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/