Social Realism Timeline

In our media lesson we had to take a look at how British social realism has changed in the last sixty years, we had to take a look films from the 1950's to 2010 we had to see how the British social realism conventions were shown through the last 60 years.

1950s: Room At The Top:

Room At The Top: this was a British social  Realism film in the 1950's this film was about a guy who had gotten out of an accident which he feels responsible for due to the death of his partner. The characters denoted in this clip was upper class due to there posh tone of voice and the clothing worn showed that they are well off and the car they showed up in showed there social class clearly, this film was located on the outskirts of London streets as the setting is set there and you can tell that this was not done in a set as you see houses and cars and people in the streets in this clip. 

The music in this scene was non-digetic and was dramatic this was to build up tension. the dialogue that took place was digetic this was heard by everyone in the set and the audience could hear it too, there dialogue was spoken in a soft, posh tone  unlike one of the other character tone who was rough and pained. 

This scene used different types of camera work they used close ups a lot this was to show the audience the characters facial expression, in one of the close ups you can see the guys face being held by someone and a women on his left with her arms around his shoulder this shot was used to show the close relation between the three, they also used long shots when the kids ran off , the use of the tilt was good when they showed the guy looking up , the props and costumes used in this clip showed that they were well  off for example there clothing was all nice and expensive diamond jewelry as earrings and the props was they toy car which had an impact on the main character.   

1960s: Kes (1969): 

Kes: this was a British social realism film in the  1960s this film was about real life situations, this scene started off with a school setting with a teacher taking the register for his class and one student makes a comment about one of the names he called out, the teacher then end up calling out that student in class and he gets away with it as the bell goes. this scene was shop further up north as the dialect they had when speaking was very strong and very different from other dialects, this was filmed in an actual school as the lighting in this scene was very natural and dull, In this scene there was no music being played all sounds that were heard was all digetic sounds so the dialogue between the teacher and students were all digetic and so was the bell. In this scene the main type of shots that was used was long shots from the teacher to students , mid shots when the student was talking and being told to stand up and there was one close up of one of the students face, there was also a pan and an over the shoulder shot that was used.

The lighting for this scene was natural and dull and there was no colour pallet throughout the scene it was all dull and natural lighting, there was artificial light used when there was a scene in the hall. The costumes that were worn was simple clothing nothing to expensive of flashy everything looked like its something a working class would wear unlike the teacher who was in a suite and tie showing his different class from the others, and the props that was used was the pen in his hand whilst he was taking the register which was seen in the beginning of the scene.    

1970s:Quadrophenia:

 Quadrophenia: was a British social realism film in the 1970s this film was about violence between two groups 'mods' and 'rockers' were there two groups that would always fight. The characters in this movie was your classic everyday rocker type of guy who dressed casual , this film was filmed in an actual house and not a set the camera shots show us that this was filmed in  an actual house and the other locations were a cafe this was all set in the rough, run down areas of London as you could see this is in the film, the music that was played was non digetic as only we the audience could hear it but the dialogue was digetic so both could hear it the audience and the people on the filming set. 

This film had used a variety of different shots such as close ups for facial expressions and mid body shots to see body language and they also used long shots which showed us what was going on for example when he goes into the lady's room to get scissors  the shot used is a long shot so we could see the 

scene , one of the other camera techniques used was panning this was used when following someone.

The lighting in this film was natural and artificial as there was some scenes that required lighting as it was to dark to film with natural light. the costumes were casual wear and the house looked a little run down but they had the basic electricity which showed that they are working class they earn enough money to just about support themselves. 

1980s: My Beautiful Launderette 

My beautiful launderette was a British social realism film in the 1980s in the clip we watched we could denote that it was about a father who hadn't seen his son in a long time in the scene we see that that the relationship between the two characters is father and son, as the father visits the son whilst working. whilst watching the clip we noticed that this scene was filmed in an actual launderette and not in an actual set, the sounds mainly heard in this scene was digetic sound as the conversation was heard within the set at and also the digetic sound is the washing machine running and  the footsteps.
the main shots used was a pan when walking into the launderette and match on action was used when he walked through the door and the lighting used in here was artificial light, a close up was on the faces and there was a mid body shot and also a variety of angle lows and highs. one of the props used a lot was the car and the costumes used were simple everyday clothing.
  

1990s:Trainspotting:

Trainspotting was a British social realism in the 1990s in the footage we watched  in the storyline we saw we could see  Begbie talking about his fight when playing pool and he ends up fighting with someone in the bar the main theme being denoted in here was violence as we get told about the violence that takes place, the characters in this film are aggressive and are working class, the film was shot in Edinburgh bar and an estate flat, most of the sounds heard was digetic which was the conversations and the non-digetic music was the piano being played and also a non-digetic voice over explaining what's going and the camera language used was high angles of people at the bar and close ups to show facial expressions and also long shots and mind body shots were used a lot, the lighting used was artificial lighting as it was a little to bright to be natural light and the costume was everyday casual wear and props mainly seen was a knife and cigarettes.

2000s:This is England:

This is England is a British social realism in 2000s in the footage we watched we saw Combo beating up Milky because he's jealous of him this denoted the theme which was violence, this connotes that the characters are rude, aggressive and you can tell that they are working class by the clothing worn this scene was shot in a bedroom in an actual house as you see the inside of the house, when watching this scene the sounds in here was digetic the dialogue was digetic but the piano was non digetic this was heard so only the audience watching can hear it, the camera language used was close ups and long shots and mid body shots and know and then there was pans and tilts following the character, the lighting for this was artificial and the costume was casual punk wear and dungarees and props used was a bottle.

2010s:Ill Manors:

This was a British social realism in 2010s the clip we watched showed us that from a young age people fell in to the cycle of being a drug dealer we also saw how people used it too, the themes that were connoted was drugs mainly as it was shown throughout the footage, the characters denoted were the drug dealers who looked like they earned enough money to live off for a while ,this footage was filmed in a basement through out it looked like it was shot in a set but the lighting was artificial and the costumes used were simple clothing that was used as everyday wear such as hoody and tracksuits the music played was non digetic and there was a few words said that was digetic common shots used in here was long shots to see what was going on and extreme close up especially when the boy was getting cut near his eye that was an extreme close up, mid body shots was used too props used was a blade, drugs.

In What Ways Has British Social Realism Evolved Over The Last Sixty Years? 

Over the last sixty year British social realism has changed through the uses of themes such as keeping up with the times and making it looked more modern therefore making it more relatable towards there audience this then allows them to be able to watch it and relate to it.

As the years went on the images shown on screen became more and more graphical and more acceptable towards the audience, British social realism's mainly focused on taboo topics that are not explored in your average Hollywood movies but in British social realism's you get to see them in depths and this gives the audience a knowledge on what actually goes on as these things do actually happen to people.

In British social realism in the last 6o years a lot has changed the locations setting all have changed they all use rundown locations, the costumes they wear then and now are completely different back then they would wear more old fashioned clothing and more vintage for example in the film ' the room at the top' the woman was wearing a vintage coat and she was wearing big circle earrings that you wouldn't see nowadays, very rarely you would see people wearing it.

If you are to look at the modern British Social realism you would see that its more modern and the clothing they wear are different from what was worn back then such as designer clothing would be shown and these would be shown as one good thing they have left compared to where they live. ways that have changed 60 years ago mos films would've been done in black and white and some would be done in color also most of the films would've been filmed on sets and sometimes you would see them filmed in an actual house or estate flats.

Overall quite a bit has changed compared to 60 years ago a lot has as they try to keep up with the time and generations to make there audience want to watch it.Over the last 60 years the mise-en-scene has changed the type of costumes and clothing have changed and progressed over the last 60 they style of clothing and the use of brands are getting bigger and bigger and are being used a lot more in films.