Analysis of some Social Realism Films

There are lots of social realism films, made by different directors who have their unique rationale on how they see the film should be. I have chosen two social realism films made by different directors and have analysis them; these films are “This Is England” and “Half Nelson” To make the film successful the director would have to think about all the macro and micro elements of making a film. Amongst the analysis of the two films I have attempted to decode the director’s rationale.

The opening of ‘This is England’ is very interesting, because there are so many technical elements. The whole of the opening has clips of events that happened in the 1980s, such as Margaret Thatcher the first women Prime Minister, Diana’s wedding, the Falklands War, Games (the cubic cube), Cd’s being made, Robotic machines as well as everyday events that where happening on the streets, like Violence protesting, graffiti everywhere on flats, Boys at school, lots of people parting/celebrations. The director Shane Meadow has done this to bring people back to the 80s and there way of living. Shane Meadow has created the beginning of this film without it feeling like it is a social realism film.

The first clip of the opening has a static shot of Ronal the rat saying ‘testing, testing 123, is it working Kev’ this is the only clip that has diegetic sound, from this it sounds like the film is going to be told by Ronal the rat. After this clip there is a non-diegetic sound which is a piece of music by Toots and The Maytals – 54 46 was my number, all the clips from the 80s are playing whilst this non-diegetic sound is playing, so no other sound can be heard, again there isn’t any sense of this film turning into a social realism film. Shane Meadow has managed to create an opening scene that would attract the wider main stream target audience.

Shane Meadow has kept everything naturalistic; he hasn’t added any special effects on the clips. Amongst having historical clips, he has used many other shots of flats, and working class people, having fun partying or protesting what they believe. Every shot creates a sense of actually being in the 80s, this is done by using hand held shots properly taken from news reports or first hand experiences, there are also some static shots, for example the shot of the graffiti on the walls would have been taken from in a car, or on a track, having this shot near the beginning creates an eye view account as if the audience was driving down the road looking out there window watching as the world goes by and history is made. It all links with being apart of England, and our British culture.

The beginning of ‘This is England’ is completely different to another social realism film ‘Half Nelson’ by Ryan Fleck. This is England is a British film whilst Half Nelson is an American film. The opening of ‘This is England’ consists of a mixture of clips edited together with non-diegetic sound. However, ‘Half Nelson’ goes straight into the film with shots of Dan Dunne in his apartment.

At the very beginning of Half Nelson, there is a black screen with some non-diegetic sound playing, then an alarm clock goes off and there is a side close up shot of Dan Dunne. It then goes to a long shot of him sitting on the floor in his apartment, as this present time there is a sense of depression, because he doesn’t really care about the alarm going off. He is just sitting there in a shirt and underwear. Within this scene the director Ryan Fleck has used dark lighting and hand held camera shots of Dan this gives and impression of depression, loneness and restlessness. From here you can tell that Dan is someone that doesn’t like his life so he is taking substitutes to make him feel that little bit better about himself. When Dan goes off to work, he sorts himself out and seems happy, he turns on the lights in the classroom; from the lighting the scene has a better atmosphere then when he was at home. He’s keeping his professional and private separate from each other.

The director Ryan Fleck has created a naturalistic opening through technical elements; the apartment looks messy as if someone doesn’t care about their life. He has also chosen to use hand held camera shots this creates an eye view account as if the audience is watching Dan in his apartment.

Both directors Shane Meadow and Ryan Fleck have created social realism films and the opening are completely different from one another, this has been to bring in a wider main stream audience as well as the niche audience. However, their techniques of doing this are different Ryan Fleck has drown the attention of substitute abuse into the opening scene by using handheld camera shots and dark lighting to create the scene. Where as Shane Meadow has used non-diegetic sound and lots of clips from the 80s to bring the audience to feel as if they are in the 80s.

Social Realism In film

The style of a social realism film is very often found being naturalistic; keep the film as true life as possible. These type films usually address the working class citizens facing a numerous amount of issues in their day to day life; these issues may include depression, drug abuse, unemployment and stress.

Films in the social realism genre mainly focus on an individual person/character and generally have a short, storyline to it. For example in “Half Nelson” the main character is going through drug and alcohol abuse, the audience would watch this film and could relate to this; especially if they themselves have been affected by drug abuse. Compared to Hollywood or Bollywood films, a social realism film issues would be addressed in a way that is true to real life. Whereas Hollywood and Bollywood films may be over exaggerated, and the audience may not be able to relate to the film in the same way.

A big issue for directors when creating a social realism film is the technical elements. Using a Long take can help the audience watching the film to get a better sense of realism, as it is more believable, for example in the opening of Nil By Mouth it is set in a bar where there is normally a lot of background noise because it’s a very busy environment. A long shot helps to create this and also the audience can feel as if they are there in the bar whilst the film is happening around them. All technical elements have to be realistic, or else the film could lose the nature of being real. For example, if the lighting was dark and gloomy the audience might think that they were watching a horror film. Depending on the directors view on the film, the lighting can be dark and gloomy, but he/ she would have to ensure that the film in still being naturalistic. To get the film perfect the director would have to consider every bit of detail, and it would include researching locations for sets. If not the director could be criticized by the niche market audience as well as a wider main stream audience that he or she might be targeting, for not being true to the real life. The film would normally be low-budgeted this way the director can keep everything simple and naturalistic, for example using real locations is cheaper than creating a studio set.

Social realism in films first started in the late 19^th century and has continued to grow, although it isn’t as popular as Hollywood or even Bollywood films. Many issues from the world’s history such as the many wars to the different crimes today can be explored with in social realism films, as they have affect everyone in some way. These issues are often made publicly aware through the media and have an influence on the community we live in.

Some examples of social realism films include: Sweet Sixteen, Ladybird Ladybird, Raining Stones, Kes and others by Ken Loach. Also Family and In This World by Michael Winterbottom are also social realism films, along with many others by other directors. The social realism films all have one thing in common, which is being as realistic as possible a keeping to the issues we face in everyday life.