Part 1 - Brief

This was the brief that we was given to work towards. We had to create a film of the genre British social realist, for the institution Film4. The target audience was of the ages 16-24, and we had to conform to the typical conventions of Film4 and BSR films like the visual aspects eg camera shots, locations etc, and the editing and musical style, and also keep to the budgets of a Film4 film to keep up their reputation. I think that me and Chanel met the brief well, because in our audience feedback we gained many positive comments saying that our work was original, kept to the conventions and looked like a BSR film, which is what it states in the brief that it needs to be.

The title we came up with for our film was Drained. We feel this title relates to what goes on in the film and also to the character. The word drained, connotes to the audience that the character might feel 'drained' and that her life might be like this as well. For example at the start of the film (0.20) the character wakes up in a very dull room and is late already. This would connote that her life is draining as she cant even wake up in the morning as she is too tired or 'Drained'. Also, as the character works in a laundry factory, there would be many washing machines and other machinery. We feel that the title could also connote to the audience that the character does work in a laundry factory, because when washing machines turn off the water gets 'drained' out so the word is also a function that washing machines do. So it connotes a more hidden message as well as portraying what the characters life is like.

Here is our media production again.

             
In the opening sequence, Adriana wakes up late for her first day of work. She rushes to get ready and tries to get there as quickly as possible. She is excited for her first day at work, and it shows her boss walking around waiting for her. At first he looks calm, but then he starts to get angry at her absence. When she arrives he grabs her and threatens her. Adriana is very scared and realises this job is nothing like she thought it would be. The blog post 'treatment' explains this in more detail.

In the rest of the story, Adriana tries to get out of the workplace, but as she would have no money if she left she cant. She starts doing prostitution on the side so she can save some money up to eventually leave. Whilst still working at the laundry, Adriana falls in love with another foreign worker, and they try to get out and find a better life for themselves. You can view what happens in detail in the blog post 'Narrative'

Our opening sequence sticks to normal conventions of BSR films, because we explore themes that are typically seen. For example at 1:57 in the movie, we denote the boss Steve grabbing Adriana by the throat. This connotes the theme of violence, as a man is grabbing a women which is assault. This is the first time we see this theme being portrayed in the film. Violence is a typical theme in BSR films, which can be seen in films like 'Fish Tank' , 'Looking for Eric' and many more. Also when conducting research into BSR films, people said that they would like to see violence portrayed in BSR films, which we have done here. This is in the blog post 'Audience research'

Also, at 0:18 and 0:39, the theme of poverty is seen in the film. In the first screen shot we denote lots of mess on the floor and the room looks very cramped. This portrays the theme of poverty as it shows the character doesn't care about her home, which would mean its not valuable enough to care about, and also she hasn't got enough room to put all her belongings. In the second screen shot, we see a towel being used as curtains. This connotes the theme of poverty because it shows they cannot afford to buy curtains so they use what they can instead. Poverty is a main theme shown in all BSR films so as we added this theme in it conforms to typical conventions that they use.


Throughout the film, the theme of isolation can be seen. At 1:30 is when it can be seen the most. Here we denote the character sitting at a bus stop all alone, and the framing shows lots of space to the left of her. This connotes that she is very lonely and doesn't belong here. Other films that use this style is 'Shifty'. They use similar framing to connote the theme of isolation. This theme is also used widely in BSR films so we have explored the themes used in BSR films well.


Exploring these themes in our film shows how it relates to the genre of a BSR film because these  themes are very common in this genre, which is why we used them so it clearly relates to the genre of BSR