My preliminary task was a continuity exercise, I think that we carried it out well all the scenes flowed together and it felt realistic. The main feature was the match on action, there weren’t any jumps in between. The feedback from it was that it was an original storyline and that there was a nice sue of camera angles throughout.
The story could be clearer, people may become confused about the point of the short film there is too much free hand filming, it takes away from the finish because the camera is sometimes 'shaky' and it isn't a point of view shot. An improvement would be to use the tripod more often to add a better finish to the film. Also try more types of camera shots to add variety.
TO improve on this when we shot Queen Khan we used a tripod unless we wanted the camera to be slightly shaking .e.g. when we had the first person shot from Jody walking towards Noor right at the end of the opening sequence. This eliminated most of the shake in our clips also the storyline was much simpler and clearer to the audience because we didn’t want to confuse them which could cause them to lose interest.
The brief I was working to was to create an opening sequence for a film that will be produced by Film4. The title 'Queen Khan' was chosen because of the contradiction of it. The juxtaposition will only be visible to the target audience though because only they will know that khan translate into 'king' in english. So that title is the Queen of Kings which would be very controversial in the asian community The aim was to intrigue the audience enough to come and watch the film to find out more about the meaning.The boxing relation comes from the boxing names King Khan.
e challenge typical representations of Muslims because we feel there are representations of real life muslims that aren't explored enough or realisticly in cinema.We will use conventions such as crime, aspiration and bad father figures because we believe that they're large aspects of society at the moment and allow this film to become something as model for people to use who want to improve their lives much like the main character does by experiecing and over coming things our audience may have.
Positive aspects of the opening: Timing of the Muhammed Ali quote was timed well enough that the audience had time to read it all and it's transition on and off seemed to be received well by the audience. The audience liked the match on action cuts of Noor skipping because they felt the "rhythm" of the skipping and also like the sound bridge between the Ali quote and the opening shot. The handheld camera work not being constantly still was well received. Use of existing locations and using real extras. Real sound of radio instead of a soundtrack. Negative Aspects: Muhammed Ali quote was too small and the audience struggled to read it clearly on an average Apple Mac screen. The amount of match on action cuts of Noor skipping seemed a bit repetitive and that it could be trimmed down. Wasn't obvious that Hashaem was interested in the boxing and the boxers boxing style and was instead interpreted as him being bored by the boxing. Music from radio station jumped from the cuts in the editing. Not enough shots in the jump cut scenes around the one minute mark. Props and costumes in the mise en scene like the glasses and shoes removed the emphasism on Noor. Diegetic sound didn't match in shots. Improvements to be made: The Muhammed Ali quote proved to be difficult for audience members to read so I'm going to redo the quote in "Fireworks" because I had the max font size available in iMovieHD and they were unable to read it so instead i'm going to do it in "Fireworks" so it'll be easier for the audience to read. Trim down the length of Noors skipping but keeping in the "rhythm" of her skipping to keep the audiences attention. Attempt having the character Shani look at his watch so he there is more motive for him walking away, also a cut away adds more camera techniques. Try it out, if it dosn't work then take it out and find another and more effective way of implementing a cutaway shot. Make it more obvious that Hashaem is interested in the boxing by using camera techniques that highlight the boxers abilities and/or style. Create a wildtrack of a radiostation or music from speakers because it was well received that the radio was playing while filming but while editing the sound was cut up, a wildtrack will give the same effect but will be easier to manipulate in the editing. More shots in the jump cut sequence, there should be a shot every 2 seconds or so. Removing the glasses and shoes from the mise en scene. I'll keep the boxing equipment and Noor's jacket in the shot to show and highlight that this is her changing room but the shoes and glasses that didn't belong to her will be removed. The camera will focus more on Noor in shots and try to eliminate props and costumes in the mise en scene that take away emphasis on her. Record a wildtrack so the diegtic sound matches better.
"Noor Khan is on the rocky road to boxing success fighting both her Muslim family and community to lay her hands on her boxing glory dream."- Kuma On A Cloud Pictures
Our target audience is a British Asian audience of both males and females aging from the range of 16-24, although that is our target audience we're also attempting to make the film appeal to fans of British Social realist cinema in addition to people interested in biographical films and boxing.
To appeal to our British Asian audience we have characters and locations which will be familiar to the audience.
We also have story elements and events in the story which hopefully our audience can relate to; Muslim girls not supposed to be showing skin, conforming or rejecting to the idea of wearing a head scarf. We would like to use language that our British Asian audience will be familiar because it will add to the verisimilitude and will help our target audience relate to the characters easier.
Locations we see in the film that the Asian community may be familiar with include the family going to their relatives houses and going to the mosque.
We also have chosen that for exterior shots such as when Noor goes to the shops with her older brother Hashaem we decided that we will film in existing locations that have a high population of Asian citizens such as Ilford because it adds to the realism.
We have also targeted this audience because the themes of aspiration, pressure from older siblings and parents is something that is very common within the age group of our target audience. Our two primary protagonists Noor and Hashaem both represent a gender of our target audience and the characters ages will appeal to the target audience because they're in the same age range- Noor is 17, Hashaem is 23.
The film was inspired by the real life story of amateur youth female Muslim boxer Ambreen Sadiq so the story will appeal to fans of biographical films because it is largely based on real life events of an actual person.
The film will appeal to boxing fans because the film not just shows life like boxing fights along with an accurate portrayal of how it feels to be an actual boxer in a fight but it lets the audience see what happens behind closed doors for boxers in addition to struggles they have to endure while preparing for fights.
The film will try and explore aspects of boxing not usually seen in films like what happens in training camps and how a typical day off for a boxer works; what they do,eat and think while not training or fighting.
Boxing films don't often explore boxing from a female perspective so I think boxing through the eyes of a female protagonist will not just appeal to male boxing fans but also female boxing fans.
Outline of Film:
*The film begins with Noor on the floor of a boxing ring during the most important fight of her life; a title fight for female boxers in her age and weight division between her and her rival Joey Simpson. Occurring in reverse order we see how Noor was brought to the floor while being introduced to key characters and seeing key moments of the film that include these characters.
*The film then returns to the past-three months before the actual fight.
*Noor Khan is an amateur female muslim boxer who is trained by her British Dominican trainer Anthony Clarke.
*Noor's older brother Hashaem is released from a two year sentence for GBH early for good behaviour and has returned home to try and sort things out with his family and try to become a better brother to his sister by supporting her.
*Noor takes a week off school after her mother gives birth to her younger brother and becomes sick. During this time her father and brother beging to argue more frequently because Hashaem supports Noor in boxing and her father Salim does not.
*When Noor goes back to school her best friend Rav (a sikh teenager) tells her that most of her muslim friends are trying to avoid her because their parents don't want them related to such a "rebellious child".These friends include Noor's close Mariam who is constantly avoiding Noor.
*During a training session with Anthony Noor finds out that she's won a spot on a female amateur youth Great Britain boxer trainging camp. she accepts after her brother and Hashaem advise this.
*Hashaem and Salim argue again with the arguement turning into a small fight because Salim believes Hashaem undermines him as an authority figure.
*Noor goes to the training camp and is in constant conflict between the boxing ambassador and trainer Zoe because of Noor's headstrong attitude. The conflict isn't helped by another girl at the camp Angela who is constantly trying to provoke Noor into a fight.
*During a sparring warm up Noor and Angela's warm up gets out of hand and becomes a fight after Noor seems to get the upper hand Noor is pulled off by Zoe who begins to punish Noor.
*Noor calls Hashaem to pick her up early from the camp calling it a waste of time.
*On the car ride home she finds out from Hashaem that their father has disowned Hashaem because he's a bad role model and is tearing this family apart with his violent nature and influence on Noor. He's now staying with Anthony and that she'll see less of him.
*When Noor gets home Salim tells her that she has to choose between her boxing and her family and that if she goes ahead with the fight she'll join Hashaem in being disowned.
*At school Noor tries talking to Mariam and her other friends and they tell her that they can't be friends anymore because their parents don't want them to be associated with her. When Noor tries telling them it's their choice to be friends with her Mariam says that she's a bad muslim for showing all her flesh in the ring.
*Noor bunks the rest of school and when Rav tries to console her after training she pushes him away. Noor and Anthony have a heart to heart where Noor says she feels alone and that everyone is just wanting her to give up or fail.
*Anthony calls Hashaem and at his flat says that Noor needs to support and that Hashaem needs to do all he can to support his younger sister.
*During the final week of training Hashaem gets a small minority of muslims from the asian community and Noor's school friends and teachers to come and her support her at her fight.
*Noor goes into her fight not knowing the support she'll receive and after a few knocks to the floor from both Joey Simpson and Noor it goes to judges decision.
*Noor wins by points and is given the title.
*Noor in an after fight interview says she hopes that this minority of muslims supporting her will grow and that she hopes her father will support her in the future.
The title denotes that the story will be of a muslim female and possibly a boxing character because Khan is a muslim surname and the title Queen is only given to women. The boxing relation comes from the boxing names King Khan. The title is conventional for a British Social Realist film because it's short and named after a character.
It appeals to my target audience by having a name of the muslim character and relates to an asian celebrity that my target audience my idolise like Amir Khan.
Target Audience:
My target audience is a lower/working class audience of British Asian male and females from 16-24 years. The film will appeal to them because the majority of the characters are Asian and within that age gap.
The themes the film deals with will also appeal to them because they're things that're common with this target audience such as peer pressure, aspiration, identity, religious stress, racism and gendre issues to name a few.
The film is inspired by an already existing documentry so it should already have an audience that it can appeal to:http://www.channel4.com/programmes/ambreen-the-girl-boxer
Technology: I will use handheld camera work and a mini DV to realise my production in addition to using flip cameras because of their small size and picture quality they're easy to manouvere in tight spaces and are easy to use on existing publci locations.
The few limitations there are don't affect my production badly because the poor picture quality gives a more documentary cinematography I would like.
The fact it picks up all sound may be seen as negative but in my opening there's very little sound other than the characters heart beat and the music so it's not much of a problem and I see the fact it picks up sound as a posotive because it helps increase verisimilitude.
Representations:
The protagonist is Noor Khan and the antogonist and rival are Salim Khan(Noor's father)and Joey Simpson. We can apply Propps character types to my characters although some subvert to the typical stereotypical version of that character type or are a mix of several like Hashaem.
We challenge typical representations of Muslims because we feel there are representations of real life muslims that aren't explored enough or realisticly in cinema.
Narrative:
We see the character of Noor Khan during a ten count in a boxing match. The scene occurs in reverse order with flashbacks to past events in the characters life that are explored later in the film.
We include key characters in the opening to show how the characters are at the end of the film at the beginning to get the audience emotionally invested in their characters development over the course of the film.
Conventions of British Social Realist films we are going to use are the use of diagetic sound to increase verisimilitude.
Conventions:
We will use conventions such as crime, aspiration and bad father figures because we believe that they're large aspects of society at the moment and allow this film to become something as model for people to use who want to improve their lives much like the main character does by experiecing and over coming things our audience may have.
Hybrid elements are it's a semi biographical film and sport film which mean that we try to reference real life events and have certain scenes which conform to their genres such as training montages.
Style & Iconography:
Longtakes and jump cuts are used because they'll grab the audiences attention in addition to having the scene occur in reverse order which makes the audience pay more attention to better undestand what's occurring.
The use of flashbacks in my editing is going to benefit me because it makes my audience question what's going on and begin to wonder why the characters are how they are, this allows me to make my audience become more emotionally invested sooner by showing them what their futures will be like.
The music will play a large role in my opening because of the absence of sound. The music will have cues to show certain dramatic and emotional scenes to enhance the emotions I want it to give off. The music will also benefit visual signifiers by making them more obvious to the audience with subtle changes in pace or pitch.
Institution:
Film4 affected my production by making me take a more stylistic approach because they like to use new ways of film making so it made me alter my linear narrative to a non-linear narrative.
From the comments we have decided to go with title "Queen Khan" because other people feel it has a better relation with the film and it also gives a hint about what the film will be about. This is also because of previous famous asian boxers people will assume the film is about a male which adds to the controversy.
The name 'Khan' translates into the word king, this contreversial title will appeal to our target audience because they will want to find out more about the ' Queen of kings'
Titles:
The two titles that we are currently considering are as follows:
"Queen Khan" because it includes the title of the main characters last name while being a reference to the boxer Amir Khan's nickname. We believe it's effective because the title is short much like most British Social Realist films while because the title references Amir Khan it allows the audience to connote that there may be elements of boxing while telling the ethnicity,religion and gendre of the character for the audience. The title will appeal to our target audience of a British and Asian target audience by the reference to Amir Khan it has.
The other title is "The Girl Boxer" which we decided to use because it relates back to the documentry which our product is inspired by this means that we will already be appealing to an existing audience while also appealling to our new British and Asian target audience. However we are still unsure about the title because it dosn't stand out as film for out target audience and sounds a bit bland and cliche. I would also have no trouble gaining the rights to use this title because the documentry is owned by channel 4 which owns film 4.
Target Audience:
Our target audience is a male and female Asian British audience between the ages of 12-40, with interests in boxing,culture,religion and biographical films. The classes we have as our target audiences are the lower class and middle class, although we are not specifically trying to make the film appeal to the upper class we will not exclude them from our films audience but they will not be our primary target audience.
I believe my film will appeal to this target audience because the cast is a mixture of Asian and British actors which means the production will have characters that the audience can rellate to by ethnicity. The story and themes in the film such as the underdog stoory and the cuultural tensions and family dilemmas the film explore are something that everyione can relate to.
The representation that the characters are shown in will help the audience relate to the film because the characters will be typical of people that our target audience may have encountered such as over protective fathers and families that still have tradition family values such as the man providing for the women.
Research I undertook showed me that an audience for British Social Realist films can gain a larger audience if the film is inspired by current events in society and/or if the film is based on a true story. This film will appeal to this target audience who're interested in British Social Realist films because the film deals with current things in society like immagration and racial tensions between different ethnic groups. The story is inspired by the story of Ambreen Sadiq which gives the film some realism which will also appeal to the target audience. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/ambreen-the-girl-boxer/4od
Technology:
I'll use Mini DV cameras for the bulk of the shoot because it has been shown by directors like Danny Boyle to be an effective piece of technology in film when shooting on location and when in locations that are hard to menouver around in. They're fast and cost effective which is also a large benefit. I will use mini DV's to show the state of mind and how the chjaracters are feeling. I will do this by filming in a cocumentry style in the boxing ring with the characters, being steady when the characters are alright and becoming sloppier and more amamteur thhe more danger the characters are in.
Mobile phones will be used to show the fights from the spectators in the crowds perspective. This will be suitable because it lets the audience know that what we're seeing is from someone elses point of view and will tell them that this person is clearly not that important by the picture quality they are seeing.
Limitations of this technology are that the picture quality won't be as good as that of a HD camera because I won't be filming on HD because i don't feel confident enough editing on that software.
Representations:
The key characters in my film are the female lead boxer who is the protagonist.
The lead characters brother and sister who act as her emotional support and link to her negative family members who do not approve of her boxing.
Her trainier/coach who will act as a surrogate father figure.
Her father and mother who act as blocker character types.
The rival boxer and her coach will be the villains as they're the primary antogonists that our lead character has to face off against although her family can be interpreted as the real villains.
My film will subvert to some of the typical representations of social groups so that it appeals to the target audience but will also subvert from some because this product is inspired by a real life story it should still be accurate to the real life story that it is based upon.
Narrative-Brief:
The lead female character who is currently going to be called Noor Khan will compete againsty a rival boxer currently called Jo Simpson to win the national amateur champion title for her age and weight division. The character will only have the support of her brother,sister,coach and uncle as she fights the toughest 30 minutes of her life all the while having the pressure of her community,parents and exterior family looking down and turning their back on her.
Narrative- More detail:
The entire film from the moment Khan enters the location her fight is in will occur in real time.
The story begings with a standard linear narrative focusing on Khan trying to prepare herself in in her final week of training to fight Jo simpson for the ABA title of their weighrt and gendre division. While training her father and mother begin to heavily pressure her to give up boxing.
Her older brother Adil has recently been released from prison for GBH so is looked down upon by his community and parents and this has a further negative impact on peoples reactions to his muslim younge sister being a boxer as he is encouraging her to do it. The film explores the racism, family tensions and stress that Khan has to go through to build up to her fight while only having her brother and surrogate father figure coach for support. . The film will end with Khan winning her fight and gaining the respect of her community as we see her community openly cheering for her at there homes and in the audience. The film wil close with Khan in an after fight interview hoping her family will support her further in her career now her community does.
The films real ltime segment/scenes will make up either half or a third of the film.
* The character of Adil will be a negative male character who shows support for the character Khan even if he isn't the best role model. This is a typical charactter type of British Social Realist film so it should appeal to the target audience.
* The coach "Keith" will play a large role in the film being a surrogate father figure and possible better role model than Khan's brother Adil. He will be the catalyst behind getting Khan and Adils Uncle to support her and give her uncle the idea to get more muslims and members of the asian community to support her.
Conventions:
I'll use social realist conventions such as negative male role models and surrogate father figures to show the struggle that the lead character had to endure to make her victory seem all the more speecial.
I will use conventions like lack of a soundtrack because it'll kkeep the audience in the realm of the film and add to the verisimilituude.
I will subvert from conventions like a heavily implied sad ambigious ending and instead will have a largely happy and positive ending but that is left ambigious about whether her family supported her to let the audience have something to ponder on.
Hybrid elements I will employ will be the biographical aspect by drawing inspiratiion of real life events that happened to Ambreen Sadiq. Other hybrid elements will be the boxing movie conventions such as a possible montage training sceene and the character reaching a point where it looks like that they may lose but ultimately succeed. However I may leave this out because it may take away the realism.
Style & Iconography:
I will use extensive long takes and manipulate camera movements to both make the audience feel one with the character but to also express the characters emotions and physical stabilityduring scenes which both occur in the ring/traing and with her famiily.
I'll employ a shellshock effect during the boxing scenes so that when Khan is hit depending on the vacinity she's in to the camera and the force of the punch the camera will have a jump cut which will shift to a shot with a slight zoom to show impact while the camera work gets more amateur and sloppier, i would use a shell shock sound effect to show that the characters hearing has dirsorientated; using a hight pitch one note to get louder and the other sounds would get quieter.
I will use costumes and props as visual cues. for example if there is a of Khan and her father arguing I would frame the shot so the boxing gloves and religious painting are between the two characters as they argue to show their significence.
Institution:
The production company in my brief has impacted the type of film i intend to make by making my film an underdog story because it'll appeal more to an audience who like Film 4's body of work.
The produiction company also impacted my film by the themes that it would tackle because I wanted to tackle themes that most films would be afraid to tackle but Film 4 would allow me to.
The distribution will effect the film because it'll only be able to have a limited release world wide because film 4 have to produce many other films. It'll most likely the film would only be released in the UK, USA and Pakistan because of the characters and themes won't appeal to a completely global audience and the themes are tailored to a very specific niche audience.
My film would be exhibited in few cinemas across the UK and would be released for home video exhibition by Film 4 in large stores across the Uk like HMV and would be available to order online at websites like PLAY.COM because of their ability to allow the product to be distributed over sea. The film would also have a television premiere on Film $ and channel 4 because it would cost nothing to distribute because it's owned by Channel 4 and would allow word of mouth to spread on the product.
This week I have learnt about what conventions and themes appeal to my target audience, in addition I have also discovered what are the most popular forms of distribution available for me that will appeal to my target audience. I learnt that British Social Realist films are more likely to appeal if the film has some relevance to occurances in society at the time it's being made and if the film has realism to it such as the film being based or inspired by true events.
I have learnt that the institutions involved in the production of a british social realist film will try to target their film at a particular niche audience and have themes in their production that will appeal soley to that audience. The production company will also try to implement controversial themes that occur in current society so as to appeal to it's target audience and tackle subjects that most other films would be afraid to do. The production company will also try their best to use existing locations to avoid rising the budget of their picture because it's cheaper for them and adds to the verisimilitude to the film if they use an existing location, this is also why they tend to use unknown or not very well known actors because it's not a recognisable face they'll accept the film with more ease because the character could be an average person and not a celebrity.
This will inform my production by having a film that has themes that'll appeal to my target audience and will also most likely be inspired by true events. I will also use existing locations as much as possible and will use an unknown actors to increase the verisimilitude of my product.
What have you learnt about the narrative structures & devices? In terms of narrative & structure, I have learnt this week that the credits and titles are very important to any opening sequence as it tells us the main cast (giving us an idea of what kind of film it may be as we associate certain actors with certain genres) and who took part in actually creating the film (producers, editors, director of photography etc.) The credits are used as a final hook for the audience as they will reconise the names fo the actors,actresses or directors of previous films they may like ergo the audience may have soem sort of idea what kind of film they are about to watch e.g. Jason Statham is associated with high energy, high intensity and quite violent films.
The non-diegetic sound (theme tune/soundtrack) is also important in an opening sequence, as it again, helps tell us what genre/style the film may be. For example, Kidulthood chose to use and underground music track that only youth from lond would reconise before seeing the film which automatically tells us its aimed toward a younger audience, more specifically youth of London.
I found out that there aren't a lot of sounds in the opening just the theme tune of the film. there were lots of close ups not revealing a lot of information just little details that may have relevance to the film later but at the moment we won't know what they mean or represent. The credits and titles continue throughout the whole opening sequence, over the top of the actual film- the text wasn't integrated within the film to draw the viewers attention to the text whilst still being able to view the scene.
Definition for any jobs I didn't know?
Director of Photography-Used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image. The term cinematographer has been a point of contention for some time now; some professionals insist that it only applies when the director of photography and camera operator are the same person, although this is far from being uniformly the case.
What will i Have in Mine?
I will most probably use the same technique as in this film when it comes to overlaying the text over the actual scene. This is because I want to be recognized for my work and if the text is integrated in the film people may not take notice unless i make it extremely deliberate.
This week I have learnt about Opening sequence conventions and their importance in how they hook the audience in from the very beginning. I have learnt there are many factors including the film company logo, the Title, the typography, the location, the back story and the characters into making it a successful opening sequence. Films that are targeted at British Niche audiences all have similar themes; Aspiration, Race & Ethnicity, Social Class, Violence, Sexuality, Relationships, Addiction, British Politics and Immigration.
I will take this into consideration when I am making my own opening sequence and try to involve some of these themes that niche audiences love. I will also conform and include as many of the conventions as I can, to keep it an opening sequence rather than give the whole story away like a trailer would.
The texts that I have found to be most influential to the theme of British Social Realism would be Kidulthood and Snatch as they set the scene for a real Britain - gritty and run down. They don't try to glamorise the reality of everyday life and rather embrace it.
We started off our coursework by looking at the mark scheme and assessing previous student's work. This is helpful as we know what we want to achieve and what we will try to stay away from in our own work. The mark scheme shows the four different levels for each stage of production.
I have realised that there is not much difference between the levels apart from how much detail you add and how persistent you are with it. I have learnt that I must manage my time well, keep organised and stay on top of the work rather than rushing it, and it being unsatisfactory. By looking at the grade boundaries, I know what I want to achieve and what I could be capable of as long as I work hard. I have also noticed that I need to make sure everything ties in and actually goes together.
I will try to avoid getting behind and leaving my work to the last minute as the amount of work will mount up, where I wont be able to focus and spend the amount of time I wanted to on it. So I will try to keep up with the work and keep referring back and going over the mark scheme so that I don't miss any information that needs to be included.
He appears confident in what he is saying and doesn't really hesitate much at all which indicates that he has a clear understanding of what went well and what could have been better. He appears honest in his judgements, speaking of all the good points, but also what didnt go to plan.
Set against the background of the 1984 Miner's Strike, Billy Elliot is an 11 year old boy who stumbles out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor. He faces many trials and triumphs as he strives to conquer his family's set ways, inner conflict, and standing on his toes.
Ricky is just out of a young offenders' institute, heading home to Hackney and determined to go straight. Instead, he heads straight for trouble when he becomes involved in a street confrontation, siding with his best friend Wisdom against a local rude boy. The trouble escalates into a series of tit for tat incidents that threaten to spiral out of control. Ricky's 12-year-old brother Curtis, hero-worships Ricky, though he appears smart enough to know he doesn't want to follow his example. Yet, despite the stern warnings from his mother and support from her friends in the community, might Ricky's bad boy allure be too attractive for Curtis to resist?
Snatch (2000): Turkish and his close friend/accomplice Tommy get pulled into the world of match fixing by the notorious Brick Top. Things get complicated when the boxer they had lined up gets the shit kicked out of him by Pitt, a 'pikey' ( slang for an Irish Gypsy)- who comes into the equation after Turkish, an unlicensed boxing promoter wants to buy a caravan off the Irish Gypsies. They then try to convince Pitt not only to fight for them, but to lose for them too. Whilst all this is going on, a huge diamond heist takes place, and a fistful of motley characters enter the story, including 'Cousin Avi', 'Boris The Blade', 'Franky Four Fingers' and 'Bullet Tooth Tony'. Things go from bad to worse as it all becomes about the money, the guns, and the damned dog.
Shifty, a young crack cocaine dealer in London, sees his life quickly spiral out of control when his best friend returns home. Stalked by a customer desperate to score at all costs, and with his family about to turn their back on him for good, Shifty must out-run and out-smart a rival drug dealer, intent on setting him up for a big fall. As his long time friend Chris, confronts the dark past he left behind him, Shifty is forced to face up to the violent future he's hurtling towards.
A group of girls dancing on a council estateplayground, this relates tosocial realism because it is in a run down area, it wouldnt have the same effect if this were taking place in a dance studio.
Violenceis a very strong theme throughout the film: like when Mia headbutts the girl in her nose resulting in it being broken. This relates tosocial realismbecause we are shown the 'nitty gritty' of hardened council estate enhabitants, this kind of behaviour isn't normally shown on films.
People casually engaging in sexual activites during the party shows social realismbecause it exposes theaudience to what really happens, it doesn't cut away and give sounds from a closed door. It is directly infront of the audience just like it is directly infront of Miabut she accepts this as the norm. Showing younger generations to be more accepting of casual sex.
Ambitions is a theme because Mia has dreams of becoming a dancer. Yet we are also shown that she has unknowingly applied to be a strip club dancer another trait of thiskitchen sink type cinema.
Domestic violence, Mia's mum pushes and shoves her children around, this relates tosocial realismbecause it shows how not everyone lives wholesome upbringing, Mia has ahard life.
Freedom is subtle underlying theme throught the film. We can see this through the horse which is used to represent Mia, her spirit and her will power; as we get deeper into the movie her attempts at freeing the horse are consistently unssucessfull: The horse is a symbol used to represent Mia tot he veiwer subtly. It portrays to the audience that regardless of how hard or how many times Mia tries to escape her enviroment she will always fail this relates to social realism because it is saying that once your poor you will always will be porr unlike in maintream films where we are shown a typical 'rags to riches' story.
Representation (stereotypes & archetypes):Mia is represented as a chav, with her big hooped earrings and tracksuits and trainers. This also makes her appear to be working class which most people are, relating to social realism. She plays up to the stereotype when the girl dancing calls her a "skanky little pikey" and Mia headbutts her causing the other girl to bleed. chavs are often portrayed as rude people. She is also shown peeing in the middle of Connors living room which shows she is an antisocial and quite unhygenic, another steriotype linked to chavs.
Connor picks up Mia, takes her to her bed and undresses her and then puts the covers over her, this relates to social realism as it can be seen as him being heroic and a helpful father like figure; this could have been done to make Conor seem a genuine person to the audience who are at the time suspicious of his motives, or it could be seen as perverse and controversial as he hasn't known her long enough for them to be that comfortable in eachothers presense.
We see a representation of working class obviously throughtout the film.This is denoted by the clothes they wear, the environments they live in, the budgets they live on and the general lifestyles they live.
Mia or her Siter aren't shown going to school at any time during the film which makes them appear to be stupid and inconsiderate of the law. This is quite a negative representation of the kids and teenagers in the area.
The mother is shown to be a stereotypical, blonde, Dagenham tart who has probably mentally scared her children for life and hasn't provided them with the oppurtunities to be succesfull in life ergo setting them up to fail.This relates to social realism as it further defines how badly un-organised and unstable society is when it comes to social relationships.
Mise-en-scene:
The scenes are based around run down council estates, this relates to social realism because it represents everyday working class characters lifestyle.
The weather is shown to be warm and sunny, which leads us to beleive it is summer time. Which is slightly different to what is typically expected in Britishsocial realist films, however it adds to the diagesis of the movie as Britain isn't always under bad weather.
The flat is very run down and has no luxuries. When Mia opens the fridge and asks "is there dinna" we see there's barely what we the audience would refer to as the everyday essentials. They have no kettle, have to make a cup of tea using the hobs, no money to buy small luxuries as they can survive without it. We see her drinking straight from the tap again showing us working class and poverty.
Camera work & Editing: Ambience Sound the sound of kids always playing and crying heightens the fact that none of the children go to school. this can also be quite a negative representation that parents who bring up their children on council estates are unfit parents this is a common perception.
The camera tends to track Mia and follows her movement, once again using long takes rather than snappy editing with jump cuts, dragging out each movement giving a more mundane feel and repetative.
A high angle is used when Connor hands Mia a bottle of drink at night in the living room this relates to social realism as it deals with the gritty idea of underage drinking, and an adult figure actually encouraging it.
The camera shots are basic throughout the film generally doing shot reverse shots to show everyday conversation & close ups to show emotion e.g when Mia was spying on mum in her bedroom, there was a close up of her reaction.
Cut-away to the dog while they all dance at the end, which shows the moment of bonding or the family including the dogs reaction as he too is part of the family.
Music & Sound effects: At the beginning, we hear the girls dancing to "Cassie - me & you". This shows social realism as it shows an moder track that was once in the charts. Again people can relate to this and it targets a more mainstream audience, whereas if it was an unknown song, it wouldn't have the same effect.
There is a lot of synergy used with in Fish Tank regarding the sound tracks, this emphasises that not all British teenagers listen to Grime and British rap, but are also heavily involved with and influenced by American artists and music. This is unlike most social realist films because it uses chart topping songs which aren't common in this genre butt it may be because this film is set in the modern day.
The Phone used by Mia in the film
Mia receives a text and the message tone is that of an old nokia, this relates to social realism because it shows the economic hardship, having to use old phones.
Diagetic Sound;the radio and TV playing in the house. Mia starts to copy Ashanti's music video showing that girls copy what they see on TV. Media influence is quite a big issue for teenagers as it can shape how they behave.
Dialogue: I mentioned before that, the horse is a metaphorical symbol for Mia and there is a statement made with in the film which made it obvious that the horse symbolised Mia, which was "we had to shoot her, she was 16": Mia was 15 at this point Mia breaks down and starts to cry as her chances of freedom and what gave her hope had been killed Literally and metaphrically. Many people can relate to this as not everyone have been able to achieve their hopes and dreams which creates a sense of social realism.
"Little cunt" mum uses offensive language to her own children. this connotes a mother swearing at her children it signifies that Working class parents do not take pride in their choice of language and do not care how they speak to their children or how their children speak to others.
Those bloody tracksuits cost twenty quid yano!' Mia's mother says to her, this relates to social realism because it suggests that money is an issue for the single mother and that when she buys things for her children she expects them to last for a long time which contradicts the growing trend of society of being friveless with possseions this shows how poverty is holding them back from progression.
