Audience Research

         

             

What British Social Realism films have you seen?

The majority of people said they have seen films like Anuvahood, Kidulthood Adulthood, This is England and Attack the Block. These were the most popular that was said. So from this i found that most teenagers my age like to watch films of characters that relate to them, like Kidulthood and adulthood they are roughly the same age, so it clearly is more appealing for them to watch.

What draws you in to watch these types of films?

The things that made them watch these films is that it relates to real life and it shows true issues going on today. This makes it more relatable to the audience living in Britain as it happens all around us just not as badly. So they watch it as they can relate. Also having a good storyline is what interested people into watching them, but also as there is a lot of violence on an exaggerated level, some people find that fun to watch and are interested in things like that.

What themes would you like to see portrayed more?

The themes that people wanted to be seen more was things like drug abuse, violence and sex. They wanted to see these more as these themes draw the most attention and are the most interesting, because they can relate to these themes more in their life's. However some people wanted to see more unseen issues portrayed, such as bullying in school, or how life is for unemployed people. Issues that people like us can learn from which i fount quite interesting.

Do you like our idea?

Our idea: A teenage girl in year 11 of high school doesn't really have any friends. She lives in a rough area and doesn't have a very good family. Her teacher starts to sexually abuse her, and as she had no one to talk to things started to get out of hand. She took drugs and began to inflict pain on herself. She was getting stalked by her teacher and couldn't take it anymore then accidentally killed him. This was just a rough idea to see the reactions people thought of it. The majority of people liked our idea, and said they think it would portray things that go on today and they would be interested to watch it to see what happens next and that it would send a message out. However some people thought it was unrealistic for the girl to kill her teacher, and though it was a bit over the top.

What characters do you expect in British Social Realism films/ Does our character relate?

The people said that the character in our idea does relate to what they expect of characters in BSR films. And they said they would expect violent, aggressive people that are living in poverty, but also they expect a character with bubbly personality that don't take like so seriously. They would expect a frightened young girl and a violent teacher from our idea which was expected.



Here is the Meet My Audience powerpoint slide.

Qualitive Data Analysis

My research has narrowed down my ideas for my BSR film. As many people have seen films like kidulthood, this is england etc. These are all focused around teenagers. In my idea i will focus the story on a teenager so it is more relateable for the target audience of 16-24, so they would be more interested in my idea.

Also, as from my research i fount out that the themes people like to watch the most is drug abuse, violence and sex, as these are the most relatable to our age group and society. So in my idea i will add some of these themes in, but also add more unseen themes as some people said they would like to see that more. So this helped me decided what themes are going to be in my film.

When i asked people about my rough idea, most of them said they liked the idea of the main character and what she is going through, however they thought it was to dramatic. This helped me narrow down my ideas as i will try to base my character from the one of my rough idea, but make it less dramatic and aim to make it more relatable to the audience.

As some people said they would like to see different themes portrayed, this helped my to come up with a concept because i will make it relate to a wider audience that can relate to themes that arent seen in many BSR films. It will still relate to many other people, but i will focus on portraying something more unique than other BSR film.

My research has also helped my come up with ideas about what the character will be like. On the last question i asked the audience said they expect people living in poverty or a bubbly character. This will help me as i will try to add these personalitys and aspects into my film as this is what would interest the audience the most.

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.