Evaluation Question 1

Social Realism by definition is an international art movement which draws attention to the everyday working class lifestyle. This movement is also critical to the social structures which maintain these oppressive conditions. With regards to films specifically, social realism is its own genre which is becoming widely recognized and ultimately accepted. The conventions attached to this genre is also very specific as it is easily distinguished from other genres. The ideology behind the genre is to provide a sense of realism hence the name of the movement. The directors and producers involved in creating these films often subject their audiences to harsh, sinister and even dark themes which would often be avoided in conversation. These themes include things such as: Drug use and addiction, Rape and violent crimes and prostitution. As these themes are often considered to be of a taboo nature, it often draws in an audience as people are enticed by the themes unexplored by other genres.

With regards to titles our film follows the conventions of social realism. This is due to the simplicity of the titles being in a plain white font. These titles also follow the conventions of a documentary which from the off set places emphasis on the 'realism' element of the film as the film is trying to provide a realistic interpretation on the working class and middle class lifestyles within Britain. The titles use however a nice transition to allow a sense of professionalism and fluency within the opening of the film.

With regards to the opening shot of this production we have decided to use the shot of a big stately home which is the setting for the first scene. This home allows the viewers to immediately identify the social class of the protagonist as it connotes a high level of affluence and wealth. The first shot uses a low camera angle which forces the viewer to look up to the house. This itself has added connotations attached as it forces the viewer to feel small in comparison to the size of the house which further signifies the wealth attached to the house. 

The final shot of this opening is the bridge Mike tried to kill himself on, this bridge also allows the viewer to identify the title with the film itself and are able to make any links between the two. The last shot is a time-lapse which can be connoted to signify something out of control as the fast pace water moves under bridge at an alarming rate. This can therefor signify the fact that people do and always will live within social classes and there's nothing that can be done to stop this. We decided to add our main title on the bridge in bigger writing then the last to allow our users to signify its importance as a title.

In terms of shot types we believe we have used a large variation of shot types to allow the film to have a high level of professionalism and to allow our opening to look aesthetically pleasing. However, this can be seen as challenging the conventions of our selected genre as it goes against the non commercial realistic intentions in which social realistic films have. This therefore might inhibit the level of realism represented in this case.

With regards to the protagonist of the film with emphasis on the younger protagonist, Kieran, we believe that the film both does and doesn't follow the conventions of social realism. I believe that with regards to presenting a working class youth we have very closely followed the stereotypes attached to that type of person. Examples of this include things such as the costume in which Kieran wears (Black adidas tracksuit), the house he lives in and even the locations in which he visits. However with regards to the deep personal features of the character, we have allowed the viewers to interpret Kieran in a different light and against the stereotypes which he literally carries on his back. We allow the viewer to see a good and kind side of Kieran going out of his way to save a life. We believe that this does fight the conventions of standard social realism films as it goes against the idea that all working class people are the same.

The film 'The Guvnors' relates to our film opening because it shows to contrasting people and lifestyles. Old and poor, rich and wealthy. Although, in our opening the two protagonists come together where as in 'The Guvnors' it is the opposite. This film is about the protagonist that a has turned his back on casual violence. Similarly, our film focuses on the working class protagonist defying his progression of drugs and violence by turning his life around.

The music in our film, I believe, is there to represent the emotion being emitted by the protagonist and it almost acts as a guide so that the audience is able to identify the emotions of the characters through the specific atmosphere in which the non-diagetic audio is creating. For example in the first couple of scenes which explores mike and his identity the music to go with it matches his deep emotional state which is low and depressing. The music matches this by playing at a slow tempo and with a low pitch. This therefor follows the conventions of social realism as it helps portray realistic aspects of the film which are often displayed in real life scenarios.

The editing in our film is used with the conventions and also against the conventions of social realism. The fact that there is no use of animation or the use of transitional effects follows the conventions of this genre as it allows a realistic portrayal of the world to be perceived which is primarily the goal of any social realism director. However the fact that we have produced a fluent film in the sense that it looks professional suggests that this can also inhibit the level of realism portrayed by the film.