Themes and Situation-
-Aspiration
The main character wants to become a dancer as she enjoys it and finds it as a sense of escaping her life. She has ambition and an aim in her life contrasted to her mother.
-Violence
There is a lot of violence portrayed throughout the film as expected because it is a British Social Realism and there is a lot of violence in the every day life of people living in the gritty run down Urban areas. An example of the violence is when the main girl goes to release the horse from it's chain and the three boys attack her and grab her. The fact that they are doing this to a girl portrays the setting and people living there as very thuggish and corrupt.
-Poverty
As expected the main family's apartment is very plain and dirty with basic necessities. It is very small and cramped, and the estate itself is in a horrible condition which portrays that the people living there are very unwealthy. The street is dirty, vandalized and horrible which portrays the people as dirty and they don't care about rules and law.
-Corruption Of Youth
The main girls little sister and her friend at such a young age is already smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. This is very unexpected as children are usually portrayed as innocent. Also the little girl constantly swears and uses foul language to her own mother and older sister.
There is also some points where domestic abuse from the mother towards her two children are displayed. When the mum is having a party she aggressively pinches the main girl. Also the mum pushes and hurts her youngest daughter.
Representation (Stereotypes and Archetypes)-
Most of the archetypes and stereotypes are subverted in this film. The main girl is represented as a working class, not so wealthy girl. However unlike the stereotypical representation the girl in this film has an ambition and an aim in life which is different to what we would usually see.
Also the mum subverts the typical representation of a mum. They would usually be represented as a caring, lovely, nice and domestic housewife. However in this film the mum is represented as violent, neglecting, rude and uncaring. She is a counter type mum. As the film continues, especially at the end the mum is still a bit cold towards her daughter but compliments her on her music taste and shows a bit of affection.
And the man that the mum dates. As she is single this man takes on the father role on the family. Through looking through some BSR films we would create the idea that this man would be a typical, violent, drug taking 'bloke' however his character also subverts the typical representation. He is smart, funny, kind and caring for the two kids which is how the mother should act. This 'nice' representation of him soon changes as the film continues. A twist appears where the man has a family and it leads to the main girl finding out and kidnapping his daughter. When he finds her he punches her violently and leaves.Mise-en-scene-
The costumes in this film is very basic. The clothes that most people wear are tracksuits, casual clothes and trainers. As well displaying the fact that these people are underclass and not too wealthy it gives an idea of the sort of era and that it is set in a modern, recent time. In the image on the right the girls are wearing skimpy revealing clothes. The clothes are very basic.
The set also is really important. The set in this film sets a great scene as it is a run down estate and represents the people as underclass and unwealthy. As well as it being set on an estate there is a gypsy trailer park. This makes the film more realistic as you see these everywhere in the gritty urban areas. I think the sets in this film are very good.
The era is clearly displayed in this film. They are all wearing nike air maxes, talking in similar slang that people still talk in and the technology they use show that this film is not too old and is sort of recent to present times. This allows the audience to relate to it more.
Music and Sound effects-
There is not a lot of music played in this film. The only music that is played is the diegetic music played through either the main characters music player or the mans car radio.
The type of music that is being played is mostly urban music such as 'Cassie- Me and U' however when the man enters the film there is a lot of folk, jazz music being played for example 'Bobby Womack- California Dreamin'. Most of the sound is diegetic which is good as it makes the film more realistic and believable.
Camera and Editing-
There is basic camera work. There is a lot of use of gritty, hand held- shaky sort of movements in the camera shots throughout the film, which add's a sort of edgy and dirty effect to the film.
There is also very if any editing at all, it includes straight abrupt cuts to different shots. The only editing technique they used repetitively was the use of slow motion. They also used typical long takes on most of the their shots.
Dialogue-
The dialogue used throughout represents the characters as rude, aggressive and thuggish. There is a lot of swearing, representing disrespectful behavior and creates the theme of corruption of youth as most of the swearing comes fro the younger characters.
They speak informally creating the idea that these characters are not very educated which represents them as underclass and very gritty. It also emphasises the urban poverty.
Institutional Background-
The institution that produced this film was BBC Films and co funded with UK Council. BBC films are a British company who have produced and co produced many other films including, Billy Elliot, Alan Partridge and Street dance 3D. Similarly to Film4 they aim to fund about 8 films a year. They have produced about 237 films (approx- Imdb).
Target Audience-
Age: 15-30
Gender: Both
Interests: Dancing, Violence
Location: UK
Ethnicity: White and Black
Marketing Materials-
Due to the film having a low budget and it being a BSR film the marketting strategies were not fantastic and as good as the Hollywood blockbusters but it was still effective.
Also they sold the DVD and Blu Ray of this film on sites such as Amazon and Lovefilms.com.
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