Social Realism Timeline

Hey everyone welcome to my blog, for today’s post I’m going show a timeline of social realism and also in what ways has British social realism evolved over the last sixty years.

Social realism is a film that focuses on issues that represents the modern society. This is through different ideologies. Many themes that are used include money, drugs, class, religion and political views.

British social realism conventions

Room at the top	Themes and situation: The room at the top denotes a shot of man in pain this denotes the theme of violence as the use of Mise-en-scene makeup highlights the blood and scars on his face. Also it might portray poverty as there are stranded kids on the street with tatty clothes and also scars. Characters: The characters include children as young as 8 running around the place and a man who is nearly dyeing on the street, a women who is dressed very posh ,she could be the wife of the man who is on the floor, also with the posh lady their a man with her. The posh lady and the men may come from upper class as they are wearing very glamour’s clothes. Location and setting The location is set around a violent place which has a big car accident Sound: Dialogue is played at the end but also instruments are played in the background and its very dramatic as it becomes loud when something bad happens for example the kid pushing the toy car, this created a very good effect to the audience as it creates tension. Camerawork editing: They had really nice close ups of the man’s face to highlight the pain and bad event which occurred.Other Mise-en-scene: The use of the car shows upper-class as it is very stylish and also the toy car portrays innocence’s as a kid is playing around with it.
Poor cow	Themes and situation: The gif denotes a mid shot of a mother and father feeding their child, this connotes that the theme is going too based around parenting, parenthood as there is a child in the footage. This is usually stereotypical in BSR. Also the theme of love is represented throughout the footage as the parents are both snuggled up in their beds and also showing their love towards the child as they take the child out doors.Characters: The characters include a father a mother who I think is a single parent and a child roughly a toddler. Location and setting: The footage is set in London as there is a clear establish shot of London. All the lighting is naturalistic and also this will fit the bsr.Sound: music is playing at the background of the footage, there is no dialogue, and the music is very positive and happy which therefore fits in to the actions which the parents are portraying. The music he is playing is called the Donovan's Colours.Camerawork editing: They have really nice close-ups do portrays the happiness of the family and nothing bad is going to happen also the different kind of shots like long shot captures the true love of parenting for the child which I really love. Mise-en-scene: It is connoted that they used natural lighting and also the use of props for example the guitar truly shows the essence of love as they are all in one room singing. The music he is playing is called the Donovan's Colours.Below is the link for the video
Bronco bull frog	Themes and situation: The main theme I would say is corruption of youth as the main character is chasing around a girl and also one the characters which I think is the mother saying “dont be saucy” which might relate to sex. Characters: Include a boy who is chaing around a girl,a mother who stays at home and a group of friends drinking at a table.Location and setting: The location is based around London also they have many different types of locations for example they have a house, the pier and the road. These types of locations fit into the genre of BSR. Sound: A song is playing at the background which creates a happy mood.Camerawork editing: Other Mise-en-scene: The use of the motorcycle might show they are upper class and the use of alcohol might revel their addiction to drinking.
My beautiful laundrette	This scene takes place on the day of Powders Laundrette's grand opening. Omar is now engaged to marry Tania and Johnny, jealous, runs off. Omar tracks him down and orders him to get back to work as the laundrette needs to stay open round-the-clock to make money. Papa Hussein mistakenly turns up for the opening ceremony at 3am instead of 3pm. He confronts Johnny about his fascist past when Johnny had marched through the streets and racially taunted him.Themes and situation: The image denotes a man talking to a guy, this connotes that one of the main themes is working class as the character clearly states “oh dear a working class such a great disappointment to me”, thus the character obviously doesn’t like Woking class people which therefore creates an social class clash Characters: Include a posh guy who is upper class and a other guy who is working class which therefore has a big contrast between them.Location and setting: The set is set in a laundry place which links to the title of the movie. Sound: Dialogue is present throughout the whole movie also the use of naturalistic sound is present for example the use of the door banging and people talking in the background. Camerawork editing: They have nice over the shoulder shots where we can see the actor reacting and nice close ups of their facial expression, Other Mise-en-scene: The use of the laundry buckets and clothes really create a realistic scene as many people of that time use to go  to that pace to clean their clothes and also the clothing portrays there characters for example the posh guys clothing look very expensive but in contrast with the other guy he is just wearing a jacket with baggy clothes.
Nil by mouth	Themes: domestic violence, broken relationship and cheating. The gif denotes a midshot of a man called nil beating up his wife, this connotes that the theme of this footage is domestic violence as it clearly highlights the physical abuse towards the wife. Also it connotes that the women is cheating on his husband as it is publicized in the dialogue, “how many times have you seen this fu**in Pete” which subsequently is another theme, cheating.Thus the relationship between the couple is unconstructive. Characters: Bullying irritated husband, women feeble. It is clearly exposed that the main character Nil is the antagonist as the footage portrays him as a psychopath due to the fact he is abusing his wife. It is also shown that the character nil is dominant as he overpowers his voice on his wife. The wife is seen as a lower status towards her husband as she gets physically abused by nil with therefore highlights the alpha male’s dominance towards the wife. Sound: Throughout the scène of the physical abuse you can only hear Diegetic noises as the  wife in shouting in pain but the camera is focused on nil which therefore create anxiety to the audience as they dont if the wife is safe or not. Also the dialogue is very abrupt and very verbal. Setting and location: The location is set in their house which denotes their everyday lifestyle witch then fits in to BSR also the use of the room is very small which therefore the characters have little space to create some action however the main focus of the scene is going to be in that room so the audience will be paying more attention. Mise-en-scene: It is connoted that they used natural lighting with  a blue tints to represent emotion, this therefore fits in to the realism of bsr.
This is England	Themes and situation: The image denotes a man punching a kid on his face, this connotes that the theme of the footage is violence also racial discrimination; this is shown as the man punches the kid which therefore highlights child abuse and the use of blood uses during 4.44 is quite horrific. The use of violence fits in bsr as it highlights the everyday struggles of some people. The use of racial discrimination is also highlight as the grown man calls a kid an offensive racist comment. Overall the theme is connoted well throughout the footage and it gives the audience a clear point that it’s going to be based around those two themes. Characters: When first seen, Combo can easily be classified as a psychopathic racist, holding extremely racist views on immigration and being prone to violent outbursts of anger very easily. there characters include a black kid and a white kid both separated from each othere.This might be a barrier of race against blacks and white. there are other grown men also sitting on the bed and on the chair. Location and setting: The location is set in a bedroom, this highlights the fact that they are living under class as there are two single beds for 4 people and the use of simple posters around the room highlights the everyday teenager point of view. Sound: Throughout the whole footage there is full on dialogue and in the dialogue there is alot of swearing and alot of verbal abuse. There is some music in the scene so it will create a tense atmosphere for the audience watching the footage. Camerawork editing: The use of the close ups are really interesting and effective as they highlight the violence and the innocence of the kids face. Other Mise-en-scene: The use of yellow tint is portrayed throughout the video and the use of posters show everyday teenager life.
Sightseers	Themes and situation: Image denotes a woman talking to man this clearly the theme of social class clash as there is a posh man arguing to the working class women for leaving her dog poop on the floor which create a humour to the footage. Characters: Includes a posh man who is from upper clash as his accent portrays he accent also the women portrays the ditzy women as she starts to cry hysterically. Location and setting: The location is set in the north which is highlighted through the Mise-en-scene of the hills and fresh green grass. Sound: The sound is very naturalistic as all the wind sounds and dialogue is very normal which creates the BSR realism in films. Camerawork editing: The camera language is quite straightforward and clear also there’s not that much movement going around. Other Mise-en-scene: the lighting is also naturalistic.

In what ways has British social realism evolved over the last sixty years?

Themes and situation: During the early years of 1950s the themes and situation was quite low key, there was more happiness for example love and parenting. However as year progressed there is more violent and brutal key themes for example there is more drug abuse/drug experimentation, corruption of youth, isolation and exclusion, sexual abuse, racism and other appalling themes. Characters: During the early years of 1950s the characters are less abusive but more nicer however as year progressed their language in there dialogue became more abusive and more racist, also the characters start to dress normally and plain but it fits in to their types of personality, also the characters are all unknown which creates the realism of bsr. Location and setting: The location has become more urban or more Greenland for example set in the north. Sound: The music has become more intense over the decades and also the dialogue has become more improvised. The use of non Diegetic and Diegetic is well used throughout the years as they keep the naturalistic noises.Camerawork editing: During the decades there has been more camera language for example more midshot however the movement of the camera is stationary so the audience will see the full action in one place.Other Mise-en-scene: The technology has upgraded throughout the decade also the use of bad props for example drugs and cigarettes are more clearly shown throughout the bsr films.