Filmography

Days of Hope (1974/6)
Black Jack (1978)
Prostitute (1978)
The Gamekeeper (1979)
Looks and Smiles (1980)
Reflections (1983)
Number One (1984)
Bloody Sunday (1984)
Fatherland (1985)
Hidden City (1986)
Hidden Agenda (1989)
Riff-Raff (1990)
Raining Stones (1993)
Ladybird Ladybird (1994)
Land And Freedom (1995)
Carla's Song (1996)
My Name Is Joe(1998)
Bread and Roses (2000)
The Navigators (2001)

Editor » Jonathan Morris

Jonathan Morris started out as a freelance cutting room assistant in the late 1960s. After spending eleven years at ATV (Central TV) Elstree, editing award-winning documentaries and drama for the network, Morris edited the highly acclaimed Emmy Award-winning series Vietnam for WGBH/CENTRAL in Boston. He was also BAFTA-nominated for editing the documentary Hellfighters of Kuwait. Most recently he edited The Bluebird Legend Return of a Hero for the BBC. Morris has been a frequent collaborator with Loach, editing all the feature films since Fatherland as well as a number of documentaries. When working with Loach he returns to the Steenbeck, editing on film.

Filmography

Composer » George Fenton

George Fenton has composed for many leading directors for film, television and theatre. He has received BAFTA and Ivor Novello awards and also many award nominations.