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.