How British Social Realism themes are used

KES - Fight Scene
Isolation.

Right from the start of the film, we can already tell the themes are childhood violence, isolation. Isolation is denoted through Billy walking through the school alone whilst, he sees other peer groups hanging out. This shows that, Billy is an odd-one out in school and other people, do not simply respect him or acknowledge him in a way he wants. Moreover, Billy only seems to be noticed by one teacher, who he talks to in an almost quiet, nervous manor however, when he talks to other peers with his same age, his mode of address changes as he disrespects them and talks back to them. This  shows that, Billy is isolated from the people who is suppose to connect with which, makes it a struggle for him to fit in.


Childhood
  Nevertheless, Childhood is another key theme as, we can see the location is set in a school  with other peers around the same age as Billy. Billy's childhood seems rough. Also, his age is denoted through the theme of childhood, he is still young and quite childish. We can tell, that he is childish by the fights he peruses, His childish-like manor is another aspect that we can identify the themes is about childhood, he addresses most of the adults with respect in a low tone which, is an convention/stereotype of being a child to an adult.


Escape and Aspiration.
As billy feels isolated from society, he always feels the need to escape, to find escapism in order to achieve companionship. He escapes by making friends with a bird, who he only feels connected by, he also feels aspiration as he feels free and doesn't need to follow the norms of society and school. Moreover, he does not much have aspiration in fact; as when the teacher ask him about his future, he doesn't really care, he has more apathy for his future and intends to differentiate himself from everyone else which, makes him more isolated.

Violence
Violence is often a key theme in this text, often physically and verbally. He is abused by his class mates around school, when they tease him which, is an form use of verbal abuse, this angers Billy then leads to the violence that goes around often in school.  This is denoted through the punches and tackles which, connotes the ungraceful environment Billy lives in and has to grow up in. giving him the struggle to fit into school.

Friendship.Even though, Billy seems to struggle for friendship, he still finds some companionship. For example, even though the Bird is not a real human interaction, he still counts it as his friend which connotes the feeling of friendship in his life. He feels more connected to the bird than anyone else, and takes it under his wing. However, Billy still struggles with the simple human interactions as he is often bullied ( also another theme ).

KES Mise-En-Scene

                                                               Mise-En-Scene
Plot

KES is a film about boy called Billy Casper who finds it hard to fit into his place of society, He is often bullied and not much hope in life. Nevertheless, he is often abused both physically and verbally by his half brother, this results to him being mischievous by stealing and provoked into fights with his classmates. He then soon finds a friend, which is a kestrel who he finds himself connecting to.

Production Design.

Casper usually wears grey and rugged dirty clothes which denotes, his working class background coming from a white-British ethnicity. This also connotes, his carefree child-like manor as it could suggest, he is not very caring about people judging him due to his appearance. On the other hand, it can also suggest how he wants to differentiate  himself by putting on these clothes that appear different to other people which, in fact isolates him more from society thus, encouraging his poor heritage he was brought up in.


Lighting

The lighting reflects on the mood and setting for the film. It is often quite dull with natural lighting of the weather being grayish. This is used to emphasis the rundown(gritty) location of a working class area. This natural lighting adds more of the realism effect that is needed which, adds more identification and escapism for the audience while watching this film. The scenes mood also tend to reflect to the lighting for example, when Billy is getting told of by the teacher in front of the students, the scene has a dark lighting showing the feeling of humiliation. As a result , of the connotations of the dark atmosphere.

Actors

The actors especially the main one, appear to be unprofessional actors who are not forced into their ethnicity and ascent. This is good, as yet again it adds more sense of realism,escapism and identification towards the audience so they don't feel anything is put on or fake. Moreover, untrained actors make it more ideal for them to act nervous or anxious within the movie, depending on the character. For example, Billy Casper is acted by an untrained actor which makes it easy, for him to have an effect of anxiety.

Colour

Within the exterior and interior of the locations of the film, the colour is often bright or dark. The interior is quite dark, with grey wallpaper and corridors at the school.  This connotes that school is almost like prison as, these colours are often associated with a prison. As a result, leaving emotions of a dark atmosphere with dull feelings which, is quite the opposite of what a school should be. On the other hand,this slightly conforms a stereotype of schools being dull and boring. On the contrary,the colours become more light as we begin to see the exterior such as the green grass. Because of the colours of the green grass the scene becomes more alive/emotion-filled(joy), this is usually to emphasis that KES is more happy with nature. Evidence for this would be when he was with the bird, showing he tends to feel more connected with nature.

Era

The era of the movie is set around the late 1960s, we can tell this by the schools first of all. The schools look more under-developed and old fashioned. As we see assemblies without chairs and sitting on stairs, Thus, connoting more of a poor background. Also, we tend to see more talk about coal mines and coal around the scenes showing, that coal was an use of lighting and heating denoting an 1960s society.

Production log 3

Overview of Production Log

Throughout the week, I have gained a greater understanding of the representatives and stereotypes in the media. I have also learnt how to connect them with sound, I have learnt sound from:   diegetic , non , diegetic sound foleys , incidental and so much more. The essay I last done, I got an A on it which, have widen my understanding on how to interpret the stereotypes within society that are used in films.

However, I am very good at linking with camera angles, mise-en scene but, need to get better at linking them with sound as, it is important that I  know how sound affects the movie as a whole as , they play a big part in the media.

Sound

Sound Techniques

Diegetic Sound - This is where sound is part of the environment in the film , for example a car breaking .

In this scene, this a various use of Diegetic sound. However, there is a clear use near the end where the antagonist( Zod ) , can hear everything in his environment from thing such as: Cars, alarms , crashes and much more. The use of this creates realism in the film and emphases the surroundings of the atmosphere as a result, making it more ambient.  Nevertheless, due the vary use of it, it creates disorientation within the audience as it is asynchronous adding emphasise on this confusion.
The crashing and smashing in the environment also creates a sense of danger and catastrophe  therefore, alerting the audience even more.

Non Diegetic sound - Non diegetic sound is when it is not part of the environment in the film and, only us as the audience can hear it.

In this scene, the non-diegetic sound used in the soundtrack in the background. The soundtrack used is quite smooth and synchronous within the opening. It is used to emphasise how consistent and calm the scene goes, everything flows fluently with the non-diegetic sound. The soundtrack contains a guitar playing quite high notes to put emphasis, the normal everyday routine the protagonist has.

Dialogue - This is simply a conservation between two or more characters, it can not between one as that would be a monologue.

This is an example of dialogue within a film. However a dialogue can contain certain ways of speaking

Mode Of Address - This is the way the subject is communicating with others, and how the audience read it. In this scene we can clearly tell Walter tone is aggressive however, formal as well as he explains the perks of being a meth dealer.

Direct Address - This is where the subject is talking directly to the audience.

This is an example of Direct Address. The two workers are talking towards us which, makes the show more interactive and attention centred towards the audience. In this scene, the two workers are talking about something quite comedic towards the audience which, involves them to join into the laughter a lot more thus, breaking the fourth wall.

Synchronous Sound - This is where the sound matches the visuals and was filmed at the same time.
Synchronous sound is used here, this is where the soundtrack changes tone throughout the scene goes, right at the start the beat goes with the transitions of the scenes. It creates an effect for the audience of excitement and suspense nevertheless, when the tone changes with the mood of the scene it adds more emphasis on the emotions portrayed.

Asynchronous sound. - This is where the sound is out of sync within the scene.  In this scene we see that quite happy joyful music, is being played over a serious fight. This can create confusion within the scene, or subvert the emotions of seriousness and turn them into joy or laughter as a result, creating a juxtaposition within this scene.

Sound Motif.  - A sound motif is a piece of music or catch phrase that is commonly linked to a character or film.

This is a form of sound motif as it is has instant-reconginiton when the music appears. It creates iconography for the audience so that it increases the publicity of the TV show. The music is quite upbeat and happy but is subverted with, very dull images of a boring office creating a juxtaposition.

Sound Bridge - A sound bridge links two scenes together , usually to hide a cut in editing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn4B2PeA6-E

In this scene, this is also an example of an monologue as the protagonist is talking to himself. The monologue or sound bridge goes throughout the scenes , to create a greater understanding of the environment  he is talking about, it also creates a sense of narration to help guide the audience. Nevertheless, the sound bridge has a serious time which gives impression of a grave situation which is occurring.

Sound Perspective - This refers to the volume and quality of sound, depending on who of what is emitting the sound

This is to elaborate how the sound works in the scene and add to the realism, as if the sound of the person talking was clear, then the audience would be more disoriented and wouldn't sound like a phone call anyway.

Score - Often music composed specifically for that film

The score used is in this, is quite dramatically composed. As a result, this score symbolizes superman as every time he enters the scene, this score would play emphasizing the suspense that is about to happen. This thrills the audience and encourage to root on superman as the protagonist.

Soundtrack - Usually songs already released by artist and used on films depending on the genre.

In this scene, Donnie Darko wakes up in a forest and a soundtrack plays where he continues to ride on his bike. The soundtrack is quite old it's genre, it is rock which adds to the sense of rebellion within the protagonist as he is not the stereotypical teen.

Foley Sounds - Foley sounds are sounds that are used to imiate real life sounds.

Foley sounds is here to emphasise the realism within the scene, they use the sounds of a horse rattling, grass and footsteps. All these sounds create a sense of suspence, where the audience feels more alive and interacted with the scene.

Preliminary Task Video