Our Cast List

We created a cast list which includes the main characters of the film along with the actor playing their roles. It then states the dates that each actor is needed, and the costumes needed, both of which have been confirmed.

Our Location List

We created a location list which states the film location along with where it will be shot in real life, we have decided to film in my house at it is local and convenient for all of the actors and directors. 

Our Call Sheets

We created call sheets so we have a clear plan of what we will film on each day. They include the date and time with the location of where it will be shot, the actors, props and equipment required, along with the crew members.

Our Production Schedule

We designed a production schedule so that we can keep on top of filming and have a clear plan of when we will film and edit. We are going to try our best to stick to these dates so that we have enough time to film and edit, along with spare dates left so that we can easily go back and re-film any necessary shots.

British Social Realism // Production Log Eleven

Our Shooting Script

A shooting script is used in production, mainly by the director so it is clear of the shot number, which is useful if you do not film the scenes in order, the location where the shot is filmed, the type and angle of the shot, the length of the shot, description of action, actors and equipment needed for certain shots. It is vital that it is clear and easy to follow.

This week we had to complete our own shooting script which contains all the information about the shots in our opening sequence. It includes, the type of shot, length of shot, any movement, description of action, music and SFX and the credits that will be shown. This allowed us to consider what we wanted to show in our opening sequence, and think about how long each shot will be so we keep the opening sequence at two minutes or under. This week we had to complete a shooting script which contains all the information about the shots in our opening sequence. It includes, the type of shot, length of shot, any movement, description of action, music and SFX and the credits that will be shown. This allowed us to consider what we wanted to show in our opening sequence, and think about how long each shot will be so we keep the opening sequence at two minutes or under, this means thinking about how long our credits will be on too. The shooting script has allowed us to plan our opening to an extent where we know exactly what we want it to look like.

This is our shooting script for our opening sequence: 

Meet My Audience

British Social Realism // Production Log Ten

We received feedback on our treatment we made with improvements to make, to ensure everything needed is included. To see that post, Click Here. 

This week we conducted our primary research and went and asked our target audience questions and edited them to present them in a Voxpop. This allowed us to gather the most relevant information possible, without it taking up too much time like a focus group would. 

Here is our Voxpop:

We learnt that our audience's favourite BSR films are Kidulthood, because they liked the storyline and Bend it like Beckham because of the cultural elements and having an indian girl aspiring to be a footballer. This allows us to see if we can use certain elements of these films in our own, to make them appeal to our audience more and ideas we can add to our own. I think Kidulthood's storyline is already quite similar to our own, having the character's ages to be in school so it is relatable to a certain part of our audience and there being quite a strong theme of bullying being evident as it was the cause of the character Katie's suicide. This is probably why people who liked Kidulthood, our idea appealed to them. However I think we could make the film more effective perhaps by making Becca, a religious character making what happens to her being seen as worse. This means we could appeal to a wider audience if we have cultural elements like the film Bend it like Beckham. The film is all about coming of age, finding yourself and someone different fitting in which could be useful for our film. Becca is made different through her pregnancy and then struggles with people's views upon it.

Overall, we learnt that our film does appeal to our audience and we were given some improvements to make. Those suggestions include making the character of Becca younger, which is something we are going to definitely change. Becca was initially 16 and we think that if her character's age is 14 or 15, the rape is more shocking as 16 is the legal age for sex in the UK. This also makes her character easier to make look innocent and vulnerable, as sixteen year olds may be seen as more mature. We also learnt that people like the idea of us showing the effects of bullying, and the judgement against someone even though they have not done anything wrong. For example, we show Becca to be innocent and that her pregnancy is not her fault yet in films like "Juno" we see a girl who has willingly had sex and become pregnant through her own decision. 

We also are considering the ways to show the rape as it is a sensitive topic and understand it could be disturbing for some viewers. Currently, we think we will show a different shot, but you can hear Becca's muffled screams in the background so the audience remain aware of what is happening. These changes show how our primary research has benefited us to change the plan for our film to be more suitable to target our audience. 

Qualitative Data Analysis

The research we have carried out has narrowed down our BSR film concept as we have some improvements we want to make. For example, the suggestion of the character Becca being younger has made us reconsider her character a lot. We have decided to make her the younger age of 15 as before she was 16 which is the legal age in the UK for sex. We think this makes what happens to Becca a lot more shocking, and it would be easier for us to show her as a much more innocent character at this age. This will show her at her first important stage of school, working towards her GCSE's and the fact that she becomes pregnant turns her world upside down. The idea that her pregnancy could affect her education means there is more at stake and when she has no support from her single father it seems like the world has given up on her. This is a good moment to have where it seems everything is against her, before something can get better. 

Another suggestion was to think about how the rape is presented to the audience, as it was a concern how people would take it. We are currently in the process of thinking of ways to show this scene in an effective but less visual way. We like the way a scene is shown in the film "Nil by Mouth" where you can hear the abuse but not actually see it. This is how I would like to present this scene, so it is still shown in a true perspective but the audience cannot see it happening as we agree it is a very sensitive topic and our viewers may find it disturbing. This ties in with having an age cap on who can view our film which is something we need to consider. 

The research we have carried out has developed our film idea as we now know which other BSR films are our target audience's favourites. The most common responses from participants in our research being "Kidulthood" and "Bend It Like Beckham". This allows us to study these films in particular and maybe consider elements of those films in our own. Many participants liked the storyline of Kidulthood. Parts of the storyline are quite similar to our own, with bullying being shown strongly through the character Katie's suicide. Kidulthood is also based around our target audience's age which is why I think it's quite popular, as they are all in school. We also want to see if we can develop the culture of our character Becca as we found that participants who like Bend it like Beckham enjoyed the cultural element of the film and how it shows how people can be treated differently through culture and gender, but on the side of the main character's own family, other people accepting the indian girl's love of football but her family not being supportive of her dream career. This shows how certain things can be expected of someone of a different culture or gender but that they're just as capable. This is something I think we should try and weave into our film concept whether it is making Becca, a strong believer of Christianity or something else. This should allow us to appeal to wider audiences if there is a cultural element. Also because Becca is a girl, this is a relevant film as it is based around girls and how they can be treated differently. In our film's context, girls would be call names for having sex, but for boys it is glorified and supported. Bend it like Beckham is all about fitting in and how it can be really hard, so this is what I think we need to show in our film. 

The research has narrowed down our BSR film concept as we do not feel like we have to change our initial film idea as everyone we spoke to liked our film idea. There are small things we want to change, like the age of Becca but we now know there is interest from our target audience for this film and it appeals to them. We think the idea is relevant as people like that we are showing the character as being vulnerable, becoming pregnant not through her own choice, and then the judgement against her from people at her school. The main thing that makes it relevant is that the bullying is mostly online through social media, and in recent years many teenage suicides have been caused through keyboard warriors not realising the psychological and physical harm it can cause. It is also relevant as teenage pregnancies become more common through teenagers being exposed to things they never used to be.


The research we have carried out gave us lots of information, mostly positive showing that our initial film idea is suitable to our target audience but has enabled us to find out things to keep the same, what to change or consider and therefore makes us more aware of the preferences of our target audience and how to adapt the film concept around them. 

Data Presentation

Question 1: What is your favourite film out of Kidulthood, Billy Elliot, Fish Tank, This is England and Bend it Like Beckham and why? 

• Kidulthood was a popular response and the reason being that people liked the storyline
• Bend it like Beckham again was another popular response and people liked the idea of the Indian culture and the themes of gender, females being presented as a minority in football

This means we can look at the storyline of Kidulthood and think about how we can take ideas from it. I think Kidulthood was popular because the characters are around the same age as our target audience, which could make it a relatable storyline. It also shows that our target audience like themes of discrimination and a minority succeeding. This is something we could try and weave into our idea more.

Question 2: What do you think of our idea? 

• Our film idea was liked because it raises awareness for bullying and rape
• It was also liked because it shows a sense of reality and not a false fairytale happy ending
• It could also be relatable for people going through similar things

This shows that our theme is appropriate for our target audience, even if the genre of BSR can be quite harsh and truthful and that it was liked by the people we spoke to. This shows us what to keep in our film idea when we make improvements. 

Question 3: What improvements would you make? 

• An improvement that was suggested made a big impact on us and we have already talked about a lot, which was to make the character of Becca younger
• Also it was suggested to be sensitive towards the rape element of our film, as it is a difficult subject and it is unsure how people would take it
• A suggestion made was that there should be an age cap on the film so people too young would not watch it as it's a sensitive subject 

We are definitely going to make the age of Becca younger as we initially had her at 16 which is the legal age for sex in the UK and we think the film would be more shocking and effective if she was younger at maybe 14 or 15. We are considering many different ways to show the rape scenes, as we do not want it to be to harsh as we are aware it is a sensitive topic. We like how the film "Nil By Mouth" shows scenes of abuse, by hearing it in the background but the audience seeing a different shot, and think we will use this idea in our own film. 

Question 4: Participants were asked if they had seen films about teenage pregnancies for example 'Juno' and 'Precious'. 

• Only some of our participants had seen these films, but the ones that had said they really enjoyed them

By seeing these films allowed people to compare how we wanted to present the theme of teenage pregnancy in our film compared to these films. Juno definitely shows it as the fault of the girl, whereas we wanted to show the judgement made of teenage mums without people knowing the full story which is in this case, the pregnancy being caused by rape. 

Question 5: From what we have described, has the main character been made to look vulnerable in contrast to other films with similar themes? 

• Participants said that the character has been made to look vulnerable especially compared to the other films mentioned above
• It has been made clear that the pregnancy was not of Becca's intention or her fault and that she has been put in the perspective of being isolated and segregated 
• The film is not too cliche with the bullying aspect and Becca being on her own in this situation, it is definitely more realistic

These responses were exactly what we wanted to hear, and that the message of judging before you know was made clear. We wanted to make it as realistic as possible, and cyber-bulling especially has been a relevant cause of teenage depression and even suicide in recent years due to the sheer volume of social media websites. We wanted to make it clear of what bullying can cause without it being too fictionalised.

Evidence of Audience Research

To collect our research for our own film idea we interviewed our target audience and asked some questions and presented them in the style of a Voxpop. This allowed us to show the relevant information from each person we interviewed to the questions we asked. It was really easy to edit and allowed us to gather information fairly quickly whereas a focus group may have taken longer meaning people would be less willing to give up their time. 

This is our Voxpop: 

Question 1: What is your favourite film out of Kidulthood, Billy Elliot, Fish Tank, This is England and Bend it Like Beckham and why? 

This question would allow us to find out the favourite BSR film of our target audience and could give us ideas of what themes are popular amongst the age group, and maybe that we need to reconsider how we presented our film. 

Question 2: What do you think of our idea? 

This question allows us to find the true opinion of our target audience, so we will be able to see if the theme of our film is suitable and relevant and whether people would like it. 

Question 3: What improvements would you make? 

This should allow us to add further detail to our idea, making it more adapted to our target audience's preferences. It allows us to see the faults in our film idea, and we can improve it. 

Question 4: Participants were asked if they had seen films about teenage pregnancies for example 'Juno' and 'Precious'. 

Question 5: From what we have described, has the main character been made to look vulnerable in contrast to other films with similar themes? 

If the participants had seen the films we asked about before, they would be able to compare our character 'Becca' with characters presented in these. It would enable us to see whether the character has been presented in the way we wanted.

British Social Realism // Production Log Nine

In recent lessons we have learnt a lot about narrative. We first learnt the difference between stories, plots and narratives:

"Stories are the events in order of occurrence, where as plot is the order in which they are told to the audience. Narratives are about the structure of the text."

We then learnt about the different types of narrative, a linear narrative being the traditional order of a beginning, middle and end whereas a non-linear narrative is where the story is not in chronological order. We also learnt about restricted narratives, where the audience has limited access to narrative events as they only see what the characters see and omniscient narratives, where the audience has access to more narrative events and sometimes know more than the characters themselves. Most BSR films use an omniscient and linear narrative (because a non-linear narrative is not as realistic).

We decided that for our opening we would have a non-linear narrative as we wanted to include flashbacks but have the rest of the film as a linear narrative. We also decided we wanted to use an omniscient narrative as in our film idea the audience would know more than our main character. 

An example of a non-linear film would be Pulp Fiction as we follow the storylines of three separate characters and allows us as the audience to see different character's point of views. The structure of this film makes it exciting and keeps the audience intrigued. For these exact reasons we wanted to use a non-linear opening, as our idea is to have a smash mouth opening and we want it to grab the audience's attention straight away. 

An example of an omniscient narrative would be this clip from the film "Psycho." This clip shows the film to have an omniscient narrative as the audience are able to see the character approaching the shower without the other character knowing. 

We learnt about Todorov who suggested that conventional narratives are structured in the following five stages: 

1. A state of equilibrium at the beginning

2. Agents of change disrupting equilibrium

3. A recognition that there has been a disruption

4. Solution/Restored order 

5. New equilibrium 

We also constructed our own narrative structure based on Mckee's 'Classic Narrative Structure': 

We added the above narrative structure to our treatment to explain our narrative stages clearer, and also added the following terminology we learnt to the paragraph about narrative in our treatment: omniscient, restricted, narrator, enigma code, action code, protagonist, antagonist, verisimilitude, linear and non-linear. 

This week we had to consider how we were going to conduct our primary research. We looked at many different ways to collect information needed by our audience, written questionnaires, focus groups and vox-pops. We decided on using vox-pops to collect the information from our target audience, as it allows us to ask follow up questions and gather opinions and also allows us to present the information gathered in a more interesting way. Obtaining vox-pops should allow us to see a snapshot of our audience's opinion and provide us with enough information to see if our film is suitable for our target audience. We will approach people and ask them open, but simple questions ensuring that these people represent our audience. We will carry out our research next week and use questions that we constructed in advance. Our first question will tell us whether they are familiar with the genre our film will be by asking if they have seen some well known British Social Realism films, this should enable them to understand the common themes in realist films and makes their opinion on our storyline more valuable. 

This week we also learnt about shooting scripts. A shooting script is used in the production process of the film to communicate important information needed by all crew and actors involved. It should include: - Dialogue       

- Shot Type

- Shot Angle

- Duration of shot

- Shot Movement

- Music and Sound FX

- Lighting 

- Description of Action

- Props/Equipment needed (costumes etc)

- Actors used in scene

- Shot Number

We carried out an exercise using a shooting script made by someone else and went and filmed it in one of our lessons. It made me realise the importance of a shooting script for 1. Filming, this exercise shows that a shooting script needs to show the exact details of the shot and what will happen and can be very useful if you do not film shots in chronological order. and 2. What is included in the shooting script needs to be clear, and easy to follow, but contain a lot of information. When I conduct my own shooting script I will remember this exercise and ensure that if I gave my shooting script to someone else to film it should look almost exactly like mine. 

This is our version of the shooting script we were given: 

Strengths of our work? 

We followed the 180-degree rule when filming to try and keep continuity within our shots. We followed the shot types and angles, and used various different shots when the shot type was not specified. Also the setting and props was accurate to the information that was given.

Weaknesses of our work? 

We were unable to follow the costumes as we were only given a lesson to film and because of this time frame were unable to finish the sequence. We were filming with tape and this was a new experience for us and some shots were lost when it was converted onto the computer so the beginning is missing. A big weakness of our work is that we were unable to stay in character as you can see in the clip. The main weakness however, is the confusion about the shooting script. The shooting script given to us used the character's name and actor's name inconsistently throughout the description of action in different shots, so after filming some shots, we realised it was one person not two, but could not go back and film so there is a jump cut as we did not have continuity as one character had to change positions completely. Eoin is seen sitting, and then being the one at the door. This made us realise that our shooting script needs to be written carefully and made easy to understand. 

Treatment and Narrative Structure

Positive 

Title
We chose the title 'Positive', this connotes that although the storyline itself isn't positive, the theme of pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases may be involved, it gets the audience thinking without giving too much away. This title is conventional for the BSR genre as it one word, two syllables so it is quick and easy to remember, it is really effective in getting the audience to think about our storyline, characters and themes. It will appeal to our target audience because they are young, and straight away will associate the word positive with not only good, but with the elements that will make up the film.

Target Audience
Our target audience is 16-24 year olds, as it focuses on mainly adult themes, but still has an element of corruption of youth as the characters included are still young students. We have also aimed at female viewers as it tackles the struggles that are more common amongst females. Our target audience will also be interested in watching other films which present real life struggles, perhaps presented in a documentary style, Britain has a sky-high level of teenage pregnancies, with 2.9 out of every 100 girls aged between 15 and 19 giving birth every year. The class of our audience is middle and working as the characters will also reflect these classes, so they will be able to relate to what they are going through. Our film will appeal to our target audience as the themes involved are young and current, along with the characters themselves. We hope to represent our characters truthfully so that our audience can easily relate to what they are going through and find similarities between the film and what they have seen or even experienced themselves. We also want our character to represent that teenage pregnancy isn't always their fault and how they are so easily judged before they know what caused it.




Our unique selling point is that in most teenage pregnancy themed films, the girl falls pregnant from having sex with her own consent with knowing the consequences, for example Juno, For Keeps, Precious. But our film will denote her pregnancy in a totally different perspective. We will watch these films in order to help us differentiate our own film from theirs and give it a clear USP.





Technology
We have an idea to film certain parts of our film on a mobile phone that belongs to one of the characters at a party, the footage would be raw, hand held and gives the audience a different perspective of what is happening. A good example of this is the opening of Harry Brown which creates a really on edge atmosphere for the audience through this type of footage, which is what we would like to achieve in certain areas. A limitation of this is that it could look amateur and not create the atmosphere that we would like it to.

Representations
Our key character is a 16 year old girl, Becca, who becomes pregnant. She is the protagonist as she is young and vulnerable, although she is not treated as this because everyone has taken a dislike to her and treats her as if she has done wrong. The antagonist in the film is firstly the rapist, as he takes advantage of this young girl, but no one knows his identity so is not treated as the bad guy. Aswell as him, we have bullies and keyboard warriors who attack her for her pregnancy. 
We will apply BSR archetypes to the characters in our film by firstly having the failing man, Becca's Dad, he is a single parent struggling to provide for his daughter, and panics at the thought of having to supply for a grandchild. The weak but aggressive man will be the Rapist, who is shown as weak by taking advantage of a girl much more vulnerable than him, but aggressive through the act of rape. The Savior is the boy who falls in love with Becca despite her pregnancy, he helps her to overcome the bullies and what she has been through. The follower will be her best friend who has now turned her back on Becca because of her pregnancy, and instead follows the crowd and bullies her. 
Our film will challenge typical representations of teenage girls who carelessly become pregnant, instead it will show the hardships that some young girls are forced to face.

Narrative
Our film is about a 15 year old, Becca, who is raped on her way to a party, she keeps the rape a secret but is still bullied at school and online for being made out to be promiscuous. The enigma code of our film is that the audience will not know what Becca will do with the baby or who she will tell, leaving them intrigued. In our opening sequence, it will begin with a text asking Becca to come to the party, to a flashback of her getting ready. It will then go back to current time where she is doing homework, and takes out a pregnancy test. Later on it will cut between her waiting for the results and flashbacks of the rape.
Our characters and themes are introduced but not fully exposed, and we will use super imposed graphics so that it is more interesting to watch. Our opening will be non linear as it will include flashbacks from the rape and will not follow on in chronological order, after the opening, the rest of the film is a linear story. We aim to create verisimilitude through our actors to make the audience feel a sense of realism when watching, our locations will also be real locations as it will not be filmed on set, this should make the audience believe that the story is more real.

We have designed a narrative structure so that we do not give too much of our story away in the first 2 minutes, our opening will consist of only the exposition and the agents of change.

Conventions

We will conform to typical BSR genre's as we will use themes of Corruption of Youth, unwanted pregnancy and sexual abuse. Our film will have elements of romance but in a more unexpected way than most romantic films later on. A non linear opening and music which sets the appropriate atmosphere . Our credits will be super imposed, black or white so they do not attract attention away from the film.

Style and Iconography
We are going to use two different types of camera work, still and handheld, this should give the audience different perspectives and create different atmospheres throughout. We will use mostly cuts and cross cuts so that our shots are short and fast paced in the montage to make the audience on edge. Our characters will be wearing average priced, non branded clothes to signify reality and their average earning families. This is different to most BSR films as they are mostly denoted wearing tracksuits and we find this does not portray reality accurately. When the girl is taking her pregnancy test, we can hear her shaky breaths, showing her nerves. The music contrasts with the rape scenes as it is not as aggressive, but still makes the audience feel sorry for Becca.

Institution 
Film 4's ethos is to help out small British directors and their films are not usually suited to family audiences with only a small budget. This will impact on our film because it impacts the themes we have used as they would not be suitable for younger children, our budget is low so it comes across as more realistic. We will distribute our film in an independent cinema as this is what Film 4 mostly do, if the film was successful, we would go on to exhibiting it in larger cinemas for wider audiences, Netflix, Sky Movies.

British Social Realism // Production Log Eight

British Social Realism // Production Log Seven

Inspiration from Stories in the News

This story is about a woman who stole almost £15,000 from her aunt was finally jailed after pretending to be pregnant to avoid prison. I think this story could be made into a British Social Realism film, as the story could focus around her, perhaps someone who is well-known for petty crime in her area finally being caught and then being afraid of facing the penalties. The main themes of the film would be poverty and petty crime. The film would follow her story mainly, the struggles she faces to get by and then also the problems she causes her family. The figure she stole from her aunt in the film would most likely be reduced dramatically so it fits the theme of poverty. The location would most likely be her living in a block of flats, whereas her aunt might be slightly better off. I think that her aunt could be someone trying to help her niece by interfering with her life, but not something that the main character would want. I also think I would have the main character younger than Lisa Phillips, maybe a teenager around 18 or 19. This could emphasise a bad childhood as her parents aren't around hence why her aunt is trying to take care of her and change her ways. 

This story I think could be changed into the dangers of driving under the influence especially amongst teenagers. I think the film could be based around school lives, for example similar to "Kidulthood," where a massive party is planned but things go wrong. I think alcohol and drugs could already be a massive part of their lives, and many of the characters have experimented with them before, some are perhaps regular users. The story could follow one character in particular, a young boy who just passed his driving test, who later in the film is responsible for many in the vehicle where the car collides with another causing injuries and many casualties amongst his friends. The main themes would be first love, alcohol and drugs and corrupted youth. First love is a theme as I think the story could focus around the main character's infatuation with a girl, who he is trying to impress. This story would focus on the constant peer pressure he receives, and the causes of this peer pressure. The location can remain in Doncaster, where the characters would live in normal houses. I think the main character would have a best friend that always convinced him to do things, the person who in the film who would have convinced him to drive under influence who would have a broken home and a considerably harder life than the friendship group around him. He would feel he had to impress his friends. In a way, the audience would empathise with this character, and indirectly this character's story is the one that we follow. 

This story I think could be turned into a British Social Realism film, perhaps presented in a similar way to the film "ill Manors." This news story has similar themes to that film, but shows the downfall of someone with minor fame/popularity. It looks at drugs and prostitution, the more extreme themes common in BSR films. I think it could start off with the girl's life just after winning this contest, but as the fame disappears the film could show her life swindling into a deep depression where she meets a drug dealer who gets her hooked on heroin. I think she could leave home after meeting this drug dealer moving in with him where their flat becomes known as a place to get drugs. Next I think the drug dealer could die from an overdose, leaving her to take over the business but she gets caught.

Analysis of Camera and Editing in "Ill Manors"

How is the camera used in "Ill Manors"?

This camera shot from a high angle, emphasises a really relaxed response from this character to being put in prison. As we can see he has a relaxed body language and expression on his face connoting that he is not affected by being put in prison and that perhaps is something that has happened before or something that is to be expected in his line of work. This gives the audience a bad impression on this character, as they would view him to be someone on the outskirts of society and have quite a rough background. This presents the characters of this film to be of a low class therefore resorting to drug dealing and taking drugs themselves. 

This camera shot allows the audience to see a knocked over tablet bottle, drugs on the table and the phone which has contacts of many of the drug dealers that are introduced to us through the film. It is effective as it allows the audience to see what is in the foreground of the shot, the phone and tablets, but the items in the background are blurred. This enables the audience's attention to be drawn to these items thus emphasising the storyline of drug dealing.

This two shot shows the dominance of the character Kirby as he has the majority of the screen, and the other character can only be seen on the left hand side of the screen briefly. This connotes his authority over the other character, as he works for Kirby, perhaps through a bigger reputation or age, meaning he has been in the business of drug dealing longer. 


This wide shot shows us Kirby leaving prison. It is effective as it shows no one in the background, or anything to distract the audience allowing all focus to be on him. This represents him as an important character in the film, but also someone with quite a big ego, with a well-known reputation. The way he is dressed differs to images seen of him before, we see that drug dealing has made him quite well-off as his clothes seem nicer than characters we have seen before.

This camera shot is effective in the way it has been angled as we see two characters clearly meeting in a dark alley-way at night by some rubbish bins. This connotes the area to be quite rough as in the background of shots filmed in the same locations we see a gang which tells the audience this is an area that people meet and hang around on the streets. The shot showing the gang in the background is in focus but the foreground is blurred allowing the audience to see what the director wants us too, and come to the conclusion of a rough area where people hang about on the streets.

This low angle shot allows the audience to see blocks of flats which allows us to establish location. Flats are a common place for setting of British Social Realism films so this allows us to see the typical living situation of the working class people. Perhaps a low angle is used to connote a low social class as it is not presented in the best way.


This camera shot is effective as it is angled in a way where we can see many members of a gang. They are made to look quite dominant and powerful in this shot connoting that they may cause fear amongst others. They are also all wearing tracksuits and snap-backs, which is in fashion amongst young people, so represent young people in a bad way. This also connotes them to be identified as a group of people, meaning this is how gangs of young people are recognised.

How is the editing used in "Ill Manors"?

Parallel Editing is used in this film to move forward in time and allows us to see different character's stories being told at the same time. We start off with Ed and Aaron's story, then Kirby's, cut back to Ed and Aaron and then on to the gang of younger characters. This is effective as it keeps a fast pace for the opening of the film, gaining interest from the audience. It also shows how drug dealing is affecting all aged characters and the younger characters upbringing is being tainted. This establishes a theme of corruption of youth. It also represents this area in a bad way, as it assumes that there are many drug deals happening and connections between drug dealers going on all at the same time, making the area look rough.  

 

Time-lapses are also used at the very beginning of the film which is effective as it briefly introduces us to the characters, all of which are being presented as quite rough and constantly handling things secretively. For example, the phones when they ring occasionally show code names, "Liability" being one. This shows how they handle business. The sped up shots allow the audience to be introduced to the themes of drug dealing in the film, this theme is established through scenes of Kirby injecting a girl. We also see locations, which have been mostly filmed at night, showing the night life of the area, drug dealers and prostitutes which has been made clear in the lyrics of the opening song. We see images of girls being picked up and dropped off on different corners of streets. This represents the characters as being desperate for money and also to be the bottom of the social class ranking, resorting to illegal acts to make a living. This shows a rough area and the rough upbringing some of these characters have. For example, Chris resorted to drug dealing through Kirby after his mum died due to an overdose on heroin as her and Kirby were in a relationship, so he was constantly around a drug environment and if he wasn't it probably wouldn't be what he is doing as a job now. It also allows the film to move forward in time swiftly and easily, only showing scenes that are relevant to the storyline. 

Continuity Editing is used in the film especially in a scene where Aaron is talking to his social worker. We see over the shoulder shots, shot-reverse shots, two shots all keeping to the 180-degree rule. This makes the conversation easier to follow for the audience, and the cuts are invisible making the final edit as realistic as possible. This is common in British Social Realism films as every character is in the same position and remains on one side of the screen making the scenes flow much better.