Fish Tank Case Study

Themes & Situations

Violence is shown in the film when the boys try to attack the girl and there girl is trying to push them off. This is shown in this film as this theme is typical of a British social realism. Showing the violence brings realism as in these area where it is gritty there is a lot of violence going on. There is also part violence when the mum give the girls punches or pinches. This shows British social realism as it realistic to what happens to people living in these bad areas.

Poverty is show in as the film as they have not got much in it. This makes the film more like a British social realism as they are below working class and them not having much in the flat shows up this. The house is a small flat that has alcohol bottles everywhere and is dirty showing they do not have much. The estate is run down and gritty portraying the people as being poor. This shows British social realism as it is hard for families who are working class living in estates show that they will have not much in there house holds and it shows the struggles. 

Aspiration to success this is show in the film when the girl is dancing. This shows that she wants to escape the life that she is living by dancing and have a better life for herself then living in a not so good area. This shows that she is trying to escape the gritty life that she is living show that she in living in a bad state.

Neglect  is shown in the film the way the mother neglects the children. The mother does they as she does not care for her children properly and look after them properly.  The children are not cared for by the mother. 

Corruption of Youth is shown as the children in the film swear a lot. This shows that they have not been brought up and act as her mother acts which is not a good example. The young girl and her friend are drinking cider and smoking showing that they are losing their childlike behavior.  The children mirror actions of their mother from her always drinking, smoking and swearing.

There is also as the man has sex with a girl who is only 15. This is a issue they are going against the way rules. There is petty crime when Mia steals £5 out of the mum's boyfriends wallet. This shows British social realism as it shows all the unvarnished parts of people and how badly they behave 

I could use the theme of poverty has influence me to use it in my film as in British social realism it show the struggles of people and how life is hard so having poverty like living on an estate where it is gritty would have a effect on my work.  I am also influenced to use aspiration to success as in British social realism life is normally hard and dark and the aspiration to success can show that there will be success in the end of it.

Representation (stereotypes & archetypes)

At the start of the film the man is seen as the protective and the hero who comes along to help the family. At the start of the film he takes the father role and the role that the mother should of took for the children by looking after them. He seems to bee funny and a kind at the start also. He then changes as he has secrets of another having another family. From this we start to see him from a different point of view. 

The group of boys at the start of the film are staring at the girls checking them out while they dance. There is an stereotype of the Gypsy's having a caravan in the film. This is typical for boys to do at that as they are looking and  judging the girls. Also the group of girls when are together it is very typical for girl to be trying to impress the boys at the start by wearing less clothing and try to dance sexually. 

The mother is show as a counter type as when you normally think of mother you think of a caring women who is always there for you and supports you with your ambitions. But this mother always tries to bring her down about her dancing and saying what she can't do. The mother neglects the children and from that we see that the mother is not a stereotypical mother. Mia and her sister does not go school showing that they don't care about their education.

The film has influence me to think about how to use stereotype for people or to go against stereotypes. I like the fact that the mother is not part of the stereotype and contrast against how mothers are supposed to be. This brings a change to how people normally act.

Mise-en-scene 

 The costume, set and props are very realistic for a British social realism film. It represent that they was below working class people. It was set in a block of flats in east London. The estate was a run down area which did not look like a nice place to live in. This show that the families that live there are not wealthy and do not have much as they are living in poverty.  The clothing that everyone wore in the film was very basic clothing The costumes that Mia wore through most of the film was jogging bottoms, top, hoodie , looped ear ring and trainers. From this it represent her as a chav also she wore make showing that she take care of her appearance and how she looks. Props that was used was a lot of alcohol and there cigarettes this could show that they spend all of their money on these sort on items. There was not much item that was in her room showing they are poor. This relates to a British social realism as there is realistic nature going on that would happen in real life the the area that it is set in and the type of clothing that they wear is very basic. It shows the area as being a gritty type of area making it fit the genre more.

The lighting used through the film is natural. The natural lighting make the film more realistic.  In the dancing scene it is a dark room because there is no lights in the room. The sun shines through while she is dancing . This can connote that her life is in a dark bad place but she is trying to escape that through her dancing. The light shines to represent show that when she is dancing it brightens up her life as it make her feel happy. The lighting brings out the genre more as the lighting is realistic as the is not artificial lighting used the film.

The actors are people who people who are from these type of area and are not the best actors. This is effective for the film as it make it more realistic as these are actors who already know how to act like they are from these place as they are. This make the genre more realistic as they are able to relate to these type of hard situations that go on.It also fit the genre as the actors have little glamour in performance to make it seem more realistic and they seem like the are untrained actors as the performance was very real

The era of the film is a modern film. This is shown by the type of props that are in the film. There are TV and iPod in and that proves that the film is recent. Also by the dialogue used shows the era as it includes a lot of slang that is used now days.

I am influence to used the natural lighting as this would make it very realistic. The film is mainly shot on location in Barking I would use a strategy like this because barking would have run down estates and it is a gritty type of area perfect for a British social realism. Also the colors in the film are dull color palate.

Music & sound effects

The music is mostly diegetic music as it comes from the radio that she uses or the car. It includes lots of urban music like Cassie - me & you . This is the type of music that young people would listen to  making it very realistic. At the end the song Nas - Life is a bitch is played . This shows what Mia preferred to listen to more urban types of songs. The music video that she watches of Ashanti and Ja rule  is a contrast of how her life is as she was in a room that did not have much and was empty. The video then contrast her life as it showed how the richer people live with boat in the music video. There are also Foley noises that are used like the gate opening.
From this I would use music that young people would listen to like urban type of music. This would be effective as it would make it more realistic

Camera work & Editing 

The camera work used was very simple and basic. The effective camera work in the film was when the camera was hand held when Mia was chasing after the mum's boyfriend. From the camera being handheld running behind her made you feel like you was part of the scene and I think that was effective. Another part that I thought was effective was all the close ups that was used in the film. For example when it showed a close up of the mans tattoo. This then told me that there was more to tell about his tattoo as it wouldn't of been shown for no reason so it showed that the tattoo would of been talked about in the film. There are many establishing shots showing the environment that they are living in.

I think using close up is a good strategy as it bring all the focus on the one shot. It also can be used to show the character emotions they also emphasize what your meant to look at. From the shots I found out that the shots included a lot of hand held shots making the camera jerky. There was many establishing shots to show the gritty area they was living in and for you to get a feel of the area that they was in. The was long take in the editing and the editing was minimal and simple. 

Dialogue

The dialogue that was used in the film was mostly slang this showed that they was in gritty areas as they did not speak as if they was educated well as they spoke very basic. There was a lot of swearing included showing that they was disrespectful as the girls swore to people older then and she has not been brought up to respect adults .  I think using slang is effective as it shows social realism as you young teenagers that age speak that way. An example of this is when it says 'Is that her mum or sumthin' her mums butters' this fits the genre as the way they speak includes slang. When Mia says to the man 'Tell her I think her old mans a cu*t' this show that they have not be educated enough to treat their grown ups with respect show that they are rude disrespectful people.

Institutional Background

The film was written by Andrea Arnold 

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232776/companycredits)

The production companies are; 

• BBC Films (presents)
• UK Film Council (presents)
• Limelight Communication (in association with) (presents) (as Limelight)
• ContentFilm
• Kasander Film Company

Target Audience 

I think that the film was target for mainly British people around the age of 12-28. I think this because it can relate to these type of people the most. I has more stereotypes of a British as the slang used may only be fore British people. Other countries would be able to understand the story line on which is going on as that can be relatable to anyone. 

Marketing materials 

The marketing materials used was that they released the film out on blu-ray. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film festival. They also produced different posters to catch peoples attention. 

Convention of Institutional Credits

The film is called Lord of War and from watching the opening sequence the story line is about war. It starts of will a bullet being created as it travel from place to place. It then ends up in Africa and someone shoots the bullet a the boy. The camera throughout is a point of view shot as if your the bullets seeing where the bullet travels to. I think that the point of view shot at the start is effective as you see each step of where it travels. The workers wear the same clothing, the people in Africa shooting wear similar clothing showing that they are a team and this could mean there at war with someone else. The area is in a poor area and there a shooting outside the house.

The title appears in big bold writing at the start of the opening sequence. The word 'lord' and 'war' are both written bigger and it capital letters. This then makes it stand and get the audience attention. The credit are in white and are in the middle of the screen as it pops up during the less important parts of the film. The film carries on so the credit do not interrupt the film.The writing could connote that the film is an action film as it has a lot of masculine writing and it is written in big bold letter which is clear for the writer to see. The background for this part of the institutional credits is showing the way a bullet has been made this could connete that there is violence in the film also that it is a dark that it is bad.

The writing where it say written and directed by are in a smaller font as that part is not as important as the name of the person. The way it becomes a black background is effective the bullet follows through to the shoot the boy. This shot can show that innocent people are getting hurt as the boy was not doing nothing wrong. The colour of the writing could connote that the black background at the end of the credits could show that everything that is happening is all dark and is a bad thing happen during the film. As it shows who it is written and directed in the colour white and the black background so it can emphasize the names of the people that are being shown as there is a contrast in colour.                    

Here is a timeline for the institutional credits for Lord of War:

From writing the timeline of the institutional credits I found out that the higher class people go first in the credits. The last person is the most important person as it is normally thee person who wrote or directed the film. Also I found it better good when the film flows and the credits come up at the same time. I found out that the credit sound not take away attention from the film also.

Sound Analysis of British Social Realism

I done a sound  analysis of the film Adulthood. The video some where I annotated in the film.

Project Log- Week 4

This week I have learnt many things about the title devices. The title devices are included at the start of the film where it shows the production company, title, cast crew and company. I learnt what certain people do to make the film for example the director of photography are camera operators and are directors of the lights. I got a clearer understanding of each role as I done an analysis of the opening sequence of the film Lord of War where I found out each persons role in the credits. The credits on that film flowed with whats going on in the film still making it gripping for the audience. The writing on the credit put the important parts in bold to make it stand out for the viewer.

This will have a big impact on my production as I would be able to write in the opening sequence the roles of each person. Also it will help as I will know the order to put the credits starting with the highest and most influential people. I have also learnt that the credit cannot take away the focus of what going on in the film so I have to make sure that I put the opening sequence in the correct place. I will also make sure that it is not too big or too small.

The methods that I might use in my opening sequence are to make sure that the writing for my credit names are bold to stand out for the audience. I will also make sure it is not blocking what is happening in the opening sequence. Using the right size will still keep the enigma I would want in the opening sequence to still be there. The role I would include are cast, directors , editors and more.

Commissioner Factfile

Who is the company?

Film four production is a British company that produce, distribute and exhibit. The films that they exhibit are big films.The films that are distribute means that they market their have physical copies of the film to sell. In total they have made many films. The parent company of film 4 are owned by channel 4. Channel four is a British terrestrial TV Channel (From http://12ascha.blogspot.com film four information slide) They company also own a number of UK channel like More 4, E4, channel 4 HD, heat, kiss and  many more channels. The advantages of film four having channel four as their parent company is as people who watch channel four the viewer will be aware of all these other channels and as channel four is successful them will check out film four. Also another reason why it is an advantage is because you don't have to pay to watch the shows. Also there would be more advert on all of these channels so more people would acknowledge.

What do the company production?

On the channel four website - film four facts it quoted "We don't operate tariff prices. We aim to fund eight feature films a year with a mix of licence fee and equity and all our films are co-financed with other financing partners."  Film four are both solo producers and co- producers. Film four have had many successes recently like Last KIngs of England by Kevin Mcdonald, Slumdog millionaire by Danny Boyle.   

I think that film four have a big imput onto then British social realism films. I think this as they are a British company so most of their films show life in Britian. So because of that I think that they can have a big contribution. The British social realism films, film four have done are ; East In East, This is England, The last of Scotland, Looking for Eric and many more British social realism film. Other genre that Film four produce are si-fi, horror, action, romance and many more.

Where is the company based?

Most of the film that film four make are from the UK as they are a British company.  For some of the films there are funds from America. As they are a British company most of their film are more likely to be British.

Why is the company important to the UK film industry?

Their ethos of the company is new British talent and be a leader of innovation in the British film industry. To support international( including American ) independent film-makers by co-investing in innovative and intersecting foreign films. To offer a platform for British and independent cinema on terrestrial television by committing to showing each one of the film four productions films on channel 4 and it's sister station film four.  Key successes in the British film industry include the inbetweener, Harry Potter and many more. Film four have launched many actors and directors careers off. An example of an director is Danny Boyle.

Project Log - Week 3

I have learnt a lot about the commissioner film four. I learnt that the owner of the company was Channel 4 who own many other company aswell.I have learnt that they produce, distribute and also exhibit their films. This would have an impact on my work as I would find out more information about my commissioner. This will help me relate to what type of films that they have already made. This will make my film have a big impact of the audience as it would be more realistic. From knowing this I will know how film four opening sequence and that will reflect off onto my work.

This week I have learnt a lot of information about sound. I found out that there are non-diegetic sounds like sound tracks , sound motif , voice over and many more. There are also diegetic sounds like foley , mode of address and ambient sound. Without sound in a film the film would be empty and incomplete. With sound it is more engaging and the film makes more sense to watch. This will impact my product as now I know what type of sound to use to make the scenes more dramatic and interesting for the audience. The sound would also be realstic.

Conventions of a opening sequence

The video that I decided to analyse is the opening sequence of This Is England. Below is the presentation I done about the movie.

Project Log- Week Two

 I have found out that British soical films include: Themems & situations, reccuring characters, setting & location, sound, camerawork/editing and other mise-en-scene (like props,costume and lighting.) I have learnt how over 50 years how British Social Realism films have changed by watching a film from each of them decades. I have also found out many common themes for British Social Realism films including ; violence,poverty, success and failure and many many more themes. It has informed me with the diolougue that will be used as it needs to suit how the person looks. Also it has informed me with the area of the production as it will be the gritty side of Britain. The text I found partially influential are Nil By Mouth. I found this influential as when the man was beating up the women it was very dramatic and you do not see the women getting beaten up making the scene more impacted. I will conform in these conventions as I think that it make the scene better if most of them are included into the sequence 

How British Social Realism themes are used

Film: The Football Factory 

Trailer :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzuEkF1oLVE 

The key theme from this movie is Violence. The film trailer at the start show a group of older men all gathered together to start a fight with some people. There is a knife that is pulled out and people run this show violence and how a football match could be taken seriously. Violence is also denoted is when a man get hits with a bat on the back of his head.Another way that it is show is that during the trailer it shows someone has died by showing the a coffin. This show that from the fighting that someone has been bad enough to kill someone.  The clip of the knife is a close up so it is highlighted to the audience what is going to happen to happen. In my film I might explore this by if the the is a fight or knife crime I would have a close up of the knife I will make sure that the knife stands out. Also I would add close up of people faces if see how the violence effects them 

Film: My beautiful laundrette 

This shows the theme of sexuality and racism. Sexuality is show when the is an interaction with the two boys. The racism is there because the white people come and try to trash the laundrette. ALso the sexuality is there as the parent would not accept them being gay and they would not let the different race go out with each other. Sexuality is represented by the flirtatious behaviour between the two men. If I include racism into my scene I have to think about why they would not accept it. Also what type of language is used to show racism. If I include sexuality showing people and how they accept sexuality.

Film: Shank 

The theme in shank is gang culture. This is denoted as there a group of lack boys I'm each group dressed it sparked colour to show something bad is going to happen. They then show it by the fighting that is going on between them.There are two big group of people that break out in fights in underground places so it's hard for the police to catch them. The gang culture is violent as they pull out knife and the people they fight start to bleed. They rival as they are all part of different of code. If I include gang culture I know that the gangs will help each other when they are fighting. I would also know why here is gang war and reason for that could be people coming from different part of London.

FIlm: London to Brighton

The theme in the movie shows was poverty. This was shown in the opening sequence by  the graffit that is all of the bathroom toilets this show that it is a gritty area and it is a poor place that is not getting looked after. It is also show that the women is poor by her prostiting herself to get money to get onto a train.This is represented to show that the women is in a bad place and is having a hard time. Poverty would be add into my science to show the struggles in Britain. Also to show how life for the Lower class is and how they don't have a life like working or upper class. 

Film: Trainspotting 

 

The theme that is on this film is drug abuse. This is shown in the movie in the movie as he repeativly takes the drugs over and over again. It show how he is addicted to taking drugs. The drug are represented through out the movie as he becomes addicted and his life evolves around drug taking. If I used it in my movie I would show the struggle of taking drug and how it can have a bad effect on your body and the way that you act.

This Is England

On the table it show the production design, lighting, actors, colour and era I spotted in the two clips from Billy Elliot and This Is England. 

Time: 0.08s 

There all sitting in the room talking about how many uncles the guy has. This show that production design. This Denotes that they all come from a different background but they all struggle with as they have ended up at this low budget place. In this screen shot it show a poster of girls that are naked. Also it shows the England flag in the background show that they are British. The clothing is  casual wear shows the lack of wealth that they have. The wall paper some has been ripped of showing that they are living in poverty. 

Time 0.10 seconds 

The man has lots of tattoo's on his face showing the actor. This shows that he is a hard looking person and is threatening. The tattoo on his face make him look like a thug. The background is blue this can connote the way he feels and show that deep inside that he is depressed. He had a British accent which is realistic. He say the words 'Nigger' to the black guy showing that he has a racist side to him. 

Time:3.50
This shot show the lighting as a dark shot. This is because there is violence and violence is bad so it shows as a dark place. This show is effective as it show like you are the person getting beaten up and how it would look like he was on top of you fighting you. It is a point of view shot and the camera moves about a lot. I find this shot is very effective. The theme for this part is violence and that theme is common in British Social Realism

Time:3.20

This is a high shot showing the layout of the room. It has two basics beds. It looks low budget as it has two blankets as the curtains. There is limited amount of thing in the room just two beds and posters that are on the wall. This denotes that they don't have much money as it doesn't contain many item in the room that five of them are sitting in. The lighting is natural in the room. The man standing everyone is looking up showing that he has all the power at this time.

Time:5.10
The colours in the are dark or plain colours like white. Milky wearing white emphasises that he is bleeding in this part of the scene as he has all red blood on his shirt. I think not showing what he looks like made it tense as you dont know how bad his face is until he moves the blankets from his face

Time:0.25
I think the era of the film is around the late 1980's. I think this because in the background the kitchen has most thing a kitchen would have that is not so long ago. The language used is used. This denotes that it was quiet recent as they speak in slag. This also shows there age group. 

Defining British Social Realism

What is British Social Realism?

British social Realism have character that would be working class or below working class. It would show their struggles in their everyday life and it show real life situation. Setting of these places would include places like alleyways and estates or even places like chicken shops which are all mostly run down places. It show the gritty and urban genre of the everyday life. It show the social and racial injustice as everyone is not treated equally. Also it in unvarnished as it show all of the bad parts. It looks at themes like sex, drugs, poverty, religion, childhood and many more themes that are related to British social realism. They show these themes as they are popular problems that are happening in Britain today. Examples of British Social Realism are  Kidulthood, Ill manners, Kes and many many more .

From what all of these clips I have found out the Nil by Mouth is the one I would like to watch.This is because of its gripping story line and the editing that they done. They made the storyline really gripping and effective because when the women was getting beaten up it did not show what she looked like when she was beaten up. This was really effective as the viewer has to imagine what she looks like also because you can hear her screaming and it sound painful.

British Social Realism have evolved over the last fifty years as the storyline over the years have become more interesting as the story lines along the year have become more gripping as the story lines are more dramatic. Also as the themes are becoming more dramatic over the years. The editing over the years has developed as at the start there was not much editing in scenes and they left the shot for a long period of time and now there is more editing making it more interesting. It has also changed by the way the children look now with the costumes.

Past Student Work

Here on the side is a picture of all the strength and weakness of the past student works that I watched. I then gave it a score out of 60 for each of them.

Damaged Goods

The reason I enjoyed this as I found the story very gripping and it had a good story line. It didn't include much speaking but from the film you can understand what was going on. I also like the way the video flows for each shot as the flow of the video is good and it runs smooth.

There is credit that have been included. The credit look very professional as it tell us what each person input in the film was. The credit do not come across the middle of the screen so it does not distract you while you watching the film.

This is a significant shot. Even though the shot is only up for a 1-2 seconds. It is a significant shot as it plant the seed of what the story line is about on one of the first shots. This is because there is condom on the floor showing what she is up to. 

This shot I found successful as it was repeated throughout the clip. This shot showed that she was going to a house each time. This then explained to me the storyline and the story line made more sense. This then becomes gripping as you want to find out where she keeps going and this makes it more tense for the viewer.

The story also began to make more sense as she entered from car to car showing that she is going somewhere. As this becomes repetitive the story begins to make more sense and to the viewer that is watching. This all can relate to the target audience of females 18-24 or even older as this are the type of struggles that they can be getting into.

Theses shot are very dim and the actor is wearing dark clothing, this can denote that it some dark and bad is going to happen. It can also show the struggles that she is going to face. In the last scene the window and unwinds and a man says "Get in love". This then showed what she was doing as the man had a grown up voice.

Here is the link for the video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-kd6L9lEuI 

South Paw

I did not enjoy this one as much as it was very confusing. I think that there was not a good enough story line and it did not grab my attention. 

For a long period of time the actor is running. This then make me confused with the story line as nothing has happened. They should of ran less as it would of made the story more engaging. 

Another weakness is that the video is too wobbly. Even though it was was not meant to be the best shooting I think that there was too much wobbling.

For watching it to the end It showed me that the storyline was not gripping enough. I never had a big ending to it and I didn't really get into it.

 

A good things that I like about the video is the music. I think that the music was very urban also it fit the target audience with the music.

Another thing that I liked on this one was the location. The estate was a realistic place for British Social Realism and it fit the right target audience. Also the right type of clothing fit this age group. There was not much dialogue so it became confusing what he was going to do or where he was going