Pre-Production:Themes of British social realism

Pre-Production:British Social Realist Films

Billy Elliot(2000):

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.

Director: Stephen Daldry

Writer: Lee Hall

Stars: Jamie Bell, Julie Walters and Jean Heywood

Bullet Boy(2004):

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?

Director:Saul Dibb

Writers:Saul Dibb, Catherine Johnson

Stars:Ashley Walters, Leon Black and Chris Callendar

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.

Director:Guy Ritchie

Writer:Guy Ritchie

Stars:Jason Statham, Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro

Shifty(2008):

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.

Director:Eran Creevy

Writer:Eran Creevy

Stars:Riz Ahmed, Daniel Mays and Jason Flemyng

Pre-Production:Beach-Combing

"THE HARDEST THING IS MAKING IT EASY"

Pre-Production:Fish Tank

Themes & Situations:

A group of girls dancing on a council estate playground, this relates to social realism because it is in a run down area, it wouldnt have the same effect if this were taking place in a dance studio.

Violence is a very strong theme throughout the film: like when Mia headbutts the girl in her nose resulting in it being broken. This relates to social realism because 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 realism because it exposes the audience 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 Mia but 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 this kitchen sink type cinema.

Domestic violence, Mia's mum pushes and shoves her children around, this relates to social realism because it shows how not everyone lives wholesome upbringing, Mia has a hard 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 British social 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.

Trailer for Fish Tank: