Vox pops

I did some audience research to help my opening sequence. To obtain feedback I conducted Vox pops with questions about BSR films and the opening sequence I will be making. I asked random people in my school the following questions and these are some of the replies:

1. What British Social Realism movies have you seen?

v Kidulthood

v Adulthood

v Fish tank

v Attack the block

v Four lions

2. Why do you like them?

v The audience can relate to them

v It has verisimilitude 

v has a BSR aspect to them

v It tackles key points

3. What do you think of our ideas so far?

v   needs something new

v Make it more realistic

v needs something different: girls gangs

v sounds too common

4. What ideas do you have?

v An unhappy ending where the character doesn't achieve their dream.

v Pressure from drug use

v Use problem we have present

5. What possible locations should we use?

v Peckham

v In local areas (Trampy looking places)

v Parks, alley ways

v Estates

6. What current issues should we tackle in our film?

v Violence

v Drugs

v Sex

v alcohol

v Isolation

v Poverty

production log 4

This week, I learnt about my target audience. The audience my opening sequence would be aimed towards would be a niche British group. This audience would be able to relate easily to the film as it will be based in England so will have cultural references. There will also be themes and situations that they can relate to such as violence, drugs/smoking, alcohol etc. The audience can relate to the themes as it would be something they would see regularly. The film will also have the type of interests that a niche British audience would like to see in the film.

I have also learnt about the institutions involved in the production of social realist films. The institutions involved are normally niche ones. Major companies don't get involved in realist films as it can bring down their representation towards thee audience. This shows me that i need to use unknown companies in my film reflecting on what institution would actual be involved in it.

BSR visual realism

How British Social Realism themes are used

In British social Realism films, there are many different themes used which portray the reality of life in Britain  A few themes which are the main ones you would see in most British Social Realism Films(the conventional ones) would be violence, drugs, petty crime, poverty and childhood. I would say that childhood has developed into a convention over the years as the films have become more based around younger characters as shown in the BSR timeline.

Violence is a theme which is used constantly in British social realism film as it gives the audience a sense of how life actually is. E.g nil by mouth.

In this clip the theme is established when we see the man beating the wife up. Although the women is not shown as she is being beaten up we know it is her as she is pushed to the floor (as shown in the previous scene). This camera language also made the scene more effective as it leaves us thinking what the women's reaction/ emotions might be and the brutal marks from the beating. This was a really effective shot as our imagination is more open than watching it.


Petty crime is a well known theme is British social realism films. Petty crime is different crime as crime would be seen in normal films which don't have much realism. Crime is a term used for a big law being broken such as someone robbing the bank. You wouldn't see something like that happening in a British social realism film as it isn't casually daily thing you would see. However seeing petty crime would be a everyday thing to see such as someone getting mugged. This would be seen in...

Poverty is a key element used in British social realism films as it backs up the point about life being all sad and negative. This wouldn't be shown if the theme of poverty wasn't involved. Poverty is shown in the film london to Brighton when the mum using prostitution as a way to earn money when needed and when they eat out of a cheap side shop. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Hq8UB2bto (first few minutes)

Childhood has become a big theme in British social realism films over the past few years. Over time films have started revolving around young adults/ kids more. An example of this would be kidulthood. Kidulthood is a film based around school kids. This films has many themes such as violence, drugs, crime etc. which represent how school kids are.

Alcohol would fit in with a bit of childhood as they would see other people drink and it could affect they in a big way. Alcohol starts many things such as child abuse, crime etc.

Locations for my opening sequence

For my opening sequence, the set i will/could use would be real locations in London. This gives the film a higher sense of realism as the locations are real and they can actually go there. It makes the audience feel that whatever that happens in the film is actually happening in real life.

The locations I would use what be somewhere I can get to easily using normal transport. This would be places like Barking, Romford, Green lane and Ilford. These locations are good to film my opening sequence in as they are look 'low down' and cheap.Using places such as the train station would be a good idea as it represents the idea of poverty. I could film the characters actually travelling in the train to another train station.

 The police station would be a good place to film.  I probably won’t be allowed to film inside it but I might be allowed to film outside. This would give the representation of crime and rebellion.

Using this location in Newbury would be a good place as it has a subway and across the road they have another train station. The subway is quite a dark area and dangerous as many people use it. This would be a good place for some crime as it’s not in an open place. So I could have someone being beaten up in this location.

Using the streets in this area is a good location as it gives the idea of poverty and crime. This location would be a unvarnished scene. It tells us about the poverty through state of the streets and the shops. in this area there aren't any shops with big brands. There would be crime as we can see a few police men around.

Another location i could use is my house or someone else's but in a run down area.

Production Log 3

Over this week, we have looked into more British Social Realism themes opening scenes. I have learnt that there are a majority of themes shown in the opening of British Social Realism films such as London to Brighton. We See many different theme in just the beginning of this film such as violence, physical abuse, poverty, childhood and prostitution.

Title devices are used at the beginning of the film. The titles include the name of the cast, crew, production companies and the the title. We would see the title near the beginning of the film just after the actors ad the institutions  Before the title, the cast names would appear but normally in either the biggest job role or the person that getting paid the most. After the title  production crews names would appear. There are normally 20 - 30 titles in a film.
This helps me know how many titles i would need and in which order. There wouldn't be all the production crew listed as it will only be me and my partner so i will only put up the two main roles.

High Hopes

Production Log 2

Over this week I have learnt about social realist codes and opening sequence conventions. I learnt about which type of conventions we would see in opening sequences such as the titles and introducing the characters. A convention would also be the themes used. Some of the typical themes which we would see in a British social film would be violence, drugs, sex, alcohol and petty crime. This information would help me in my production as it gives me an idea of what type of conventions I need to have in my film. 

British social films represent how life is actually like in Britain through the themes. An example would be Trainspotting. In this film we see a number of themes but one of them is petty crime. This convention would be a realistic as it shows how people actually are. You wouldn't see normal people planning big crimes as a daily thing but seeing petty crime like seeing someone getting mugged is something which regularly comes up in the news.