In terms of shot types, we used a handheld camera, as it was a recurring theme in social realist films we researched. In this sense, we wanted .We took into account that social realist films are dominantly character driven, so we incorporated close ups to show the reactions on characters' faces. We also utilised tracking shots or panning shots so the camera was focused on the character. This was because it is essential in social realism that the audience make a connection with the main protagonist (or in this case anti-hero), so when storyboarding we made sure that the character achieved a strong amount of exposure.
Another aspect we focused on was the exposure of the environment around each character. In social realism the environment is another key aspect, as it sets the tone for the piece early on, which will determine the overall feel. An example of this would in London to Brighton, the opening scene takes place in a dirty, unkempt public toilet. This immediately sets the feel and tone of the scene as being gritty and quite dark.
Through this, we decided that the environment was important as well as the character focus, so we incorporated several establishing shots at the beginning of a new scene.
In terms of mise en scene, we used natural lighting without the aid of artificial light social realist films, such as Fish Tank and London to Brighton, used natural lighting to convey a sort of realism. We felt that artificial lighting would only distract the audience or even make the scene look worse.
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| Natural lighting from Fish Tank |
Common conventions of social realist films in terms of costumes is that they are often just regular clothing trends, to recreate the style of the film's time period. This is done as social realism focuses on the people, so only regular clothing is needed, otherwise it would detract from the realism. To make our film convincing, we had to adopt this trend, otherwise it have felt out of place.
When editing our product, we detracted from the classic style of social realism, which would normally involve not adding any colour correction, special or visual effects. In our film, we put a bleach bypass effect over each shot, to add a stylised look to the film, but also to make it seem more gritty and serious by removing some of the colour from each shot. In this sense, we challenged this convention so that we could add a type of uniqueness to our film. Considering our narrative wasn't in chronological order, it also meant that we had to edit certain parts differently (like adding different colour filters to shots) so that people could understand that it was either in the future or that the scene was in the past.
When working on the narrative for our film, we decided that we wanted to keep many conventions and theme from social realism (drugs, violence and anti-social behaviour amongst youth) and incorporate them into our film. We felt this way as we believed that if these themes were taken away, it would ruin the illusion of modern day social realism.
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| Example of drug reference |
In social realism, the audience is often left to wonder why characters behave in such a way, so they hold the moral high ground. Also, as social realism is centred on crime a majority of the time, it is up to the audience as to whether a character is actually a protagonist or antagonist. This featured heavily in our film, as we believed it added another layer to the film's plot, and encouraged the audience to think as to whether the character (our anti-hero) is actually a morally strong person and deserves the audience's sympathy. We wanted the audience to be more than just a passive viewer, to break the Hypodermic syringe theory (where the producers put the messages in the film, the audience passively take it in).
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