Media

Codes and conventions of British Social Realism

trailers

Social realism

Social realism is a genre of film that focuses mainly on the important aspects of modern day life, themes such as money, gang culture, money, prostitution and racial injustice are very common in many social realism films. In addition to economic hardship of one’s life struggle, shown throughout the whole film.

Characters

A major convention of a typical British social realism film would be the use of unknown actors, this is because if the actors in a social realism film were to be famous it wouldn’t be seen as realistic enough for the audience to believe in the actual events that are happening in the film.

Various directors use unknown actors in their film, for example in ‘Fish Tank’ (2009), director Andrea Arnold gave the role of the protagonist to Kate Jarvis – unknown to the audience. Similarly, in ‘Kidulthood’ (2006) Aml Ameen and Red Madrell were used by director Menhaj Huda.

Mis-en-scene

The real life settings are used in British social realism films such as council estates, train stations, parks etc.

To add, the props used in a social realism genre are basic clothing, especially track suits, trainers, t-shirts etc. nothing expensive as they are mainly working class.

Shot types

The shot types used in a British social realism film genre are mainly close – ups, this helps the audience understand the characters emotions to familiarise and follow them in their journey.

Another shot type commonly used in social realism trailers are establishing shots, which are predominantly set in ‘gritty’ council estates, urban cities, e.g. London giving a sense that the character is trapped and lacks future direction. In addition, panning shots are used which again, allow the audience to follow the protagonist’s journey.

Mid-shots are also used to connect the audience and the characters – the viewers are only shown part of the object but feel as if they are looking at the whole subject.

Editing

The editing used in a British social realism film genre is fast paced cuts, mainly towards the end of the trailer, which are commonly the highly dramatic moments of the trailer. This is effective as it is trying to create draw an emotional response from the audience in addition to creating suspense and tension.

The use of montage is also used in these film genres as it creates an artistic device to create a message with short cuts edited together with transitions rather than telling the whole story

Sound

Urban music such as RnB/hip hop is used to go with the mis-en-scene of the ‘gritty’council estates creates a sense of fear to the audience and relate well to gang culture, which is a typical theme used in many British social realism films.

Dialogue is also used in British social realism films, with a very ‘chatty’ tone. To add, swearing is a generic convention in British social realism film, used widely in many films for example, ‘Kidulthood’, ‘Fish Tank’, ‘This is England’– only to name a few.

Lighting

Dark, dull and neutral lighting to create a sense of suspense and tension.