Uses Of Themes In British Social Realism

What is the link between British Social Realism themes and the real world?
The link between British Social Realism themes and the real world is that they are both reality. They are both true and actually happen and draw inspiration form the real world. For example a 15 year old boy was arrested for murder of rival gang member in Jan 2013, this is very similar to the situation in Kidulthood where Sam kills Trife at the end of the moive. This represents how thsese themes happen in the real world.


What is unique about how themes are explored in British social realism films?
Themes in British Social Realsm make you feel a certain deffernt way to how they would be in for example, Hollywood movies. For example, people would enjoy watching all the killing and abuse in films like Expendables or The Godfather, but on the other hand if you saw the same thing happened in a film like Fish Tank, it would make you feel cautious and as if it can happen to you any time. I think this is due to the way British Social Realism movies are filmed. The camera style is very gritty and a lot of the time handheald - which makes it as real as possible.This may even get the audience to feel a little scared which makes the themes of British Social Realism very unique to others. It is as if it creates a certain effect on the audience which no others do.


Is there any themes which are essential to all British social realist films? What are they? Why are they essential?
The main themes which are essential to British social realist films and come up the most often are sex, violence, crime, drugs and drink. For example Kidulthood contained all of these themes, Fish Tank contained all these themes, This is England contained these themes and so on. I believe this is because theses are main ones that actually happen in real life, the rest of the themes arent as common in the real world. I think they are essential because without these themes, it would not be a British Social Realism film as the main themese will not be present which sets it apart from other movies. For example, Hollywood movies contain maybe one or two of these themes and sometimes even none. I also believe these are the most negative themes in comparison with the others, again displaying the worst of Britain. 

Project Log week 1:

Week 1:
What have you learn this week from looking at the mark scheme and peer assessing previous work?
I have learn exactly what I have to do to obtain the higher marks and get level 4. I have also learnt that not doing specific things will lead me to a level 1 and I want to be aiming for the highest possible mark. Peer assessing previous work has helped me to understand what exactly gets the top marks and what doesn't  For example, Battered and Bruised got the lowest marks, while Straight Edge got the top marks so I want to set straight edge as my working point and want to top that.

How Will This Inform your production?
This will inform my production as I now know what I must do do get higher marks and what I must not do. Again I can look at previous work and know what to include. I also know what I thought got higher marks  but didn't as I wrote my predicted marks of the previous work and the actual marks they got. This means I know if I was over marking or under marking which will help me in the production of my opening scene.


What will you try and emulate/avoid?
I will try and emulate the such as Wasters and Straight edge as the got the highest marks. I will emulate their techniques but I will want my concept to be original. For example, I liked the way Wasters included their credits, but I will want to make my own ones in a different way. I will try to avoid some of the things that battered and bruised used, such as making the intro too long and also including more variety of shots and camera angles in it. I will want to also include as many British social realism themes as I can in my opening scene to capture the focus of BSR movies and obtain maximum marks.

BSR Defenition:

Social Realism in films display the hardships of working class characters and includes themes such as racism and violence etc. Also deals with the real life genres and struggles. Often rough camera styling is used to show the gritty reality lifestyle in some parts of Britain. Try and create as much verisimilitude as possible. Often set in urban settings and deals with situations such as sexual abuse, gangs, drinking and drugs, death, adultery and more. discrimination British social realism movies often deal with the injustice and prejudice against different social groups. BSR also contains the worst of Britain.

Social Realism Timeline

Art Of The Tilte

Openings 11/12

Battered And Bruised:
Pros:

  I think that one of the main things which was good about the opening is that it contained British Social Realism conventions and themes, such as violence.

 I also think that the opening credits over the music worked well. The music was also original and copyright free, which was also good.



The production company graphics looked nice as opposed to other simple, boring ones and also fitted in with the type of rock music that was playing at the beginning.

There was also the recurring cast of the gang of bulliest or thugs which comes up in every British Social Realism movie.

There were also some good camera angles and shots which are common in British Social Realism movies such as the low angle and over the shoulder shot as they were tying to make the audience feel as if they were actually there next to the character. I would try and maybe include more of these shots as while they were good, there was not too many of these shots only two or three.

Cons:
In British social realism movies, credits rarely are shown at the beginning with the names hovering over the cast. I would have the credits rolling discretely on the side, incorporating it in the narrative which is what most British Social Realism movies do.

The camera was also very shaky at times. They tried creating the feel and look that the boys were getting beaten up in a first person view, but it did not work well as it made it difficult to see properly. I would improve this by not having so much handheld camera shot and point of perspective shots and include mid shots and long shots of this fight scene instead so the audience can clearly see what it happening.

It also does not really feel like an opening scene for a movie - more of a trailer but its meant to be an opening scene.



It took a bit of time to get to a scene where something actually happens, for example in the beginning when the two characters are playing the guitar is pretty long and makes the audience lose interest a little bit as the pace was too slow. I would improve this by not having this mini - opening scene at all and scrap it entirely as you do not see it often in British Social Realism movies.

Wasters:

 
Pros:
 The production company logo and graphics are very good as it is in the style of a theme and situation of British Social Realism movie - Drugs. The production company is called 'Half Ounce' and is made without any boring, plain typography but instead using power which represents drugs which displays its relevance to the theme in the clip.

The title 'Wasters' also resembles a theme of British Social Realism which is drinks/alcohol. The name is thought out well which is another strength of the opening scene.

The trailer also had a good pace set to it, its not going too fast for the audience, but its not going too slow so that the audience gets bored and loses interest.




There also different types of camera shots and angles used in the opening scene such as close ups, low angle, eye line match and more, which makes it have more variety which others lacked. It also makes it more visually interesting to watch for the audience as opposed to just having one or two shots and angles.



The character archetypes also appeal to British Social Realism as we see the main character as the rebel type which is always seen in every type of British Social Realism film. This also helps it to appeal to the niche British target audience.

The soundtrack used was also copy write free and also appealed to the themes of the movie as it was a club style upbeat track.



Another theme which is common in British Social Realism movies is clubbing and partying and having a good time. We can see how this is included in the opening scene as they are partying in a night club.

Again another theme which is expressed in the opening scene is Sex which again is a common theme in British Social Realism themes. This is expressed as we can see the Girls dancing and kissing each other in the scene.

The method of including the credits in the scene is very clever in my opinion. The writers and cast names are written on wrappers as opposed to others who used normal typography for it. Some people may think it did not work well but I believed it did as it added that unique part into the opening scene.

A lot of graffiti can be seen on the walls in the background, which is very common in Britain and again represents the reality of Social Realism films.

Cons:
The only main downside to this was that it did not really feel like an opening scene as it seemed to have crammed to much things in which made it seem more of a trailer then an opening scene. It seemed like the whole movie packed into the scene due to the voice-over. I would probably take away the voice over and try not to cram so much in. I would also not have the title 'Wasters' at the end as it makes it seem like a trailer  I would have it right at the beginning and also have the credits at the beginning too as it would make it feel more like an opening scene.

Openings 11/12 Sheet

Fish Tank Analysis And Research

Fish Tank (2009)

Fish tank is a 2009 social realist film. It was written and directed by Andrena Arnold. It is a kitchen sink movie as it tends to celebrate the mundane and failure of real life, which is within Film 4's ethos.

The budget was $3 Million and the box office was $2 Million. The movie made £100,000 in the U.K and $30,000 in the U.S which is expected of a Film 4 independent movie.

The audience for this movie is British niche  A thing that is not really within Film 4's ethos is to use unknown cast, although Michael Fessbender is a well known actor. Katie Jarvis (Mia) had no previous acting expereicne, yet she still got the main role. This shows Film 4's ethos to use non trained actors.
The movie was distributed by IFC films and produced by BBC films, UK film council and Kassander Film company, which none of them are well known apart from BBC films which means they already have a small target audience.

Themes and Situations 1:

 One of the main theme could be violence and aggression. A major stereotype is that a lot teenagers are aggressive and violence and moody, especially the youth of England in this era.

Representation 1:
Another thing would be that she could be stereotyped as a 'thug' or a 'gangster' due to the main protagonist - Mia dressing in hoodies and joggers all the time.

Mice-en-scene 1:

This point is also backed up by Mia's facial expressions. Throughout the entire movie she has looked sad or angry or aggressive towards someone or something. Again Mia and other characters wearing hoodies in the movie could spark the hoodies and teenage thugs debate. Also a lot of fighting is seen in the movie, for example the fight at the beginning between Mia and the other girls, the abuse Mia received from her mother and the fight with the boys picking on Mia. This could represent how the movie is a social realist film as this stuff actually does happen in England.

Music & Sound Effects 1:
A lot of Hip Hop and Grime songs are played in the movie such as Ja Rule. Again its shows how social realist the movie is a Grime and Hip Hop are the most listened to genre of music in England, so a lot of people can relate to Mia dancing to the familiar music. People stereotype Grime and Hip Hop to be band influences to teens as they promote violence and killing etc, which could link back to teen aggression.


Camera Work and Editing 1:
Not a lot of editing was used which could display the teenagers aggression apart from a few quick jump cuts when the argument and fight scenes occurred. Also handheld shot was used to show the Mia's confused state of mind.

Dialogue 1:
There were lots and lots of foul language used by almost every single character in the movie. The fact that Mia's younger sister - aged around 11 was swearing in almost every sentence could display the link to aggression and lack of care. For example, when Mia said 'Don't F****** Touch me you prick' and her sister said 'your a c***bag.' This happens in reality which displays how its a social realism movie.

The screen shot is an example of how Mia is always aggressive or angry which is displayed by her facial expressions and links back to the teenage violence theme.


Themes and Situations 2:
A situation would be breaking the law and having no respect for the law. This is a common situation to some people actually living in some parts of England today which displays how its close to reality as opposed to themes in Hollywood movies.

Representation 2:
A stereotype is that young teens have no respect for the law.

Mice-en-scene 2:
Mia's younger sister, Tyler is smoking which is illegal as she is about 11 years old. Also Mia was drinking which is breaking the law as she is under age. This happens a lot in England displaying its social realism. Also Connor having sex with Mia is breaking the law as she is under age.

Music & Sound Effects 2:
A lot of music that was played in the movie is rap. People could say that rap music promotes breaking the law which could influence young teens. A lot of people listen to this type of music which could represent how it s social realism.

Camera work and Editing 2:
Not a lot of camera shots included to represent this apart from when Tyler was smoking. A mid shot was taken of Tyler and her friend and was for a couple of seconds, which could emphasize the point as she shot seemed to be a bit longer then others.

Dialogue 2:
When Mia's says 'lets get smashed.' Another part is where Connor said 'but your only 15.' These to lines are really the only parts of dialogue which discusses breaking the law.

This screenshot expresses how the two girls are recklessly breaking the law by smoking and they are very, very young and the clear camera shot on the two emphasizing the scene.


Themes and Situations 3:
A theme and situation would be the struggles of some teenagers in England. She has a bad relationship with her family and has been kicked from school and doesn't really do anything productive apart from dancing.
Representation 3:
People tend to stereotype people who live in estates as chavs and lower class, which links to the struggles of being a teenager as Mia and her family hardly has any money.

Mice-en-scene 3:
A lot of time Mia is wearing cheap joggers and hoodies which represents the lack of money. Also, there are few scenes where you see gangs wearing cheep hoodies and vests with low jeans with their dogs and seen as 'chavs.' We can see this in the screen shot below.

Music & Sound Affects 3:
There was not really a lot of sound affect to represent this in the movie.

Camera Work and Editing:
There were many long shots of the estates and flats and gangs to emphasize the point.

Dialogue 3:
There was one scene where Mia' mother says 'careful that tracksuit was 20 quid.' This could represent the hardships and struggles of a teenager living in estates in England.

Here we see a screenshot of Mia on the balcony of her flat looking down onto the other houses in the estate. Even from the image we can get the type of feeling that it doesn't really seem like a good place to live with all the crowded houses in the background and also the houses seem to be smaller then regular ones which displays the working class people in that area contributing to the hardship of teenagers living in England. It is actually shot in England in Mardyke estate in Havering, which represents how its a social realist film as opposed to Hollywood movies which are usually shot in large, busy cities with all the expensive, glamorous houses etc.

There were a lot of eye line matches used in the movie. I really think it looked good and worked well with the movie and would like to include them in my movie when filming. I also think that the themes are typical to a British realist movie and I would like to include it when I am filming. I think the location used was also good for a social realism film as it sometimes showed the worst of Britain which is within Film 4's ethos.