Q). In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
-My media product both challenges, develops and use the forms and conventions of real social realistic British films , through theme representation (of gender, ethnicity and class) , camera work, sound and mise-en-scene .
-Camera shots and editing – My opening sequence is filmed handheld, therefore the footage is shaky and more documentary like, which is realistic in a way its follows and documents peoples life’s, - this gives a natural feel to the film. I use these camera techniques throughout the opening sequence. We edited the sequence with short takes which we slow motioned it to flow and to reflect on the female character mood from her view of view. This is conventional as many British social realist films like ‘this is England’ are on low budget and therefore come out with low quality filming . ‘This is England’ is also documentary like as they use real acre footage in their opening sequence, with real stories , real people and real struggles. However the first seconds of the opening scene is blurry and out of focus, this challenges the key rule of filming, - a steady in focus straight shot.
- Social realist film are generally based on a theme, a social issue in Britain’s society ,character and stories are then based around them. My film follows this as is tackles ethnicity, social class and crime; the 9 frame shows shots of stereotypical young working-class men and women from different ethnic backgrounds, as we filmed in deprived areas of Leicester. The female character who cannot be seen however her voice-over r tells her story of human trafficking into the UK. These shot portray social issues in today’s society such as immigration and ethnic minorities that face marginalisation and prejudices, or of class in relation to crime , as working class sub-cultures are linked to deviant behaviour.
Bullet boy is an example of a film which is based on gangsters, violence and gun crime and the general challenges of a working class boy growing up in a high crime rated area.
-Representation of genre - Men dominate social realistic films in way that crime and sub-culture are there main themes . Men are often portrayed as ‘angry, violence, aggressive and deviant’, as my film is also based around the same theme ,as my opening scene is also dominated by young working class males. To emphasis more on the theme and give a direction to story line. Even thought the main character is a female, we emphasis the opposite sex as dangerous and criminal while the girls voice portrays her as venerable . As she tells her story there are shots of men looking at the camera in a threatening way, as if its personal.
‘Looking for Erik’- is based on mainly male characters who dominate the film.
-The representation of ethnicity- My 9 frame show that I have taken shots of a various people from different ethnical and racial background, white, black, and Asian, it highlights immigration and ethnic groups – and the deprivation and marginalisation of their communities pushing them into sub-culture mostly deprivation . With struggles such as status frustration ,were crime is a working-class/ethnic group stigma and phenomenon– these are all the reality of the British society and bring social realism into my opening sequence.
East is east is an example of when ethnicity sets social boundaries, were ethnicity is represented in a negative way with racism, violence and verbal discrimination.
-Mise-en scene – conventions of a British social realistic film is mise-en-scene used to make footage look dark, dull with colours like greys- which makes atmosphere look unattractive, dirty and depressive – this is done by the use of natural or quiet light .I have used natural light were I then edited to turn colours down for a better effect, me and my group also filmed real people and character in their natural atmosphere- real setting used. We filmed the average person, wearing average working-class clothes so people watching can familiarise with them.
Billy Eliot- The film uses natural lights when that character are outside, and very dull dark lighting when the character are inside, making their life look dull and gloomy.
-Music and sound effects- films such as ‘kidulhood’ and ‘Adulthood’, use real music from real artist, they use tracks for artist that represent the characters choice in music, such as grime rap/ and hip-hop in gangster films. Our opening sequences challenges this and goes against this convention, as we used classical orchestra music to accompany the opening sequence. Music which represents the middle-class and their cultural capital, we chose it for its irony and the impact it would have on the watchers and its emphasis on the people that we filmed.-class and their cultural capital, we chose it for its irony and the impact it would have on the watchers and its emphasis on the people epresents the middlethat we filmed.
