Film-makers turn the camera on cityscapes

Warp Films, an arm of Warp Records, was set up in the city in 1999 and has become a major player in British Indie cinema.

One of its earliest films, in 2003, was My Wrongs, a short film directed by Chris Morris.

The company went on to produce Dead Man's Shoes, This is England and, most recently, has been having major critical and commercial success with Four Lions.

The comedy about a terrorist cell based in a northern city is unmistakably Sheffield – sweeping camera shots reveal Meadowhall and streetscapes of the city.

Bryan Ryan, head of production at Warp Films, says: "The film industry is very nomadic. When we have something in production we have to be physically present wherever in the world that happens to be but for the rest of the time we found working outside of London we spend more time concentrating on making things rather than talking about making things.

"It also makes us more aware of our audience because we are surrounded by our friends and peers who are teachers and builders and shopworkers – the people who actually go the cinema to watch films. If we were stuck in Soho all the time we'd just be listening to other film-makers talk about film-making."

It is not just in house that the benefits are felt – Ryan says film-makers enjoy being able to come to Sheffield to work with Warp.

"The film-makers we work with also like the fact we are in Sheffield. Creatively they love the fact they can jump on train and within three hours we'll be walking through Whiteley Woods taking about ideas rather than stuck in another coffee shop," he says.

Ryan says that Sheffield, having the facilities of a city, without feeling like 'another city', is also key to its cultural success.

"There's a real sense of independence about the city, in it's music and arts scene but also beyond this in its sense of industry and place in the world. I think Sheffield has been at the forefront of a British cultural explosion for the past five years."

While Warp and Warp X create work in the city, the annual Documentary Festival, DocFest, brings international film audiences and makers to Sheffield each year.

Campbell Glennie is the festival's marketing and business director.

He says: "In terms of festivals of its kind, the Sheffield DocFest is one of the top three in the world.

"In the industry, the name Sheffield is synonymous with the festival, it's name is carried across the world.

"There is a really strong appetite for film in the city, it's something that seems to be in the fabric of Sheffield."