This is my Social Realism Powerpoint, By Charlotte

By Charlotte Worms

Social realism is...

Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_realism

Social Realism in cinema is a style that finds its roots in the Italian neorealism movement known for naturalistic styles. Social realism is a genre in which British film makers have turned into their own. There are lots of renowned directors where social realism is associated for example, Ken Loach, Shane Meadows and Noel Clarke.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_realism

Social realism when used in film is normally used as the main or only genre. Social realism pushes film boundaries in an effort to put real life experiences in British cinemas showing the world what life experiences can really be. Social realism didn’t take off until the 1960’s mainly due to film censoring by the Government and the fact they thought social realism painted a depressing picture of life.

Modern use of Social realism can be seen in films such as: •Trainspotting(1996) •The Full Monty (1997) •Billy Elliot (2000) •This is England (2006) •London to Brighton (2006) •Fish Tank (2009)

When looking at modern social realism a film like The Full Monty shows a happier more comic side to the issues normally covered by social realism and similarly Billy Elliot and Trainspotting have a feeling of hope that is quite rare to find in early social realism films. Modern social realism films also include non-dietetic sound by including music in their films some of them even using a sound track as a marketing technique.

Spare Time Spare Time shows what it is like to work in Britain in the late 1930’s for working class people, post war.

1939

Passport to Pimlico It was directed by Henry Cornelius. A film where residents are refused passage out of their district into London by the authorities.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

1949

1960

1900 1952

1905 Rescued By Rover This film was one of the first noted fitting the genre of social realism in Britain.

1944 The Happy Breed A film by David Lean based around a lower/middle class family from London

The Titfield Thunderbolt Directed by Charles Crichton

1958 Room At The Top A Story based on lust and ambition

High Hopes directed by Mike Leigh, focusing on an extended working-class family living in King's Cross, London and elsewhere.

1988

The Full Monty It tells the story of six unemployed men, four of them former steel workers, who decide to form a male striptease act.

1997

This Is England

2006

2009 Fish Tank

1996

1969 Kes From director Ken Loach and producer Tony Garnett. The film is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave.

Secret And Lies British film directed by Mike Leigh and starring Brenda Blethyn.

2002 Bend It Like Beckham A film starring Parminder Nagra andKeira Knightley The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha.

Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh is one of the UK's most important contemporary directors. Many of his films such as Meantime (1983) have been made with the backing of TV companies such as Channel Four and the BBC. One of his most notable works are Arguably Naked (1993) for which he won the Best Director Award at Cannes. Another of his recent films, however, is a modern-day comedy, Happy-GoLucky. A commitment to social realism and humanism is evident throughout. Reference: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/tag/british_film_directors/

Shane Meadows Was born 26 December 1972, and is an English film director, screenwriter, occasional actor. The vast majority of his films have been set in the Midlands area. They recall the kitchen sink realism of filmmakers such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, with a post-modern twist. He has a relaxed directing style, encouraging the actors to ad lib in order to create a better sense of reality.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Meadows

Ken Loach Ken Loach was born on 17 June 1936 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. After university he briefly pursued an acting career before turning to directing, joining Northampton Repertory Theatre as an assistant director in 1961 and then moving to the BBC as a trainee television director in 1963. He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness (Cathy Come Home) and labour rights (Riff-Raff). Reference: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/458945/index.html

Film4 Film4 is a free digital television channel available in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned and operated by Channel 4, that screens films. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom. The company's first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, which was released in 1982. Film4 backed the much popular social realisum film This Is England, that was directed by Shane Medows. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film4

The Crown Film Unit was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during World War II. Formerly the GPO Film Unit it became the Crown Film Unit in 1940. Its remit was to make films for the general public in Britain and abroad. Its output included short information and documentary films, as well as longer drama-documentaries, as well as a few straight drama productions. The Crown Film Unit continued to produce films, as part of the Central Office of Information (COI), until it was disbanded in 1952.

Crown Film Unit

The British Board of Film Classification independent, nongovernmental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912. Social realism films are generally classified to be 12/15 for instance: The full MontyFish TankKesSecret and LiesAdultHoodReference: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/about

Dult The main target audience for social realism films are people that are wanting to get a feeling of real experiences from these films. When doing research I found there was not a particular demographic for social realism films however I did notice there was a surge of newer day social realism films for instance, This Is England and Fish Tank with the 16-24 demographic taking more interest to these films as the plot suites them more.

Traditionally social realism films were aimed at the middle class audience who visited art house cinemas. Nowadays they attract a larger and younger audience sown from main stream films such as Fish Tank that were shown at the cinema Odeon as well as art house cinemas like the Duke of York.

Reference: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/25093816/Social-Realism-research

This Is England Trailer, 2006

Passport to Pimlico Trailer, 1949

Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0jkv2bRFgQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kErQAo5qlds

Evaluation Evaluation in the contrast of trailersI chose to look at the This Is England Trailer from 2006 and the Passport To Pimlico trailer from 1949 and look at the contrast between the two. The main difference between the two trailers is clear to see the age in which they were made showing clearly there is the fifty-seven year difference between them both. You can evidently see the difference of eras between the trailers due to the contrast of colours. The This Is England trailer goes straight into the titles of which are very modern and current however the Passport To Pimlico trailer has a less modern, old fashioned title that is on the bottom of the trailer throughout. In the Passport To Pimlico trailer the actors are very well and traditionally dressed. Suits and ties are the main costumes with females in very smart old fashioned dresses. There aren’t strong political references in Passport to Pimlico but there are mild themes in the trailer. There is a clear contrast between accents in each trailer. In Passport to Pimlico the actors are very well spoken with a southern accent. The editing is fairly slow in the Passport to Pimlico trailer with fairly simple shots that are all the same. In the This Is England trailer the actors speak with a northern accent and use a fair amount of slang for instance ‘...youra propa little skinhead then aint ya’. The dress sense again is apparent. The This is England’s storyline focuses on skinhead fashion and style to fit in with the era. There are political views very much portrayed In This is England with views about Margaret Thatcher and how many un-employed people there are in 1980’s Britain. In the This Is England trailer they use a very upbeat soundtrack that is played throughout the trailer. Because of difference of age between the two trailers the effects and shot angles are very much more modern in This Is England. The trailer uses a variety of different shot sizes and camera angles with fast paced editing.

Fish Tank is a 2009 British drama film directed by Andrea Arnold. The film won the Jury Prize at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. It also won the 2010 BAFTA for Best British Film. It was filmed in the Mardyke Estate in Havering, the town of Tilbury, and the A13, and funded by BBC Films and the UK Film Council. Fish Tank may begin as a patch of lower-class chaos, but it turns into a commanding, emotionally satisfying movie, comparable to such youth-in-trouble classics as 'The 400 Blows’ using youth and emotions to show its in the social realism genre. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_Tank_(film)

Kes is a 1969 British film from director Ken Loach and producer Tony Garnett. The film is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave written by the Barnsley-born author Barry Hines in 1968. The film is ranked seventh in the British Film Institute's Top Ten (British) Films and among the top ten in its list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14. The film focuses on Billy Casper, who has little hope in life and is destined to become a coal miner and is bullied both at home, by his physically and verbally abusive half-brother, Jud, as well as at school. This film uses bulling, family and relationships as the main connotations of the social realism genre. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kes_(film)

The Full Monty is a 1997 British film. It tells the story of six unemployed men, four of them former steel workers, who decide to form a male striptease act in order to gather enough money to get somewhere else and for main character Gaz to be able to see his son. The film touches on serious subjects such as unemployment, fathers' rights, depression, impotence, homosexuality, working class culture and suicide. The film was rated a 15 in Britain for frequent strong language.

Reference: ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Full_monty.jpg

As a group we thought social realism would be a good genre to use when making our production as we found using the materials and time limit we have to make the trailer this would be the best suited genre. We also wanted to do this genre as we all have interest in social realism films and did research into films such as Fish Tank and This Is England to give us better ideas on what we can do for our trailer.

Reference: http://beauchampcollegemedia2010.wordpress.com/category/13x/page/36/