Posters

Connor

Magazine covers

Connor

Conclusion to trailers

In the film trailers I selected to do an analysis on there was features in all of them I liked, they all had a certain something about them that made me want to watch the film, such as the comedy scene in Sweet Sixteen, the high paced editing in Shank in the chase scene or the CGI in Batman.

I think that I will try and include features from all of the films in my trailer, in Batman I like the way they editing the trailer, they used things the characters said in the film to narrate the story and give you some basic information about the film. I thought this was a clever and effective way of narrating it because it is like they are telling you personally in comparison to just a narrator telling you it.

Although I wont follow the story of Billy Elliot as he rebelled from his dad I will use the fact about fitting in, in society now its hard being a teenager and not fitting, you feel alone and isolated, in my trailer I will use the fact that my character wants to fit in and will do anything he can to fit in.

From looking at Shank I will focusing on editing, they didn't do much in the chase scene but due to them using good editing it created tension and drama on weather the boy would escape or not.

In the Batman I also liked the slow build up to the action towards the end of the trailer, they used music throughout the trailer slowly building up to the action scene, I liked this as you knew something big was coming as there was a increase in pace and volume in the music .

Connor

Dark Knight Rises Analysis

Dark Knight Rises

About The Film

Christopher Nolan is a well respected Director and Producer, he has been proven to be a very successful director as his films have always done very well in the box office stage. He has been involved with many films such as Inception, Memento and The Prestige but Christopher Nolan is known best for his 'Superhero movies' such a The Batman Trilogy and Man Of Steel.

Christopher Nolan has managed to get a fan base addicted to the Batman Trilogy that has finally come to an end, The Dark Knight Rises was the final instalment of the trilogy and didn't fail to amazing. With the sad loss of Heath Ledger a new villain had to be casted a Tom Hardy didn't fail in the high pressured role as he played a huge villain called Bane that would cause the Batman to fight hard that every before. Anne Hathaway played Catwoman first working against The Batman but then helping near the end of the film. Due to the all star cast they each brought their own fan base to the film.


Budget $230 million after tax credits

Box Office $1,084,439,099


Target Audience

The Dark Knight Rises is mainly aimed at a male audience, this is because the theme of Superheroes is typically aimed at boys and men, it appeals to young children as they would have seen the cartoons and magazine but also appeals to teens and full grown men because of the action through out the film with a huge amount of money being spent on pyro. The male audience would also enjoy Catwoman in the skin tight suit. The young half of the audience would be in full time education still either school, sixth form or college, the other half of the target audience would be full grown men with an average job such as working in an office, they would be of working class.


Representation

In Dark Knight Rises, you could apply the Laura Mulvey's Theory, this is because in the film Wayne Bruce is the dominant character. He is rich, powerful and is represented  to be a womaniser, he is the Batman and is the hero which you become use to seeing in  a majority of programmes. You could also apply this theory because of how Anne Hathaway (Cat woman ) is portrayed. Although in the film she is in many fight scenes she is a dominant figure she still is inferior to the Batman, this is because in scenes she relies on him to save her. She also uses her sexual attraction to get the best of the male characters in the film which is very stereotypical thing you seen when the female character is attractive in a film, in the film she also where a skin tight leather black suit and the first time you seen her in it the camera tilts up slowly so you can she how the tight suit compliments her body, so although she is a aggressive female character she is still seen as a sexual object.

The film is set in a very established city, with sky scrapers, expensive cars and a lot of rich characters, in contrast to a social realism films both genres contain the theme of violence, gangs and criminals yet Dark Knight Rises is set in an upper class city that hasn't been vandalised nor neglected it is just a regular city like New York.

In Social Realism films there is a strong theme of unity, that if your in a gang you must stick together and loyal to one another, its about being in it together where as in Dark Knight it is more of a individual battle against on another, there is a scene in the film where Batman goes to attack Bane in his hide out surrounded by his army of criminals yet the only ones that fight are them two. The only time there is some form of unity is near the end, this is  because the citizens of Gotham City ( the city in the film) are put into considerable danger, they are in an US VS THEM situation that brought groups of people together that wouldn't normally associate themselves with one another to overcome a bigger task.

Analysis


In the Dark Knight trailer the first thing you notice is that editing, the editing. At the beginning it starts of slow but builds in pace towards the end showing the actions showing to be very intense and a lot to be at stake. The use of straight cut and fade to black are used very well to allow the trailer to run smoothly even though their are scenes from all parts of the film put together.


In the trailer you also see the use of CGI, the CGI would be used to attract fans from additional fan bases, people that enjoy watching actions films would see this and be interested in the film as it grabs your attention as it combine with enhanced sound effects as explosions go off.

Christopher Nolan uses a the characters conversations from the film to narrate over the trailer, he makes a compilation of lines characters say to set the scene as it is a follow on from  Batman Begins, he predominately uses the voice of the Batman and the Joker which the die hard fans would know who is talking.

In the trailer you get to understand that the Batman is actually Brue Wayne multi-millionaire, at first it makes the audience think he can be the Batman because he is rich and can afford it, but in theory does Christopher Nolan suggest to the audience that the rich can do as they please and are above the law ? Because what allows the Batman to go around beating up people even if they are criminals.

Billy Elliot Analysis

Social Realism Analysis


Billy Elliot

Directed by Stephen Daldry in 2000 Billy Elliot, set in the north east in 1984-5 in the time of the coal miner's strike. Working with fairly unknown cast he sure drew the best out of them, this isn't your stereotypical social realism film, it is about an eleven year old boy that is pushed into boxing due to his dad being a boxing coach, although being a good boxer Billy wants to become a ballet dancer. The budget for Billy Elliot was £3million which is a fairly large amount of a social realism film that was released in September 29th  2000, but with the £3million budget the film managed to bring in a staggering  £72,853,509 from the box office. Gary Lewis that starred as Billy's dad in the film also won Best Actor at Flaiano Film Festival.

Target Audience

The target audience for this film would be mainly a female audience of the age of 25-40 age group, from a working class, living in average homes. The audience would more than likely be employed and enjoy watching films at the cinema with female friends or having a 'girls night in' watching films with friends. The reason for it being based at a female audience because the female audience will have empathy for Billy.

Representation

In Billy Elliot he has a nuclear family, due to being classed as a normal family his father wants to retain their current reputation, this is why the father tries to steer his children into boxing which is a male dominated sport. Once Billy is in boxing and decides he would like to go into ballet his father doesn't like that because it is seen as a feminine hobby, also being set in the 1980's being a male but doing female hobbies such as ballet wasn't accepted at that time especially being set in the North East where as it would be in modern day society particularly in London. Billy's father also.  wants to raise the both him and his brother up to become strong so they will go out to work and earn money for themselves and the family.


Analysis

From 10 seconds you hear the song Rocky theme song, this gives you the impression the boy is going to be very manly, it makes you think that the boy is going to be an amazing boxer, but the boy then gets knocked down straight away. So just through the use of music it has allowed you to create what you think the boy is going to be like.

At 44 seconds you see Billy Elliot standing next to the girls doing ballet wearing his boxing gear, the use of the boxing gears allows Ken Loach to show the clear distinct stereotype sports, that boys compete in brave sports and girls compete in sports that are ore fragile and require finesse. The stereotype is reinforced when shown at 1 minute, Billy's dad says 'lads do football, boxing or wrestling' .

Shank Trailer Analysis

Social realism analysis

Shank

Mo Ali is a inexperienced director that directed Shank which was filmed in 2009. Although being a new to the scene director he Mo Ali managed to get Ashley Thomas who is a rapper that the target audience would recognize, he also managed to cast Adam Decon who is well known in this genre of film after appearing in Kidulthood, Adulthood and Anuvhood.  The film was distributed by Revolver Entertainment, Revolver Entertainment are very much into distributing independent films which shank falls under the category of also.  Due to being a social realism film the film was shot on a cheap budget in comparison to Hollywood movies as it cost £385,000. When released in 26 March 2010 the film did fairly well seems as the Director was unknown as it grossed £550,213 (UK) (19 April 2010), so in almost a month they made £165,213.

Target Audience

Shank has a niche audience, the film is target at 15-22 year old that live in areas such as North and East London, the film is predominantly aimed a males also as they could relate to the subject targeted within the film.  The target audience would more than likely be in education or unemployed due to the area they live in, due to this they wouldn't have disposable income and it wouldn't be likely for them to go to the cinema and watch the film as they could find other forms of entertainment with that money.  Although the target audience don't have disposable income the film was still screened at cinemas, due to this fact this is why it didn't make a very large amount at the cinema. This is very they quickly released the DVD release of the film to attempt to boost their income from the film.

Representation

In Shank, young black males are involved in gangs which is very stereotypical, but the idea they use of the gangs fighting and competing for food is a very clever one as it is sending a message saying that if this continues and gangs carry on things will become a lot worse than they already are.

In the gang the young black males are shown to be very caring, loving, loyal and protective other one another, this is not normally shown in the media. They are shown to be harsh and have no mercy but clearly have a side which isn't usually shown.

Laura Mulvey's theory of the 'Male Gaze' can be applied to Shank.This is because males are dominant, through out the film the male characters are dominant and have some form of power, in comparison to women as they aren't in the film to move the story forward but they are used as trophies/ sexualised objects to be looked at.

The film is set in London and a large majority of the cast in the entire film are young black males, although set in the future London is shown to be very run down and uncared for, this is sending a message to the audience saying gangs don't look out for the environment, they are messy and do not care for much other than themselves.

About the film

The film is told in first person which is a regular way of being shot in social realism films, the characters are represented in both a negative away through most of the film as they steal from people and get caught up in a gang conflict. But at the beginning they are show in a different light due to the boys older brother dying. All of the characters are male ranging from the age of 15 to 23 roughly which is alike the target audience.  In the film the characters and plot almost say that in the future if people come together they can overcome anything, as in Shank gangs take over London.

 Analysis

Mo Ali, director of Shank, a British Social Realism film, employs a number of features to make the film appear more realistic. The film is set in London in 2015 where society has fallen and gangs have risen up and have taken control of the city.

Straight away six seconds into the trailer you see the text saying ‘from The Distributor that brought you Kidulthood’, this is indicates that if you are a fan of Kidulthood you are likely to have an interest with this film, Adam Decon featured in both Shank and Kidulthood so he could bring an audience to Shank.

The opening scene really grabs your attention the first on scene is one teen being chased by another on a motorbike. Mo Ali uses many different camera angles in this heated chase, the main shot the was effective was the close ups of the boy that was being chased. Throughout the chase scene there would be close ups of his face showing fear as he is running for his life, or there would be a close up of his feet as he lands after jumping off a bridge to get away. These shot created tension and created suspense in weather he would get away or not.

In the opening scene the feature that made the scene grab your attention was the editing. The editing style used was straight cut, the scene would just chop and change angles showing the audience that the chase was at a very fast pace. Along with the expression on the boys
fast pace editing of the chase, due to the speed the scene was getting editing at there was constant new images on the screen signalling that it was a high speed chase and that the boy was running for his life. The fast paced editing has an effect on the audience, as the picture on the screen is constantly changing the audience cant become attached to it. The combination of both the camera angles showing the boys face and the fast paced editing show that living this particular lifestyle can be very scary and you always have to be moving. The way this particular scene is shot also creates fear amongst the audience as you don't know if the boy will be able to escape from the boy on the motorbike.

The chase scene was from 2 minutes to 4 minutes.


Conclusion

In conclusion this is a typical social realism film in my opinion as it is about a main character that is put into a hard situation and has to overcome a difficult task. It fits the stereotypical stand out codes and conventions in most social realism films such as run down locations, graffiti and a strong influence from the people around them. You can tell the film was shot on a relatively small budget in comparison to a Hollywood film.



Connor

Sweet Sixteen Opening Scene analysis

 

Ken Loach, director of Sweet Sixteen, a British social realism film,employs a number of features to make the film appear more realistic. This film is about a young 16 year old boy that is in an unstable situation as his mother is in jail and his father doesn’t seem to be a straight shooter.  In the opening scene you see the boy and a friend in a pub trying to sell cigarettes to people, Ken Loach highlights this by using a close up on his hand while handing the cigarettes to a women. In social realism films it is usually shot in dark low lighting areas so without close ups you would have been able to see the boy selling the cigarettes  This makes the scene more believable as he has his body in the way of the bartenders so they cannot see what he is doing, allowing him to sell them to her.

In the next scene you see the two boys walking down the street after they had just been kicked out of the pub, Ken Loach uses both mise-en-scene and long shot. He uses a long shot to show the clothes they are wearing, they are dressed in cheap looking tracksuits and caps giving off the impression that they are chavs, although they are represented as chavs they don't look out of place meaning they live in a poor area fitting the Social Realism genre the film is based in.

 

In the next scene the boys spot a lorry reversing out from an alleyway, the boys take advantage of the drivers poor visibility and help him reverse out but in doing this they make him reverse into the motorbike knocking it over. He then steals the policeman's helmet and then runs of as he gets chased. Ken Loach includes this scene as it allows both humour for the audience but also an understanding of the area they live in. this is because the boys make the driver run over the motorbike as a cheap form as entertainment as due to the lack of money they have they can't afford to go out and do things they have to create their own for of entertainment.

 

 

 

Connor

 



 

Social Realism Analysis

 

Sweet Sixteen

Ken Loach, director of Sweet Sixteen, a British social realism film, employs a number of features to make the film appear more realistic. This film is about a young boy who easily gets himself into trouble and is also having to deal with his mum in jail.
One feature is through the use of camera tracking the characters as they run from the policeman. This is filmed at a fast pace with a handheld camera to give is a speedy effect and to create adrenalin for the audience as they watch.
Another feature is through mise-en-scene and appearance of the characters. The characters are wearing tracksuits and caps, these outfits make them appear to be chavs and make them out to be people that struggle with money. This then concludes to getting in trouble with the police by stealing or selling things to get money.

 

Kidulthood

Kidulthood is a British social realism film that employs a number of features to make the film appear more realistic. This film is about a group of stereotypical teenagers growing up in the city with all sorts of hardships.

Kidulthood is another example of a social realism film, directed by Menhaj Huda, which was released in 2006. This film was produced by a number of companies such as Stealth Films, Cipher Films, TMC Films etc. The target audience for this film would be teenagers due to the fact that most of the characters in the film are around the same age. Kidulthood gained £100,056 in its opening weekend (UK) once releasing the film, with a budget of £600,000.

One feature is through the use of camera shots, this shot shows a low angle view of the family discovering that the daughter has hung herself. This shot is able to show their emotions so that the audience can see the shock on their faces. To make this scene more horrific, the girls feet are dangling in the camera view as well. This is to reveal that she's committed suicide due to her being bullied at school.

Another camera shot which is often shown throughout this film is over the shoulder shots. This is to show when two people are in conversation, here we have a teacher and a student. The facial expression on the students face shows anger towards the teacher and the teacher ends up feeling patronised. This shows the domination that the teens have in this film towards others and how they're violent and impolite.

 

This screenshot shows a close up of his face from the point of view of whoevers at gun point; this reveals the emotions on his face and shows how aggressive the character looks. Even though the gun is blurred we can still figure out what the object is, although it’s blurred so that we focus on the character. Through the use of mise-en-scene, he’s shown to be a stereotypical black youth through the clothing that he wears. I’ve also recognized that a number of social realism films include a gun or a weapon of some sort, this shows how violent these films can be and how disastrous crimes are in the real world.

 Bullet Boy

Bullet Boy is a social realism film, directed by Saul Dibb, which was released in 2004. The film was produced by a number of companies such as BBC Films, UK Film Council, Shine etc. The target audience for this film would be teenagers, mostly towards males. Bullet boy gained £140,332 in the opening weekend once releasing the film, with a budget of £48,000 to create the film.

This screenshot from the opening scene in Bullet Boy shows a young male (Ricky) in his cell. This presents him to be mischievous and to be a trouble maker due to the fact that his beginning appearance is of him in jail. The camera shot is of him in the cell with cell bars just in the sides of the shot, we instantly recognise that he’s in jail which makes the audience think negatively of him due to his whereabouts. This can also be seen as stereotypical for a social realism film due to the fact that he’s a young adult who’s mixed raced, this is seen as the stereotypical person who would be committing crimes and causing trouble.

 

In this screenshot it shows the character Ricky hugging his little brother as he’s come out of jail. This shows that Ricky must have been in jail for a long time for him and his brother to have an emotional moment together. The close up of the hug reveals his feelings towards his brother and how he’s missed him due to the fact that he’s been away for so long. This makes the audience question what Ricky done for him to end up in jail for so long.

 

 Attack the block

Attack the Block is a based on a gang of teens from South London who defend their block from an alien invasion. This film was directed by Joe Cornish and produced by a number of companies such as StudioCanal, Film4, UK Film Council etc. Attack the block was released in 2011 with a budget of $13,000,000, once the film was release it gained $137,580 in USA and £1,133,859 in the UK for their opening weekend. The target audience for this film is mainly towards teenagers due to the fact that most of the characters involved in the film are at a similar age.

In this screenshot it shows a number of characters just sitting around discussing the alien invasion. This is a long shot; the camera is placed in a view so that the audience are able to see the whole room and what’s going on. Teenagers are revealed to be lazy in this shot due to the fact that they’re all just sitting around smoking; this is a stereotypical view of a teenager which the film plays upon. The setting is also very dim to create a gloomy effect and that its late at night, this tells us that teenagers are seen to get up to no good once it begins to get dark.

 

This screenshot is a medium shot that shows one of the characters on a motor bike getting away from the aliens. Teens are shown in a stereotypical way through the use of mise-en-scene due to the fact that he’s wearing a hoody and has a bandanna to cover his face. This gives us the impression that teenagers are shifty and that you can’t trust them. He’s also shown to be riding a motorbike which shows he’s not old enough to be able to drive a car, the fact that he’s riding a motorbike shows that he’s dangerous and has a lot of adrenalin. 

 

In this screenshot it’s showing a close up of a character firing a gun from an angle where you’re able to see the gun and the characters emotions. This screenshot is comparable to the screenshot from Kidulthood, this shows the similarities between social realism films and how most of them include a scene with a gun shot. Through the use of mise-en-scene, he’s shown to be a stereotypical black youth due to the fact that he’s a hoodie and he’s dressed in dark clothing. The fact that the characters face is focused and that his arm is firm shows his confidence and anger when firing the gun.

 

Samantha

Social Realism Films


Kidulthood
Adulthood
Anuvahood
Billy Elliot
Shank
This is England
Get rich or die trying
Shifty
Bullet Boy
Ill Manors



Production Companies

Crown Film Unit
Woodfall
Film 4

Connor

Definition of Social Realism

Social Realism is a film genre which focuses on giving the audience a true indication of what life is like.

Samantha

Social Realism Definition

Social realism is a genre of film that focuses on topical issues alive in modern society, themes may be such as money, drugs, gangs, domestic violence or even religion. This genre in film gives the audience an insight into a certain area or possible situation that people in society in modern day are encountering and see it as part of a day to day routine.

Connor

Social Realism Films

Samantha