Sound analysis

Analysis of the film Made In Britain

            

BSR Visual Style

Possible Locations

Marks Gate:

                                           
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Marks gate would be a good location for my work.  Some places in Marks Gate look very rough. There are many alleyways around that would be good places to shoot my work, and its local which would be of ease for me to shoot. This area would be conventional of British Social Realism films and its a lot of working class people living in the area in council houses and its quite urban with a lot of urban teenagers around. 

Romford:

                                              
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Romford will also be a good place to film my opening sequence. This area is conventional of the genre because it is a very urban place. There are many shops. public transport and police around, so if i was to use the theme of petty crime this place would be ideal due to all the shops, police and teenagers around. Romford also looks very grimy and dirty, so it would add a sense of realism to my work so romford is a good place to film.

 This is a shot of an alley way at romford station. It looks very dull and quite. Places like this would be ideal for the theme petty crime as it looks like a place gangs would hang out.

Estates:

Shooting at estates would also be a good location. British estates are typically very urban, rough areas. People that live in council estates have many bad stereotypes as they come across and poor. This is conventional of BSR films as the theme poverty is in all of them, and estates portray poverty, so it would be an ideal location to use for my opening sequence due to the stereotypes and dirty look they have. This would also add to the realism and make it more affective as the areas are sources of crime and bad upbringings.

Dagenham:

                                           
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Dagenham would also be a great place to film. There are many rough ares here and a lot of crime happens in this area.  Dagenham also has many gangs around in the area which shows its a urban, grimy area. This would be a good location for the character to live in as it would add to the realism and hardship of life if they grew up here because of house rough it is and crime orientated.



This is a shot of some council estates in dagenham which would be a good place to shoot as its very rough. There is a park nearby which could be used as a place for drug dealers or fights to happen.

Production log: 3

This week i have been learning about opening sequences and have been analysing them.  Most opening sequences try to create an enigma. Creating an enigma gives a sense of mystery to the film which draws the audiences attention to the films and makes them want to watch the rest. Opening sequences may start with a 'smash mouth' to create an enigma. Smash mouth approaches start of with a lot of action. This gets the audience more interested and excited in the films so they want to watch the rest. This week i have also looked at the credits. When an opening sequence shows credits they don't just have the names. When it comes to editors and photographers, they put qualifications next to the name. This is so people watching it feel like the film is more professional and is a source of promotion telling the audience professionals have worked on the film which raises expectations. Credits also blend in with whats going on, so the audiences attention is not taken completely away from whats happening, but they still want to be scene. And also credits are usually placed in specific orders, starting with the main, or most famous actors, then going to smaller actors, then editors and so on.

A.C.E written next to the persons name showing their qualification.

This week we also went into more detail on themes, and looked at how an opening sequence establishes and portrays the themes. And i also learnt that characters and themes are established very quickly. This is so the audience gets a better feel of what the film is about and tells them what to expect in the rest of the film, and also who the characters are so the audience gets familiar with them.

London to Brighton opening sequence establishing poverty and violence in first minute of the film. 

This will be good use in my production, because i now have more understanding of opening sequences. For example i will have to establish the themes used and the right time, and portray them correctly to get the best effect towards the audience. Also, in my opening sequence i now know what my credits need to do, what to add in and what the rough order of credits are. Knowing this will help me because it will make it look much more like an opening sequence, and i will have better understanding of the credits and how i shall portray the themes. 

From this information i think i will use the smash mouth approach in my opening sequence. The smash mouth usually grab audiences attention straight away which is what i want to try and achieve. By creating an enigma this way i think will better as i will grab their attention straight away, then use the sense of mystery to make them want to watch the rest. 

How British Social realism themes are used

Petty crime

In this scene from Kidulthood, we see a teenager robbing some beers from a corner shop. Here the character is committing a petty crime, as it is nothing major. Crimes like this are common in society, and we see them in many British Social realist films. This sequence portrays this theme to be quite casual for the teenager like he does it every day, and also portrays it as violent which we see from the language and the character throwing a beer. If i was to use this theme, then i would explore other petty crimes that aren't really seen in British Social Realism films. An example would be things like underage driving with no insurance, which is a crime that happens a lot in British Society. So adding many different petty crimes would make it a bit different from other films that have explored this theme.

Poverty

In this scene from 'Looking for Eric', we see the main character washing up some dishes and starts talking to an illusion. The state of hes kitchen looks very messy and not well kept, and the character also looks the same. This establishes the theme of poverty as it shows that hes style of living isn't very nice, and as it looks messy it shows he doesnt have alot of money because people who do would not treat their house like this. This scene portrays the theme as tough. The persons life looks very depressing and dull, and as a house is like a mirror of a person, it shows the character isn't well kept as hes house isn't either. Also it portrays it as very depressing. The darkness in this scene makes the audience feel depressed and as the character is talking to himself makes the audience feel sorry for him. Poverty is in every British Social Realism film so in my work, poverty will be one of the main themes. The characters will have a tough life and have to do whatever they can to get money, where all the other themes will start to merge in.

Racism

Here we see a few white skinheads rob a corner shop owned by an Asian man. The characters write racist things on the shop wall and call him some very racist things. Racism is portrayed very casual like they do it every day, and also violent as well as we see weapons being used and threats being said to the shop keeper. the fact the little boy is also involved in the racism shows that he has no respect and society is very rough.  If i was to explore this theme in my work, i would use it in a different way, and make a white person being a victim of the racism, to change things around and explore the theme from different angles.

Drugs

In the opening sequence from trainspotting. We see a character laying on the floor after smoking drugs. We also hear in the voice over he says 'who needs reasons when you've got heroin'. Here we can see drugs is the main theme of the film as its established in the opening sequence and the character basically says hes life is about heroin. This clip portrays the theme as being quite fun, as the music is upbeat and there's a lot of action going on in the opening sequence. It also comes across as failure, because the character is talking about how he didn't choose life, he chose drugs, and as hes getting chased it shows hes life isn't very good. If i was to explore this theme i wouldn't make it the main theme, but drugs would revolve around my character and be apart of their life which has caused some of their problems.

Domestic Violence

In this scene from Nil By Mouth, we see a very violent man beating hes wife, whilst a child is sitting at the top of the stairs listening to what is going on. We don't see the damage that is done to the wife. This clearly establishes the theme of domestic violence, as this scene is very effective because we don't see her get hit, so the audience thinks about what damage was done and makes the audience feel like they would if they saw this in real life. This scene portrays the theme very emotionally, because it makes the audience angry watching this scene and shocked, as we see the little girl has to live with this. Also its portrayed as violent because its a man hitting a women which many people find very traumatising  If i was to explore this theme in my work, i would use a young female character who has a violent father who hits her and her mother. I think this would make it more traumatising as the younger female being abused would be even more effective.

East is East Timeline

I analysed the opening sequence of East is East and made a time line which includes when it cuts, what goes on in the opening sequence, and what credits are seen.

                            

Production log: 2

In week two, i have learnt about many conventions of an opening sequence and social realist codes that relate to the audience. British Social realist films are based on real life situations that go on in British society, so the films can relate to many people in Britain, even people who wouldn't normally watch these types of films as they still may be able to relate to some aspects of the film. I have also learnt that opening sequences have a lot of credits in them, that i never really noticed before, which cover a lot of the crew that was involved in the film.

Learning these things has given me ideas of what to include in my film when i am in production. It will help me make a more original and interesting idea, as i will try to add themes that are not usually included in these films so it would be a bit different and look at different areas of society then normal, which will relate to different people as well. Also i will make sure i add all the credits needed in so i keep with the normal conventions of an opening sequence.

Looking at news stories will influence my ideas because as they are real life, and British Social Realism films are based on real life, i can use these for a base as my ideas. One text i fount influencing was a story about a paedophile, which i could use the theme of child abuse to add into my story and it could help me come up with a good idea.

I will conform to some of the conventions of British Social realist films so it relates to that category of films and looks realistic, however i will try to subvert away from some of them to keep my idea a bit more unique and different so it stands out from the rest.

Use of themes in British Social Realism

What is the link between British Social Realism themes and the real world?

The themes shown in British Social Realism films are based on what happens in real life. Some of the themes that we see in the films include: Violence, Drug/Alcohol abuse, Childhood, Petty Crime, Isolation and Sex/Sex abuse.

These themes are typically of what goes on in British life and most relate to real life. The news also gets its aspiration from these types of themes that happen in real life. For example, recently this month, a 16 year old boy was murdered after a brutal attack by a gang. He was beaten and stabbed in the

chest. This shows themes of violence and crime, which is in many British Social Realism films like Kidulthood. Kidulthood has a lot of violence and crime going on, and the characters are in gangs, which is similar to things that happen in real life like the story that was on the news above.

What is unique about how themes are explored in British social realism films?

The themes shown in British Social Realism films are explored in a unique way. As the films are based on real life, and they try to make it seem as real as possible so the audience can relate to many things in the film, then when themes like violence and sexual abuse are involved, it makes it much more affective. For example in the film Nil by Mouth there is a scene where a man is beating hes wife while a child is sitting at the top of the stairs. This affects the audience much more then say a Hollywood Horror film, because in a horror film they cant relate to many things so its not realistic, but in BSR films as they can relate to many things of the characters, when they see this scene it becomes very emotional and they start to feel like what they would if they was actually there. So British Social Realism films  really try to portray the themes realistically, which makes it unique as it emotionally affects the audience.

                           

Is there any themes which are essential to all British social realist films? What are they? Why are they essential?

Some themes in British Social Realism films are essential. One theme which we would see in every British Social Realism film is poverty, and economic hardship. This theme is shown in all BSR films because it is a problem in life that more people can relate to. Most people in Britain are working class, so making films with characters have a lot of money wouldn't relate as widely as the characters in poverty. Also, being in poverty also arises most of the other themes, like petty crime and violence, because they style of living wouldn't have been very good and they grow up bad areas. For example in Fish Tank they live in rough areas, which influences them to steal things and be violent, but if they weren't in poverty they wouldn't be living in that area and wouldn't have grown up having a bad lifestyle. So i think poverty is an essential theme to British social realist films, and is the main one of all these films.