Sound reprsentation of british social realism film

British social realism visual style

Production Log 3

What have you learnt about opening sequences and title devices ?

In the past week i have monitored films and how theyre use of credits are effective. I had examined the position of the credits as well as titles. I also managed to workout the connotations of soem of them. For example the hierachy of the characters are shown by the order of what characters come first and last , and whether they are alone on the screen or if they have other people on the screen along with them. One activity i did was creating the visual time line for a british social realism film. (east is east)

How will this inform your production ?/ What methods will you use ?

Since i have used a british social realism film , made by film 4 itself i will try to use what i have seen film 4 use on the credits of east is east. For example the opening sequence of east is east was msotly music , however i did not find this as effective. And i will therefore change this and embed more conversations and dialogue in my opening sequence. However there are good things to take from the opening sequence of east is east , and one of them would be that it establishes most characters and the main characters. It also gives us an insight of the situation in the film. I will try to emaluate this in my production as it is very effective and creates enigma , which then means people will feel excited and want to watch more of the film.
One other method i will use is that , i will have more on screen titles than east is east . Although not too much that it looks like a trailer. Also i will try to use the high angle shot used by east is east in my production in order to set the scene of my opening sequence.

Visual time line of the institutional info

Possible locations for British social ralism

Peckham

This is a landscape of Peckham. The area is well known for its run down and derelecit area , these areas have become a habitat for some of the most ruthless gangs in Britain. The buildings look very old and will not be expensive to live in , there are many council flats as well. This would be an ideal location for my british social realism film due to the fact it is run down and shows poverty as well hardship. One other reason would be the fact that if has british references , due to the fact there are many notorious gangs from this place , and an image of where many incidents happen will enlighten people of what actually happens in Britain.



Members from the well known peckham based gang , gas gang.



Hackney

From this picture you can see the clothes outside , this is outlining the severe poverty in the Hackney Estate. As they do not have a garden to put their clothes up , neither is there a tumble dry or neither can they use their heaters . Also there is a lack of space , adn it is very congested. This is a very good location for a british social realism because again it shows the circumstances of some British people who are going through poverty. With poverty being a major theme in british social realism this image reveals the poverty in this area , however there is also violence in this estate. Pembury estate , it is called , it was part of the London Riots . The theme violence emerges from this due to the fact they are looting and fighting police. This is even better due to the fact it shows the ultimate corrupt estate as well as poor , you can see they are un educated other wise they wouldnt resort to such a level of violence.



Anger demonstrated on a car , by the people of Hackney



Newham

This is a landscape of Newham. It is said to be the poorest borough of the United Kingdom. along with the most un employed people of Britain. This is straight away a fantastic destination for a British Social Realism , because people are not educated , therefore they resort to many other crimes. There are a lot of drug trafficking in Newham also , as well as the fact they was involved in the riots as well. Most of the buildings are council flats. Therefore British social realism films can show this unvarnished borough and it will probably create the most moving effect towards the audience, because of the fact it is severely corrupt.

This is a picture of a rapper from Newham , he raps about selling A class drugs including ; Cocaine. His appearance shows that he is of the youthful population , hwoever is well dressed due to the fact he is sellign drugs. However you can see the way he is rapping he is making gun signs with his hands , as well as the fact as rapping about gun shoot outs. Therefore somebody like this rapper , Morrison, defines what happens in Newham . One final thing is the bakground , it is almost an empty area , therefore he chose to do his song in a derelict area. Which shows even he is trying to show his hardship and where he lives is very poor. This would be a fanatstic place for a British social realism film.

Isle of dogs  

As you can see from this picture that most of the buildings in this picture are all flats. Also there are no cars , meaning that people cannot afford it therefore have to use the oublic transport. The fact that this is in london , is great for a british social realism. This is because most films show the good side of london , the nightlife and the expensive stuff. However they are not showing what truely goes on behidn the scenes , therefore to base a film in the isle of dogs will raise awareness of British realism.

This picture defines exactly what the unvarnished side of British social realism is. The picture above shows the pretty side however the other picture of the estate shows the rather unvarnished side. One thing british social realism films use is un varnished places , therefore this place will be perfect to shoot a british social realism film.

How british social realism themes are used

Racism

This is a theme which is embedded into British social realism a lot , due to the fact Britain has a big history with a lot of migration occurring especially after the world war 2.  One prime example of this would be the film based in the 1960's , which was only after the forklands war however still coming to terms with the world war 2. The racism act was towards a middle aged asian man , who was stereo typically in a cornershop which most asians are associated with even in todays day and age. The theme was put across by the dialect of the scene , when one of the skinheads said , " He's dad died for his country , what have you done ?". This goes back to the stereo typical view people had in them days that all the foreighners and the migrants were stealing the english people's jobs. Another dialect which proved to be part of the racist theme in this film was , "Paki". This creates a bad atmosphere to the adueince. It shows what the asian people had to go through in them times , which makes people feel sorry for them and they themselves become emotional.

Poverty

Film 4's ideology is in fact to show the hardship of a british life , aswell as the gritteyness of Britain itself. Therefore poverty creates this theme and it also salutes their ethos perfectly. an example of where Poverty is potraid is the film , "looking for eric". Eric himself is a postman and is shown in his uniform , this makes him look very casual and working class. Aswell as his house being very small and almost clustrophobic. It is very dirty also with things all over the place , which reduces the space even more. With the help of mise en scene; Props and costume, it identifies the status of the characters , aswell us giving us a negative representation of the whole place it self (Manchester). 

Violence/ Curroption

In the later films of british social realism , they are more based in the later generation of Britain. These stories are set mostly in the run down urban areas of britain. One thing which sums up the appearance of these characters would be a chav. Also another theme which is acted upon on in british social relaism filsm is violence. I have linked these two themes because the later films show a different dimension of violence. In a film such as "Kidulthood" it shows that violence is being potraid in an association or a gang. This is also shown in another british social realism film , "Attack the block", where they also perform violence in a group. Britain has undergone many gang violence , it has most definately become the most popular crime to be going on in Britain. British social realism films act upon the real outgoing of British society and embed it into their films , which give the audience a picture of how corrupt the younger generation and to what extent they take their corruptness and use it in violence , by killing people , severely injuring and many other obscene scenarios.

Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is a horrific image to imagine , as you see perfectly ordered people perish due to their addiction to drugs. British social realism reflects on the recurring theme of drug abuse , and it has a very negative impact on the audience. As they feel very disturbed , hhowever they also realise as to what goes on in Britain and it raises their awareness . Which defines british social realism films aim , to raise awareness of what actually goes on in Britain. One film which shows Drug abuse is the film , "shifty" , this is a film where a young man has a made a living off selling cocaine. However he is destroying families and killing people slowly by providing them the drug. It is a very moving film which shows drug abuse is a very sensitive theme and british social realism themes use it it to its extent as it shows what it does to peoples live and it shows that it does go on in a country which has achieved so much internationally.

 Sex

Sex is a very common theme which emerges within the british social realism films , it has been shown in many films in this generation as well as previous times of the birtish indurstry. People will almost get the image that sex is a thing we are addicted to. However recently there have been rather disturbing images of sex and a different presentation of it , over the recent years.  For example under age sex is being shown quite a few times , FIshtank , 4 3 2 1 a swell as the kidulthood trilogy ( kidulthood , adulthood , anuvahood). These all shows teenagers who are easily recognisable as too young for sex , however this sighting of under age sex shows that the representation of british people is negative and they are careless. These sex sighting only occure with in the poor urban areas mainly. 

Production Log week 2

What have you learnt about social realist codes and conventions in relation to audience ?

Over the two weeks , we have analysed a lot of opening sequences. And even from the opening sequences it is visible that social realist codes are basically the genres of social realism it self. This also counts as the conventions , as most the themes used are based of british social realism genre itself. This themes are such as , political violence, murder , gang warefare , violence , poverty and many other striking themes. This can relate to their audience , due to the fact its what happens in a day to day british life style for some people. Or they may even see it. Therefore the audience can relate to it , as British Scoail Realism films normally target for british nieche markets. Also in the opening sequence i have learnt the way to use the credits and introduce characters , such as reccuring characters themselves in opening sequence.

How will this inform your production ?

This will help me , due to the fact i need to make a british social realism genred film. And to emaluate the good uses of credits , and titles of a british social realism film will be ideal for me as i am trying to show the examiners that this relates to the british nieche audience. Also i will use the texts they have used and take it into mind , as well as the way they use it because this will help me come up with my own ideas as well as try to make my opening sequence better.

What texts do you find particiularly influential and why ?

I have been evaulatating east is east for my work. The use of credits they have used is very good , and the texts they use is very modern . However the credits do not finish only ater 3 minutes. this is a prolonger process , even though the quality of the texts are good and draw attention towards the audience. Which makes them like the film more. It says insitutional information the most , which i will try to use as it has influenced me because it makes the british social realism theme more relevant.

Use of films in British Social realism

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

British social realism films and the news have a common base. It is all based on things which happen in britain itself. Whilst watching the news it reveals many devastating things which you look upon and feel bad towards to. 
"#MyJihad is to kidnap and terrorize the kuffar. What's yours?" - This is a quoted line from a case of a youthful Islamic group who are in support of the alleged terrorist acts going on in Syria  The men are ages among 18 , 21 and 33. Therefore a fairly young group. This almost links with the British social realism film " Four lions " (2010) . I was immediately engaged on to the story as it reminded me a lot of the whole plot of the four lions film , in fact and im sure a lot of people who have watched the film are thinking the same thing.  Like the young men in the four lions characters , they have got the wrong conception of the Islamic term of jihad. And plan to base their jihad on a terrorism act. Jihad which is an Islamic term for every Muslims duty , it means to "strive in the way of god ". Terrorism is a highly violent procedure , Islam certainly does not promote this sort of corruptness in fact it promotes peace. As most people would know that Islam means peace.  Therefore the line immediately shows the people involved in the real life association of the terrorism act are no different to the characters in four lions. Even the term "kuffar" is used , which is repetitively used in four lions.  This is a perfect example of how the link between the British social realism genre and the real world problems are so intact , because the real life case study is almost the same as four lions. Which shows British social realism films are showing what truly happens in the British society .

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

British social realism films are set in normal situations. They make out as if the actors are living the usual life of a British person. They do include difficulties , such as a bad area to grow up or an alcoholic mother. And many other scenarios which i am sure many film institution used. However BSR include things which you don't see in your average Hollywood film. They include vile and disgusting sightings which effect you very badly. In a sense they do go over the top in trying to portray what sort of violence goes on inside parts of Britain . One theme is domestic violence , films such as Final destination are every brutal however it has become a sort of entertainment as it is all fictional based. An opposite of this would be the 1997 film " Nil by mouth" . This is a great example of domestic violence , and it is very moving. As the woman is being very brutally beat up by her husband  And he fact that they do not show the woman being beat , leaves us to imagine how she looks. This has an immediate effect on the audience , and it makes us feel sorry for her as well as disgusted. This a great example of how unique the way British social realism films portray their themes.

Are there any themes which are essential to British social realism films ? What are they and why are they essential ?

In British social realism films , they reveal many themes which go on in Britain.  These themes consist of violence , racial injustice , drug and alcohol abuse. Without these sort of themes BSR cannot make people realize that Britain has many shocking things which happen. these themes of violence , are things such as killings , fights. Racial injustice is another theme which strikes as very important in BSR and it is essential because as people thought that we are getting rid of racism the fact it still occurs . Makes people very sad , meaning the BSR films ethos has worked as they try to show what literally occurs in Britain.