For my AS Media Studies coursework I will be studying British Realism Films and carefully analysing the codes and conventions associated with this genre of film. I have analysed in great detail the codes and conventions used in the open 2 minutes of both 'Bullet Boy', 'Kidulthood' and 'Yasmin', but I also focused on other British Realism films, which included:
- Kes
- Human Traffic
- Twenty Four Seven
- Summer
I have been studying British Social Realism and the conventions of this genre of film. British social realism represents the lives of British people, usually the working class, and set in deprived areas and deals with contempary issues of the time. The casting of unknown actors adds to the creation of realism within the film. Although many British social realism films are quite low bugdet so they cannot afford a big name star, like a hollywood blockbuster can.
Codes and Conventions of British Social Realism Films
Often of the working class
The main character in Kes is of a working class background and his brother (pictured below) is getting ready to go and work in the mines. When the film was released in 1969 many families, especially in the north, were in exactly the same position as the family in Kes.
Contempary social issues
Bullet Boy shows many conventions of a British Social Realist film. One of those is the representation of contempary issues, such as gun and youth crime. Gun crime is an issue of the 21st century and bullet boy helps the audience understand why some people follow or are forced to follow this lifestyle.
Represents reality - relates to real life
In Twenty Four Seven 'Darcy' sets up a boxing club because the local teenagers have no way of spending their time productively. This represents reality as many teenagers have nothing to do in their spare time and so become anti-social.
Unknown actors
Although the lead role in Yasmin (Archie Panjabi) has appeared in previous films, she is still an unknown actor as most people in the audience won't recognise her or know her name.
Unknown actors are a convention of British social realism as they add to the sense that the film represents reality. A big name hollywood star would not fit into the film as they are associated with glamourous lifestyles not gritty reality.
Regional accents
Kes is set in Yorkshire and the characters within the film have appropriate regional accents. This makes the film more realistic as the accent is neccessary. A cockney accent in Yorkshire would be confusing for the audience as the character is meant to be from where the film is set.
Regional accents in Kes:
Regional accents in Kes:
Deprived areas - poor living standard
Deprived areas add to the sense that the film relates to real life and isn't a hollywood blockbuster in which everything is perfect but something the audience can actualy relate too.
Often teenagers as the lead role
Many British social realism films have teenagers as the lead role. An example of this is 'Billy' in Kes.
Who Finances British Social Realism Films
UK Film Council - Lottery Funded
The UK Film Council was created in 2000 and wass run by the Government to help produce films in the UK. UK Film Council has backed more than 900 films, both shorts and features, and helped to make around £700 million at the box-office worldwide. Tim Bevan, co-founder and co-chairman of Working Title Films, was the Chairman and Tim Cagney was the Managing Director.
The goal of the UK Film Council was to 'help make the UK a global centre for film in the digital age, with the world's most imaginative, diverse and vibrant film culture, underpinned by a flourishing, competitive film industry'.
The UK Film Council gave out money for:
The UK Film Council gave out money for:
- Development and Production
- Training in film making
- International development and export promotions
- Distribution
- Exhibition
The UK Film Council has now been scrapped by the coalition government. From April 2011, the lottery funding will now be distributed by the British Film Institute (BFI) to film makers based in the UK.
The British Film Institute
The BFI promotes understanding and appreciation of film and television heritage and culture. Established in 1933, the BFI runs a range of activities and services.
Film and television heritage
The BFI cares for the world's richest and most significant collection of film and television. The BFI National Archive preserves almost one million titles.
Exhibition and distribution
- Venues
- Festivals e.g. the annual London Film Festival
- Film releases
Tours
Publishing and products
The BFI publishes the monthly film magazine Sight & Sound and wide range of books on film and television. The BFI also releases a range of films on DVD and Blu-ray
Education and research
BFI runs programmes for learners of all ages.
BFI National Library is the world's largest collection of information on film and television. The BFI Library's holdings include over 46,000 books, 5,000 periodical titles and over two million newspaper cuttings.
Screenonline is an online encyclopedia of British film and television featuring film and television clips from the BFI National Archive.
InView is a resource that looks into the recent history of Britain
Vertigo Films
Vertigo Films is a UK Media company founded in 2002 by producers Allan Niblo (Human Traffic) and James Richardson; director Nick Love; distributor Rupert Preston and entrepreneur Rob Morgan. The company was formed to create and distribute commercially driven independent cinema.
The Main Themes of British Social Realism Films
There are many themes in British social realism films, the main ones are:
- Gang Culture (Bullet Boy)
- Youth Crime (Shank)
- Social Class (Kes)
- Violence (Kidulthood)
- Sex (Kidulthood)
- Drugs (Kidulthood)
- Poverty (Kes)
- Prostitution (Kidulthood)
- Homosexuality (My Beautiful Laundrette)
- Disabilty (Summer)
- Unemployment (The Full Monty)
Social realism films often involve political views and religious beliefs.
Analysis of Opening Credits of 6 Social Realism Films
This table is highly significant in determining how many edits, characters, locations and titles we should use in my production. For example, bullet boy is a film which deals with similar social issues, so we will use this as a basis for our production by using almost the same number of edits, locations, characters and titles, where appropriate.
From this table we can also find out the averages of the 4 aspects of the films we analysed. The average numbers of the 4 aspects are:
Edits: 13
Characters: 3
Locations: 3
Titles: 6
Analysis of the Opening 2 Minutes
I have decided to analyse Bullet Boy, Kidulthood and Yasmin. These are all social realism film which deal with the main themes behind our media production, gang culture and rascism.
Bullet Boy
Bullet Boy (2004) was directed and written by Saul Dibb. The film stars Ashley Walters and is about a family in East London . The oldest son is released from prison in the beginning of the film and becomes involved in gun crime again and which had devastating effects for his younger brother.
BBC Films provided part of the financial backing for this film. Bullet Boy is a British and was relatively low budget, so teh film qualified for backing from the BBC and get have to go to lots of private investors as the film didn't require a large budget, unlike a Hollywood film would.
Bullet Boy is a British film and so was able to gain finance from the UK Film Council.
New British films will no longer be able to get finance from the UK film council and government money will now be distributed by the BFI.
A series of close-ups begin between the prisoner and the prison officer. A close-up of a character's face means the audience see how the character is feeling from their facial expressions.
This shot is a close-up of the main character. The audience can see clearly what he looks like and facial expression.
In this shot we see the facial expression of the prison officer, who doesn't seem pleased that the prisoner is soon to be released. We get the sense that the prisoner may be dangerous in some way. The title of the film suggests that the prisoner was involved in gum crime.
During this scene the camera never breaks the 180 degree rule. The prisoner is always on the left and the officer is always on the right.
This shot shows the prisoner starign blankly at the prison officer and has almost no emotion on his face.
This mid shot shows the audience where the characters are exactly positioned, which we could not see from the close-ups.
The way the camera is positioned makes the characters seem as though they are in confrontation between 'right' and 'wrong'. The counter acts as a boundary, with the prisoner on the wrong side of the law and the officer, who inforces the law, on the other side.
Kidulthood
Kidulthood (2006) is British film which follows the life of 15 year old teenagers who live in west London
The film begins, like the other two films I've analysed, with titles. These titles list the companies (Hanway Films, Stealth Films and Ciper Films)which have helped fund, produce and distribute the film.
This shot shows the audience that the characters in the film are not of the upper class. A convention of British social realism films is that they are about poor, deprived people and Kidulthood uses this convention. The characters seem to have no respect for themselves or their appearance.
A close-up is used in this shot to show the audience the angry facial expression of the character. This builds tension and suspense as the audience is yet to find out what is going on. This uncertainity draws in the viewer and you want to continue to watching to find out what is going to happen.
Mid shots are mainly used throughout the opening two minutes of Kidulthood. This means we see some detail, such as facial expressions. In this shot we see a gang, and over the shoulder of one character we see a schoolboy who looks frightened of the gang.
Another example of mid shots being used. The expression on both characters faces informs the audience that they are scared and worried about the consequences of not doing somebody elses coursework.
Yasmin
Yasmin (2004) is a British film about the life of a young Muslim woman living in a Yorkshire
The titles tell us who helped fund the film and distribute it. This screenshot shows that Screen Yorkshire part funded the film, and so the film must be set in the region.
Deprived areas is a key convention of a British Social Realism film. Yasmin follows this convention as it had choosen to place the broken bollards in this shot.
A close-up of the shutter is used at the begin to inform the audience that the main theme of film. As the shutter is pushed up it reveals what has been sprayed onto it. It reads 'PAKI GO HOME'.
An establishing shot is used to set the scene. We know Yasmin is set in Yorkshire (from the titles) and this establishing shot shows us the film is set in deprived town.
A close-up is used to show the direct contrast between the old and young. It clearly shows how young asians have stopped wearing traditional clothing, like their parents/grandparents but wear western clothing instead.
This shot shows a young woman trying to escape her traditional roots and become a modern, westernised woman.
Case Study Comparsion
The King’s Speech
Budget: $15,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend: $355,450 (
£3,523,102 (UK
Gross: $72,179,688 (
£24,905,378 (UK
Release Dates
Country | Date |
16 December 2010 | |
22 December 2010 | |
22 December 2010 | |
23 December 2010 | |
24 December 2010 | |
26 December 2010 | |
7 January 2011 | |
21 January 2011 | |
21 January 2011 | |
27 January 2011 | |
27 January 2011 | |
28 January 2011 | |
28 January 2011 | |
28 January 2011 | |
2 February 2011 | |
3 February 2011 | |
3 February 2011 | |
4 February 2011 | |
10 February 2011 | |
10 February 2011 | |
10 February 2011 | |
11 February 2011 | |
11 February 2011 | |
17 February 2011 | |
17 February 2011 | |
17 February 2011 | |
17 February 2011 | |
17 February 2011 | |
18 February 2011 | |
18 February 2011 | |
25 February 2011 | |
26 February 2011 | |
3 March 2011 | |
3 March 2011 | |
17 March 2011 |
Production Companies
- See Saw Films
- Bedlam Productions
Distributors
- Alliance Films (2010) (
Canada - Cathay-Keris Films (2011) (
Singapore - Diamond Films (2011) (
Argentina - GAGA (2011) (Japan) (theatrical)
- Momentum Theatrical (2010) (
UK - Paramount Pictures (2010) (
Australia - Transmission (2010) (
Australia - Transmission (2010) (
New Zealand - Weinstein Company, The (2010) (
USA Anchor Bay Entertainment (2011) (USA - Ascot Elite Entertainment Group (2010) (
Switzerland - Cascade Film (2010) (
Russia - CatchPlay (2011) (
Taiwan - DeA Planeta Home Entertainment (2010) (
Spain - IPA Asia Pacific (2010) (
Thailand - Kino Swiat (2011) (
Poland - Paris Filmes (2011) (
Brazil - Prorom Media-Trade (2010) (
Romania - Wild Bunch (2011) (
Germany - Zon Lusomundo Audiovisuais (2011) (
Portugal
Weinstein wants the King’s Speech dropped from a ‘R’ to a PG-13 because a lower classification will mean more people can watch the film which means more ticket sales therefore increased revenue/profits.
Bullet Boy
The Budget: Low Budget (figure unknown)
Opening Weekend: £140,332 (
Gross: £297,735 (
Release Dates
Country | Date | |
8 April 2005 | ||
12 May 2005 | ( | |
16 September 2005 | ( | |
8 October 2005 | (Image a Nation Film Festival) | |
7 March 2006 | (DVD premiere) | |
8 August 2006 | (DVD premiere) |
Production Companies
- BBC Films
UK - Shine
Distributors
- Verve Pictures (2005) (
UK - 21st Century Pictures (2006) (
Australia - Arkles Entertainment (2005) (
New Zealand - British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2006) (
UK - Image Entertainment (2006) (
USA - MTV Netherlands (2008) (
Netherlands - Movie Bank (2006) (
Netherlands - Warner Bros. Entertainment
Finland (2007) (Finland
Barthes Narrative Theory
Roland Barthes was a semiotics professor in the 1950's and 1960's. He looked at texts and then wrote about the process of doing so.
Barthes described a film text as 'a tangled ball of threads' which need unravelling.
When you start pulling one string we are looking at the narrative from one viewpoint. Unravelling a different thread is like unravelling the narrative from a different angle.
He said texts were 'open' (unravelled in a number of different ways) or 'closed' (only one thread to pull on)
The threads that you pull unravel are called narrative codes and Barthes categorised them in the following ways:
- Action Codes & Enigma Codes - (Answers and Questions)
- Symbols and Signs
- Points of Cultural Reference
- Simple Description
- Structures
Enigma Codes - The parts of the plot that make the audience think of questions they want answering.
Action Codes - Plot events that lead to other actions, for example viewing an action and then wondering what the resolution will be.
Directors
Noel Clarke
Noel Anthony Clarke was born on 6 December 1975. Clarke is an English actor, director and screenwriter from Clarke studied Media at the University of North London before going on to take acting classes at London
Shane MeadowsMuch of the content of his films is semi-autobiographical and based on his experiences in Uttoxeter. Twenty Four Seven was inspired by his youth as he attended a boxing club and played for a local football team. Twenty Four Seven, his second feature-length film, won several awards at film festivals, including the Douglas Hichox award at the British Independent Film Awards and Best Screenplay at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.
His seventh film, This is England, won Best British Independent at the British Independent Film Awards in 2006.
'A story about a troubled boy growing up in England, set in 1983. He comes across a few skinheads on his way home from school, after a fight. They become his new best friends even like family. Based on experiences of director Shane Meadows.'
Representation of British Youth in 'Twenty Four Seven'
Shane Meadows, 1997
Gang of Youths 1: 5 Males
0 Females
4 White
1 Dual Heritage
Gang of Youths 2: 3 Males
0 Females
1 White
2 Black
Youths are represented as needing something to believe in but having nothing. Without inspiration they turn to crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour in order to get some attention.
The boxing ring in the film is a metaphor, that life should be lead with:
- Rules
- Discipline
- Respect
- Prepared Training
Andrea Arnold
Andrea Arnold OBE (born on 5 April, 1961) is an English filmmaker and former actress. In 2005 Andrea won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Wasp.
Fish Tank (2009) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Jury Prize there. The film also won the a BAFTA for Outstanding British Film in 2010.
This product research will enable me to produce an authenic opening to a British social realism film.
