http://www.empireonline.com/movies/england/review/

Good article on my focus film which highlights its portrayal of Britain in the 1980's. The previous interview I posted with Shane Meadows reflect his intentions of making a film to appropriate isolating and reflecting a key era of British culture.

Looking into This Is England at the moment and the directors intentions when approaching a film on a commonly misunderstood. the following interview with Shane Meadows reflects his ideas and beliefs toward the youth culture and what being a British kid meant being in the 1980's and the comparison to the arguable loss of youth rebellion.

 Context of my Investigation

The selected context of my investigation is Cultural, Political and Social as it looks into our own cultural representation of our society. By looking "The Representation of working class culture in British Cinema", I will delve into the cultural and social values raised in my focus film.

Th main aims for my SSRP is essentially to look at youth cultures and subcultures within British cinema and see how they represent us as a culture to foreign and also native audiences. The film I am focusing on to represent this analysis is This Is England, by Shane Meadows (2006) as it paints a vivid image of youth subcultures within Britain during the 1980s.

The main scene i will look it is when the film's protagonist first joins the skinhead gang and is shown to be enjoying the experience of the culture and the feeling of friendship. This scene is important to my argument as it shows what the commonly misunderstood culture stood for, friendship. This is highly important as it allows the spectator who may not to be familiar with the culture to experience what it truly meant and what it means to the British populous who were involved. It is a true and valid representation of British youth and even though the skinhead subculture has somewhat died down, the feeling of youthful rebellion can still be seen today in different ways.

I have furthered my research into this scene by looking at interviews with the cast and bonus features on the film. YouTube has provided many helpful videos which I have looked at that have shed light on the directors intentions with the film and how he wanted to portray the era he considered to be the highlight of his young years.

Profile

Student Profile     2016-17

A Level Film Studies

Student Name:            Jake Hollington                                   Age:18

So we can help you achieve your best this year please give us as much information as possible.

What subjects are you studying this year?

Film A2 BTEC IT Communication and Culture A2

What are your exam results from your 1^ST year of study?

Film- C IT- Merit Comms- B

Are there any issues outside of college or medical concerns that we might need to know about in order to support you this year? Any information you tell us is confidential (e.g. financial issues, transport to college concerns, new health conditions, new family concerns etc)

Travel and my job and finding the balance between the two.

What aspects of the course last year did you find difficult? (Please be specific and where possible tell us why e.g. particular topics we studied, skills, exam techniques, class activities, group work)

Editing and working under the pressure of deadlines.

What aspects of the course do you think you are good at?

Working alone or in groups. Researching tasks that might be valid to class. Trying to put an input during lessons.

Think about your AS year. Identify 3 targets for things you will do differently or focus on more closely this year for Film Studies.

Meet deadlines Be more organised Learn more about editing

Are you intending to apply for University? ……No……………………….

What degree are you hoping to do?......................................................................................

Draft For Blog

The topic I am leading with when beginning my blog will be how British cinema reflects Britain’s society and our young people. I will be exploring a number or British films that I have already taken the liberty of showing on my blog. These films can reflect a unique spin on the typically US coming of age films that we see, by showing a harsher side to growing up. Though most are set before the turn of the century, the validity of their representation of us as a society still is worth exploring.

My focus film is This Is England by Shane Meadows, 2006 which explores a young boys transformation into a popular subculture in the 1960-1980’s, skinheads. My secondary films I will look into is NEDs directed by Peter Mullan, 2010, which similarly shows an adolescent boy stray from his path of book worm to boot boy and Trainspotting directed by Danny Boyle, 1996.

The first scene I am looking into from my focus film This Is England, is where the skinheads initially induct Shaun, the films protagonist, into their group.

• ·        The upbeat reggae music that overcasts this scene reflects both the roots of the Skinheads as well as giving the spectator a feeling of belong in regard to Shaun

• ·     The slow motion used when the characters are seen walking the streets reflects the idea that perhaps for the protagonist, he does not want this day to end. In addition this could be Meadow’s own personal perspective regarding this era of Britain and the values we had at the time, suggesting he believed it was a better time for us all

• ·         The use of natural settings which are general of British towns/cities (flats, underpasses riddled with graffiti, a swimming pool) connotes Meadows intentions of making this film relatable to most audiences, even if they didn’t live in that period of time themselves. Similarly it could be to show the way he wished to portray Britain to the non-British audience

Another scene I will look at is the part of the film where Shaun and the racist skinheads mug Mr Sandhu. 

• The harsh unnatural lighting used reflects the bitterness of the situation that Shaun has found himself a part of and also the blindness that he is experiencing as to what is going on. Meadows intentions could be to suggest the blindness people generally feel toward skinheads themselves and also could connote the “harsh” end to the once proud era he grew up in (as previously stated in the bullet points above.
•   The seemingly hectic camera work at some points reflect the disorientation of Mr Sandhu in this scene

This Is England’s almost biopic account of working class British society in the 1980’s shows both sides of our society. The happy youth growing into vicious adolescent thugs is clear in this film and similarly in NEDs, suggesting a reluctance to grow up.