Use 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 both show events, issues and problems that happen in reality, everyday life. Big elements of British life invole these events and the news and British Social Realism Themes both inform the British audiences of these events that occur commonly. In addition to this they show people suffering from real problems such as from abuse, domestic violence, rape. They both have the same pupose to inform, notify the Britsh public of the real world. The themes that both BSR and the news portray are religion, violence, abuse, rascism and drugs. The film Fish Tank shows child abuse as Mia was 15, plays the main character was underage and she had, had intercourse with an older man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msmmaC_9Yfo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-21243138

What is unique about how themes are explored in British social realism films?
British social realism explores the themes in real detail, further depth they express the themes in extreme ways such as in 'Nil by Mouth' the theme of domestic violence was portrayed as being disgusting revolting unacceptable. In BSR they explore the suffering and whole process of the theme, the recovery of the issue, the negative downsides of the problem, usually resulting in sad endings. The film 'This is England' covers a whole range of themes in extreme intense ways, they showed racism, discrimination, violence, petty crimes and history. They address the issues to make the audience fully aware of the theme and to get a reaction out of them.

Is there any themes which are essential to all British social realist films? What are they? Why are they essential?
The themes which are essential in producing a British Social Realist film is violence as that is a key theme portrayed in all BSR, an huge amount of BSR involves violence. BSR films such as: Kidulthood, This Is England, Looking For Eric, Fish Tank, In Bruges, Nil By Mouth etc. They use this theme to portray the hardship that Britons face in everyday, poverty is also illustrated in many BSR, this reflects the ideologies of BSR, how they focus on failures and the negatives of British people, not being able to thrive in a society and up getting involved in corruption and crime. These themes are best applicable as they define and demonstrate British ideologies. In addition to this they are also able to relate these themes to their niche audience, as they can relate themselves to these events. 

British Social Realism Timeline

Analysis of Convention

Production Log One

During the lessons this week, I have been focusing and learning about British Social Realism. We have also been analysing opening sequence films from past students and we have been assessing them against the mark scheme, using their strengths and weaknesses. The film Written in Syria scored a high mark of 52/60, they achieved a level 4 which is the highest which I actually didn't expect I had estimated them a 32/60 and a level 2. From the strengths of the film and comparing it against the mark scheme I had learned and gained knowledge of how to achieve a high mark and the technical skills and input which will allow me to get the mark I deserve. In addition to this I had watched another opening sequence to a film Cycle, but I had compared it to the previous one I had analysed and found that the second one I had analysed lacked the technical skills and therefore achieved a low grade against the mark scheme. From that I had learned what not to do in my opening sequence and how to avoid mistakes that would lower my grade. To help me with my future work on this topic I had payed close attention to all the key points and conventions and how they created enigma in their clips which I would use in mine. This will make my production better as I know what to include and key points that'll get me high grades and show I have an understanding of British Social Realsim.  
I will try to not make my opening sequence trailer like or off point from the task. 

Past Student's Work

Written Syria:

1)This is the first scene you see in the opening sequence to the film, is the shot of the main character. It relates to a British Social Realism film as it connotes to the British audience that there may be so violence as the audience can denote blood on the characters top. Violence is a key theme to BSR, and BSR focuses on negative issues the lighting, how it is dark and dim creates enigma to the audience. Visualisation Contributes to the atmosphere that director wants to convey to audience to create realism.

2)This screen grab is similar the first one however this shows the beginging of the credits. The ways the lettering is styled adds to style of the movie and what the director wants to convey in sense of atmosphere.

3)This screen shot can be symbolic of him coming to an realisation or feeling pain, they usually are symbolic trying to portray as he can be innocent as he has a black eye and is lying on white bed, symbolise innocence and the whites sheet are unblemished he maybe the innocent victim. If not lying on white bed and has black eye this can show expose the violence rather than hide it in darkness. As the story revolves it can show why he has a black eye. White may mean coming out of darkness into light.

4) This scene involves a jump cut which could represent the progression of emotions hes feeling at that moment. This shows he is coming to grips slowly with his pain, digesting whats just happened to him, see progression of that in his shots as his hand moves into different places. Relates to BSR it does not package or sell false idea of Britishness but shows reality of working class experience, doesn't show ideal but realistic version of life.

5) Lots of political issues in Syria, people opressed by dictator want democracy  When we see white back ground symbolises people, the blankness of their existence feel like prisoners want freedom democracy. It shows struggle black and white, darkness or light will be the outcome. In BSR it covers politics, anti war movement, it goes along with a theme of BSR.

This screen shows he may not be proud of his flag, he does not feel he cannot wave it or feel good with it, feels it belongs to political elite, hence why he takes it down and goes into deep thought. This relates to BSR it shows difference in social groups, clash struggle in Britain, in other countries you have poor and the rich.

This screen shows a high angle shot of the character looking at a notebook, this could be a way of him expressing his feelings and emotions and ideas. In closed societies no freedom of speech, no opinion  thats why he conveys feeling in a notebook. This can relate to BSR theme of isolation, as people in British society feel isolated excluding, struggling, e.g put into care having to thrive by yourself, e.g your dad an drug user and mum alcoholic.

This scene is uses an eye line match as the character looks into the direction of the notebook to convey his emotions. This then ties in with theme of BSR of isolation and trying to get out and sart again.

The last screen shows the directors name, which is usually the last name that appears on the opening sequence to make the directors name be memorable, so audience can remember.






Battered and Bruised:

1)This screen shows the production company and their logo, it gives you characteristics of company and this may connote to us that they are perhaps not mainstream like Disney, but niche deal with risky topics and issues for creating their films. This is denoted by the skull and guitars used as crossbones which symbolises danger. This relates to BSR as the production companies are not mainstream and deal with niche audiences, and focus on sensitive issues.

2)This scene shows the director names appearing first as usually it is the last name that comes up of credits to finish. This suggests that the  company have own rules and are different from other production companies however in many BSR films for the opening sequence they appear the directors name last, to show a glimpse of film then who is behind it all. To the audience it makes the directors name memorable. This is England Shane Meadows name shown last in credits.

3)This scene shows the character looking at the camera which may be a good thing or bad thing as it could be seen as bad acting. However an actor looking at the camera can be seen as involving the audience and divided them self from the story line. BSR do not do this they either have the main character narrating using voice overs the story rather than the actor addressing the audience directly.

5)Showing the title late one minute into the film has less impact and effect on the audience, they may not remember or have knowledge of the film they are watching.  However the movie is introducing itself and establishing itself thats why they delay the title. 

8)This scene shows an frenzied attack brutal and uncontrolled, this relates to BSR as they show violence in reality how it is and also leaves you in mystery, such as in Nil by Mouth the theme of domestic violence was represented it did not show how the violence had left the woman to look like, this leaves us the audience curious and disgusted to what had happend, perhaps her appearance was too extreme to be shown in the film. 

6) In this scene we are shown the characters names and who plays that certain role. In BSR films they do not usually do this as they try to leave you in wonder of who plays who. This is England does not use this technique, it makes you think about who is going to be involved. 

In this scene the font used, the editing matches the image which is important for the credits. It is a hard titled film so the font is edgy and rock like to match. 

This scene shows a long shot of the characters walking away, they are portrayed as looking gang like which BSR show, Kidulthood use gang rivals to represent the Teenagers, this supports the dominant ideologie of Teenagers symboling crime and rebellion. 

In this scene their is a fade out, this is used to represent a new scene, this isn't commonly used in BSR.  

Definition of British Social Realsim

Definition of British Social Realism 

Social Realism portrays the hardship of Britons in everyday life. They use a rough camera work style and unvarnished editing to make the film more gritty, they use different camera shots to a minimal. They use unknown British actors such as Katie Jarvis in 'Fish Tank', so these characters can relate and show the struggles of the situations people get into. In addition to that the characters usually have heavy accents which show where they come from. The themes portrayed are usually racism, political topics, terrorism, sex, poverty, violence, abuse, isolation and rejection. The genre they use are urban dramas an kitchen sink. British Social Realsim tend to have low budgets, so the film reflects their low budgets by using unknown actors, unknown settings or locations and low marketing strategy. They tend to market their films through critical success they depend heavily on critics and winning awards at festivals, for the audience its an seal of approval so they will go see the film. 

Fish Tank Case Study

Themes and Situations

• Mia, who is the main character in the film is placed in certain situations such as sexual desire for her mums boyfriend. An example of this is the film is when she records Connor getting dressed and watches it back to herself when she's in bed. This represents female teenagers of being very sexual, which could be considered a stereotype of teenagers that they are very sexual. This is shown in many scenes of the film where Mia has feelings for Connor, for example she watches Connor and her mum have sexual intercourse. 
• Another theme displayed within this media text is a sense of escaping, escapism as Mia listens to the song California Dreaming a lot in the film, the film is called Fish Tank which the title itself connotes to us that Mia maybe trapped, in her life and in that estate, the closet she'll ever get to California is the wallpaper of the sunset and beach, also is her room she has sea shells and posters of the sea, this reinforces the dream of escaping. 

• Mia is also seen as being ambitious with pursing a dancing career, in the film she dances by herself in an empty room and she then admits a video of her dancing auditioning for a dance crew. 
• Another theme which is portrayed in the clip is abuse, mainly verbal abuse as the mum says to Mia she was going to have Mia aborted but she didn't and she wishes she did. There is also physical abuse as the mum pinches Mia, which could therefore result in bruises of Mia's arm you see clearly when they are fishing. 
• Crime and violence is also portrayed as Mia breaks into Connors house, she head butts the girl at the beginning f the film and she also kidnaps Keira. This reinforces the stereotype of teenagers as being violent and causing crime. 

Influence: Mia is seen in the film always going to that empty apartment, i could use this strategy because it means escaping, a place which she could be alone, 

Representation (Stereotypes) 

• Mia is represented as being rebellious as she doesn't listen to her mother and does what she pleases. For example in the film when her mother is calling her name to call her back to speak to the visitor, Mia runs off. This shows a typical stereotype of teenagers being rebellious and having bad attitude as she always swears at her mum her sister Tyler and Connor.
• The portration of single mums living in council estates and not having the ability to raise kids associates with dominant ideologies. The mum was seen as a drunk and incapable to look after her kids, her kids do not even go to school, which may be the reason why they are rude and lack manners.
• Men are also represented in this film as being sexually active as in the film we see various examples of men, males being involved in sexual activity such as whilst the mum was having a party and one man was seen doing something irrelevant to a woman in the kitchen and Connor who is an older man had intercourse with Mia who is a 15 year old girl so this is seen as being illegal. 

Influence: I could use the representation of teenagers to help for location in my film, in a social realism way. 

Mise-en-scene

• Due to the costumes we as an audience associate that with being rough and gritty, Mia always wore dark tracksuits and the same clothes all casual, no designer. This stereotypes a typical teenager, this is also could reflect her life dark and miserable.  
• The location of the film was set in local areas that people can associate with, such as Tilbury, the audience may feel related to the film and its easy recognition for the audience. 
• The council estate is a typical East London landmark as seen the film which reinforces the stereotype of single mums being incapable. The house was messy and untidy, dishes in the sink. 

Influence: The film had always portrayed teenagers as wearing dark costumes, I would use this strategy in my film to connote teenagers, in a British way. 

Music & Sound effects

• In the film diegetic music is played on an numerous amount of times, the music would be mainly rap music which would represent gritty life of the characters and regga was also used. This could also reflect the characters mood and feelings. One of the songs that Mia dances to is California dreaming, a British song 
• There would also be ambient sound in outdoor locations such as when Mia and Keira were by the beach.
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• Influence: The use of rap music in the film played often, I could use this strategy in my film to reflect characters feelings or life style.

Camera work and Editing 

• There were various editing techniques used in this film, such as close-up which is where you can see Mia's facial reactions, through her situations. There is also a eye line match where Mia looks at in a certain direction and sees the toys of Keira's. There is also rough hand held camera work for fast paced scenes which are in the film, such as Mia running after Keira. This reflects the ideologies of British films as they have low budgets. However in contrast to older British socialism films, the camerawork and editing is much much more neater and clearer but still has an rough edge and is unvarnished. 

Influence: I would use the rough held camera strategy to reflect a characters state of mind or to show British social realism films. 

Dialogue

• The dialogue between the characters consisted of swearing, every conversation held had swearing in it, such as 'cunt' 'bitch' 'fuckface'. Swearing was typically used and casually used they also use it in a funny way. In addition to that the characters use the strong aggressive words to portray their feelings and they may actually use it in nice way, Tyler says 'I hate you' to Mia, and then they hug, so the characters interpret the swearing and rude language to good and bad meanings. The representation of Mia is shown been an negative impression as she has a bad attitude and disrespects everyone. All the characters have strong heavy east  London accent.

 

Secondary Research

Institutional Background: 

• Production companies: BBC Films, UK Film Council, Limelight Communication.
• Funding came from BBC films and UK Film Council. 
• UK Film Council, are a private company and were set up by the labour government to help endorse the film industry. They distribute over 160 million from the lottery to the film industry, they provided this money for over 900 films.
• BBC Films have produced many successful films such as, An Education, Fish Tank, the also co produce with major international producers and they aim to co produce 8 1/2 films a year. 

Audience Breakdown 

• This film was aimed at the British audience and there was also many cultural references in the film. This film was screened in two scenes in America and made a total grossing $32,619 however in UK they had made £103,180 and this was in total of 47 screens. 

Marketing Strategy

• There were many posters produced for the film, an the film was also shown at Cannes festival and other festivals they had also had critic reviews on the posters, this therefore will be a seal of approval for the audience as the film has been judged by experts and as well as this more posters produce more word of mouth brings a wider audience. 
• As well as posters, Fish Tank received awards and nominations such as an BAFTA film award for best British film.