My analysis of a key scene from This Is England (Directed by Shane Meadows, 2006)

FILM STUDIES A LEVEL, UNIT FM3, SSRP

PRIMARY RESEARCH - FILM SEQUENCE ANALYSIS

FILM TITLE: This Is England

SEQUENCE TIME CODE ...24:59-26.38 (Scene Title: The Best Day of My Life)

Micro Techniques and relevance? -camera -mise en scene -editing -sound	·         Long shots ·         Close Ups ·         Low angles ·         Dissolve ·         Loud non diegetic ·         Settings typical of working class areas ·         Costumes stay true to skinhead culture (working class) ·         Very High Angles ·         Hand held camera ·         Jump cuts ·         Static Camera ·         Slow Motion ·         Tracking Shots ·         Multiple camera angles from one shot ·         Montage ·         Breaking forth wall (looking at camera)
Characterisation and relevance?	·        Youth Culture (represented to being working class and being oppressed, the sense of belonging, enjoyment and acceptance of being working class is emphasized heavily in this scene) ·        Shown as aggressive at times but equally non-threatening, enjoying being strong willed and respected but not threatening to people around them ·        Football and swimming, shown to be typically cheap and working class pass times. They make the most of the pass times by making it their own, mucking about, play fighting, laughing, teasing. Typically the events we see the group partaking in, relaxing near a concrete incline, throwing rocks at some water, may seem mundane to some but at the same time the group make it look fun ·        Father figure is seen briefly through Woody having Shaun on his shoulders (could connote the working class looking out for one another)
Messages and Values and relevance?	·        Belonging ·        Finding your feet ·        Working class culture ·        Skinhead Culture ·        Youth Culture
Narrative Devices/Features and relevance?	·         Slow Motion (the day not wanting to end) ·         Non diegetic sound track (sets the day apart and could connote all the good events merging into one big one, as the song plays over the entirety of the piece) ·         Montage (speeds the day up) ·         Dissolve (makes the day feel like its slipping away)

http://www.slideshare.net/tinkertaylor1981/british-social-realism-3986811

Slide show explaining social realism in British films which helps paint a picture of how the films I am looking into hold a specific cultural value to the British audience. The impression we give to our foreign audiences through these films, whilst not the nicest with violence, gangs and drugs playing a key part in the films I am researching, is true to our British ideals. Youthful rebellion has always been a staple and of British society and this slide show emphasizes that.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/15/peter-mullan-neds

Interesting article about the NEDs director Peter Mullan, who much like my focus film's director has tried to represent his youth through his third film. He connects to the boot boy subculture in a way Meadows connects to the skinhead subculture, illustrating the working class desire to belong to a group. The article portrays the mind set of the director and cast in a light-hearten but informative way, well worth a read.

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.