Themes and Situations:
In this film we mainly see themes of violence, alcohol and sex. This is shown through mainly all of the characters that star in the film, even the kids. We often see the mother in scenes where she is seen as a sex object as she is connected to many men and some scenes even show her having sexual intercourse. However we also see the younger kids doing similar stuff and this shows that they have probably been influenced by their environment and surroundings. For examples we see the youngest daughter smoking with her friend while the eldest daughter on-looks and also is seen drinking alcohol. We also see her getting older boys to get her alcohol which shows that she is underage and what she is doing is illegal. This is typical of a British social realist film as it follows most of the themes and situations which would be found normally in this genre of film. Due to the large amount of violence and use of drugs we can class this as a good example of a British social realist film due to it clearly showing the hardship of life and danger.
I would mainy use these themes of violence and drugs as these are very typical of a British Social Realist film and i would show this through the actors and the props that they will be using.
Representations:
In this film we see clear stereotypes and representations of all of the characters. We see the eldest daughter as quite a strong minded character and is very dependent on herself and doesnt let people tell her what to do. Her sister is also quite similar as she uses the same language as her and treats her mum with little respect. However the mum is seen more of a lonely character who relys on men to keep her company and to fulfill her needs. The male character that we see who stays with the mum trys to fix the family up by getting them all together however this changes when he develops feelings for the eldest daughter. All of the other character follow typical stereotypes of people living around this area as they all drink, they all smoke, the children like to cause trouble, they are uncontrollable and the women are all seen as sex objects and overall quite weak and rely on the men.
Stereotypes we see:
-Kids act older than they are
-Kids go against the law and dont care
-Men see the women as weak
-Women are seen as sex objects
-The kids have little respect
-Kids go against the law and dont care
-Men see the women as weak
-Women are seen as sex objects
-The kids have little respect
These stereotypes are typically shown in a British Social realism film and I would mainly use the representation of kids been uncontrollable due to the themes of violence and drugs as this would be easy to show through the characters actions.
Mise-en-scene:
In this film we see a typical mise-en-scene which is found in British social realist films. The mise-en-scene is mainly based on a block of flats in Barking where it is rundown and the atmosphere is quite dull and dark as there is little hope for most of the people living on that estate. Props are the main thing that helps us set out what a character is like, from the props that are used in this film such as alcohol, cigarettes and weapons we can tell that the characters are quite rebellious, and they don't care about their health and are out for danger. For example we see the eldest daughter take a hammer to use it to break free a horse and we also see her use a massive rock. All of the characters are wearing similar clothing as they all live in the same area and follow the same trends. The eldest daughter is normally dressed in a grey tracksuit, with gold hoop earrings or a polo shirt. Whereas her mum is more known to wear skimpy clothing like the yellow dress she wears in the party scene which contrasts the typical tomboy look that the daughter has. The first scene where we also see the girls dancing provocatively on the estate they are all wearing vests and jeans with their belly's on show to try and get the boys attention who are watching on the sidelines.
The Mis-en-scene used in this film was very typical of a British Social realism film as it was set in a run down area where we see flats, lots of kids, small and cramped conditions. This will help emphasis the class and status of the characters that would be shown in a typical film.
Music and sound effects:
In this film there is little sound effects, and who only really here diagetic sounds. For example we here screaming on the estate, cars driving past and music that they are listening to the scene. By using this in most British social realist films it creates verisimilitude as this is what you would expect to hear in those scenes. The thing we hear regularly would be the choice of songs. The songs used were either hip hop, R&B or rap which fitted with how the women danced in the film. This is quite typical in a British social realism film as the people in Britain often listen to that genre of music the most.
It wouldn't be very realistic if there was any use of sound effects, so i would definetly stick to the use of diagetic sounds which keep the British social realism stick. I would also use typical and up to date music as this will show the era and emphasis what the characters would be into and set a certain mood for the film.
It wouldn't be very realistic if there was any use of sound effects, so i would definetly stick to the use of diagetic sounds which keep the British social realism stick. I would also use typical and up to date music as this will show the era and emphasis what the characters would be into and set a certain mood for the film.
Camera work and editing:
The camera work and editing used in most British social realist films are very basic due to their low budget. However sometimes this can look effective and reflects what life is like for the British people being shown in the film. Most of the edits we see are fades or just simple cuts which makes it seem like it would make it quite boring. Considering the amount of action that takes place in the film the takes are quite long and more could be done to follow the action and make the pace faster and better from the audiences point of view. A range of simple mid shots, longs shots, closeups are used as these help introduce characters and establishing shots set the scene and location. Non continuity editing was used as there was so much action within most of the scenes and if continuity editing was used it would be too clean and flowing, and it would be then less effective to the audience.
This film had rarely any shots that were complex and it was mainly left simple, i think i would do similar shots as it reflects the hardships and makes the audience seem more connected to whats going on. I would make the editing at a minimum with just using fades and dissolves as this will create a dim atmosphere.
This film had rarely any shots that were complex and it was mainly left simple, i think i would do similar shots as it reflects the hardships and makes the audience seem more connected to whats going on. I would make the editing at a minimum with just using fades and dissolves as this will create a dim atmosphere.
Dialogue:
In a typical British social realist film we expect to hear alot of offensive language and this was done regularly in this film. The eldest daughter who is seen the most in the film refers to people as bitch, and uses foul language (e.g.fucking,shit) which emphasis her aggression and hate towards some people. Words such as "skanky", "pikey" are used alot and this shows us that they are labelled as this due to where they are from and the way they look. A good example that is shown at the beginning of the film is when Mia says: "Can you give Keeley a message for me? Tell her I think her old man's a cunt!" The way the people speak is very similar as they all use similar speech and talk with a similar accent. They all have stereotypical ways that someone living on an estate would live as they have little respect and don't care what people think of them. They all have quite a chavy way of speaking and they aren't subtle and often shout to get their point across. Compared to the Irish man who lives with the family who is actually living 2 lives, he speaks with a softer tone and hes accent makes him different from the other characters in the film. This is typical in a British Social realism film as this is exactly how people would speak in this region of Britain.
The dialogue used in this film would be a good way as it represents that area as being chavy and reflects how the characters will act. I think i would use a chavy aggressive tone, or quite a stern deep tone of the voice where they would use slang that is typical in this generation and i would mainly incorporate words in such as "bruv" and "snake".
Fish tank secondary research:
The film was directed by Andrea Arnold
The production companies involved in the making of this film was:
-BBC films
-Uk film council
-Limelight Communication
-ContentFilm
-Kasander Film Company
The film was mainly aimed at teens and young adults of a British culture. The film reached this niche audience through its realistic use of dialogue, mise-en-scene, themes and sound effects. With the good production of the film it created a good and accurate perception of what the British region is like for the audience. However it would be quite difficult for a mainstream global audience to be able to relate to the situation and themes as much as they could with a Hollywood film.
The film had a very low budget and was mainly funded by different companies. This meant that their marketing strategy was very simple and didn't have much to it. The film was nominated for many awards, and was shown at several film festivals such as Cannes. The film was only marketed through posters which meant the film was only distributed into few cinemas in Britain.
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