Social Realism - FISH TANK

'How typical is your chosen text to it's genre?'

Clip 5

Fish Tank is a social realism film made in 2009, directed by Andrea Arnold. The film adheres to social realism as the technical and narrative conventions, character roles and mise en scene/iconography clearly demonstrate this.
At the beginning of the narrative, Mia is shown in bed, with a dog barking in the background and children shouting in the distance. This is a technical convention, used to demonstrate the surroundings of where Mia lives, and this adheres to the social realist idea of urban environments and the typical underclass area. Most of the time, the camera shots are hand held, following Mia wherever she goes, giving the audience the chance to feel as though they are presently there and giving a sense of realism. The lighting throughout the clip is natural and there are no really technical effects, this can be referred back to the social realism genre, how the use of natural lighting produces a realistic setting. When a scene is cut and focused on one particular object, we see from Mia's point of view. This is evident in the clip when she is shown watching a YouTube video on a computer, when the camera is on the screen, that is the only object in front of the camera, shows Mia's point of view.
The iconography evident in this clip helps to construct that sense of realism, Mia wears a tracksuit and carries a plain rucksack around with her - this can be a typical social realism convention, showing the type of fashion used in these urban, working class areas. A further use of iconography would be the short clip we see of the dog eating a dead fish, this could signify the fact that Mia has no way out, and could relate to the title 'Fish Tank'.
When she leaves her house, the next scene is of her walking through town, she then notices a dancing advertisement, and takes it with her. This could link with the idea that Mia's ambition to go far with dance to escape her life and get a better one, the sense of realism that this may not happen is another convention of social realism.

THE HUNGER GAMES - Identify 3 sci-fi conventions and justify them

THE HUNGER GAMES



The Hunger Games contains typical and re-ocurring conventions from the Sci-Fi genre. The genre conventions could be categorised as narrative themes, character roles, iconography/mise en scene and technical conventions. The narrative is typical of the genre in many ways.

The narrative theme of Sci-fi is present in the Hunger games. However it also includes the genres of adventure and action. The Sci-fi theme also relates to the way anti-establishment is used in the film. The idea that the 12 districts are ruled by the government, however they are controlled and oppressed by it. This is shown in a few scenes, in particular, the scene when the video is shown to district 12, explaining what the hunger games is and why it takes place. It reveals past videos of the former rebellion, which led to the start of the hunger games. The 12 districts are no controlled by the government, as well as left to fend for themselves whilst the capital flaunts their wealth and ignores the poverty going on in the other districts. This would be seen as a typical Sci-fi convention, the idea that a group of powerful people (government) is in control and therefore creates the theme of a hegemonic society. 

DRIVE NOIR CONVENTIONS

                                     What NOIR conventions are present in the film 'Drive'?


Mise en scene/iconography

In this 25 minute text, one of the first noir conventions to do with Mise en scene we see is the use of cigarettes. An unnamed woman is shown smoking a cigarette with a depressed expression and is wearing un-revealing clothing, whilst three men discuss their plan for a robbery. This signifies the lack of positivity and hope that she holds. It also suggests that she is not the stereotypical femme fatale, therefore her role in the film is immediately established as something other than the dependent and sexualised female. Further evidence of film noir conventions would be the setting of the location.

Technical conventions

In the very first scene of the film, Ryan Gosling, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Mulligan and her son are seen sitting around a kitchen table. During the scene, Oscar is telling the story of how he and his wife (Carrie Mulligan) first met. One would assume that this should signify happiness, however the non diagetic music playing in the background has a sinister feel to it. This has been done in order to suggest that something bad is going to happen. In the duration of the scene, there is use of low key lighting and shadows are cast on the characters' faces, this is a film noir convention, it is used to portray the bleakness of the film and the dull atmosphere of their current situation, and events to come.
In a further scene, Gosling and the woman in the earlier scene are in a motel room hiding after they are spotted at a robbery scene, after Gosling finds out she is against him, she goes into the bathroom to wash her face after crying, we then see shadows from Venetian blinds on the wall, emphasising the shadows in the room, also, dim lighting.

Character roles

The character roles are crucial in portraying film noir conventions. From the beginning we see that Gosling is a criminal, he steals a car, robs a pawn shop and kills various men brutally. This is the noir convention of a corrupt protagonist. In most of the close-ups and camera angles aimed at his face, his facial expression is a look of depression and confusion.