Shane Meadows Takes to the Road

The "This is England" director on heading to London but holding on to familiar things.

Feel free to wax romantic: why did you choose to shoot in black and white, and in what ways do you see B&W as richer or better than color film?

It wasn’t a romantic notion. I’ve mentioned “The 400 Blows,” which influenced my thoughts, but it was mainly because I was struggling to make sense of the locations from a visual point of view. It was such a mixture of color and texture, huge variations — particularly with all the building sites that we were around, the workmen in fluorescent jackets and hi-vis markings. I asked the location scout to print up a load of the photos in black and white, and suddenly there was an integrity to everything. These diverse locations seemed to have a link to one another.

I was also very conscious that we were filming things that were going through a change — new buildings and others being demolished — and the black and white photography somehow gave it a sense of timelessness that seemed appropriate.

Not that you should be pigeonholed as a regional filmmaker, but I feel that — aside from big names like Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, Stephen Frears and the late Alan Clarke — contemporary British dramas aren’t what they used to be. How do you feel about British cinema today?

It’s certainly hard trying to raise money to make films here. The pressure is always there to make something that’s supposedly designed for the international market. But at the same time, there are many interesting low-budget filmmakers who are working in the digital medium. Although they may not be getting theatrical distribution, there’s some great work around.

“Somers Town” is now playing in New York.

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