‘This is England’ Film opening and screen shots

The film opens with a montage of what was happening in 1983. This includes things like; Margaret Thatcher, a Council estate where the film is set and music from the era. This is to give the audience some background information before watching the film. They are all things which were significant at the time and many of the issues shown in the first few minutes are dealt with throughout the rest of the film. For example it shows some war, fighting and protesting clips. There are a variety of camera shots used to create interest, like close up, establishing shots, and a pan. Although it shows many different clips there are no effects used which are very typical of social realism. The clips are shown in a deliberate grainy quality, this helps to signify that it is all historical content.

This is a screen shot of the young boy starting a fight with a grown man. This is very shocking to the audience because it shows how much confidence the young boy has. He is not afraid to start a fight who someone who is clearly much bigger and stronger than him. He is starting the fight because the older man said something that offended him. This tells us how passionate the boys views are about what he believes in. Also that he is willing to risk getting seriously hurt to show his point. The fact that the characters are unknown lets the audience take the side they like because they are not influenced by a characters famous stereotype. This is representative of social realism.

In this film and many others that are social realism the film-makers have a specific message in mind that they want to try and deliver throughout the film. They do this by employing realist conventions to all aspects, to express the message about the social world. I think here the message they are trying to get across is about how much this boys cares for his Father, who has died in war. You can tell that as soon as something offensive was said he was not happy and therefore felt that the need to lash out. It is a shocking part for the audience to watch but also the other characters in the film are shocked at what is happening. Adding to a convention of social realism, by making it as real as possible which is why the characters act shocked.

This screenshot is showing three fully grown men putting up graffiti a wall. They are not afraid and see what they are doing as right as they have no shame in doing it. This represents social realism because you wouldn’t normally get this with men this age as it is usually associated with teenagers. But because of the area where they are and the type of lives they lead this is ordinary for them to cause this damage. This is due to the fact they are being racist towards the persons shop they are now about to raid. During the entire time of this shot no faces are shown and their backs are towards the camera, this gives the impression to the audience that their actions are wrong and shameful. The surroundings show gritty streets to reflect that the skinheads are from lower class families.

The start of the shop scene begins with a child speaking to a grown man in his own shop, bossing him about and making racial comments. This illustrates to the audience how much power the skinheads have. The shots focus on facial expressions like the one in the bottom right of this page. Although some parts of this scene include humour it also consists of serious issues to deal with racism. This close up shot shows the hate and anger the man who is holding the knife has for the shop keeper without even knowing him. This puts across the point that racism was towards anyone who wasn’t white whether you knew the person or not. The character Combo who is holding the knife then gives a speech to the shop keeper, this demonstrates what his group of people stand for. The close up shots that follow show how serious he is being and how much he really believes in what he is saying. This subject is shown to be very personal to him.

This screen shot is showing the little boys first encounter with the skinheads. Their leader seems to take an immediate shine to him and its because of this relationship that he becomes the newest member of the group soon after meeting them. The lightening at this point is aimed to be naturalist, they have done this by keeping the light at the end brighter then underneath the bridge where it is harder. This idea of natural lightening is very typical of social realism. I think this establishing shot shows a lot about this group of people because you can see the type of area they are hanging out in. It shows that they obviously don’t have any money for anywhere to go and they have resorted to under a bridge in a run down, urban area. You can also see that this group of people are a bunch of ‘losers’ which have banded together to gain some kind of support from each other.

Shaun, the young boy in this clip is alone and does not belong to any type of social group. So as we go through the film seeing Shaun struggle as he is obviously isolated, the audience understands that when he final joins the skinheads he feels part of a group. As Woody, the leader, is the only person who ever made me feel liked and accepted. This is because he is showing him positive interest and concern.

These screen shots are from the end of the film where this character is left on his own and it is clear to the audience how he is feeling. They manage to make it clear because there is a hand held camera, this is to make the audience feel like they are a part of the action. The aim is to make the audience feel empathy with the character and to get across the emotion. Using a hand held camera here is very typical of social realism. As it makes the

atmosphere seem more believable.

Close up shots are used like the on in the bottom right on this page. There is also a pan around this character. This is all used because the film is coming to an end and so they are drawing everything together. The costumes the character is wearing are typical of the skinheads and I think this was done so the audience can clearly see that he has become part of a group and he will now stay with this group of people as this is where he truly belongs.