Fish Tank - Clip 2

Fish Tank - Clip 2

The text fish tank holds connotations, narrative themes, technical conventions and character roles of a social realism film. The text demonstrates various techniques that help the audience to draw into the narrative and gain feeling as if this the text is real life. the producer of the text achieves this by using the camera and lighting as if you were in person looking at the circumstances yourself,

At the point the text mia has broken into the run down, abandoned flat, which is iconic for a social realist text, we view an establishing shot form the back whilst she is dancing. The miss en scene used within the shot is iconic of social realism. the cider on the window sill looking out at the council houses, this shot very much establishes the texts title fish tank. Mia is stuck in a community that consists of the under class and cheap alcohol that she can not escape. The fact she dances looking out of this window is a constant reminder that she is bound to this life style. The natural lighting with in the shot gives the audience a sense of realism as it allows you to view the shot as if you were there. This also links to the consist digetic sound through the text, however more importantly the  diegetic sound f breathing and the music with in this shot which also allows the audience to become part of the shot. The digetic sound and natural lighting are typical technical conventions of a social realism film.

There are various shots of hand held camera work whilst the protagonist Mia is walking. in this particular shot Mia is walking down the isle of flats after she walks out of her home. The long shot helps us to establish the poor conditions she lives in and allows to view her circumstances allowing the audience to have empathy for her. Th shadow depth field used at the point when she is watching the male doing tricks in a park allows us to view what she is viewing exactly how she is and exactly how the human eye would.

The Hunger games- sci- fi conventions

The Hunger games- Sci- fi conventions

The narrative theme of anti- establishment ideology is present in The Hunger games. This is seen in a particular scene when a military like force are surrounding district 12 moving them into the reaping. This scene shows the children of district 12 lining up waiting to be picked, it shows the wealthier district in a negative light as they choose these children to fight until the death, punishing them as they tried to rebel against the wealthier district thus linking to the concept of Hegeomy. A hegemonic society is shown within the text as we view the binary opposition between the poor people of district 12 and the wealthy people, dressed in nice clothes, from the ruling district. The hegemonic attitude is shown through the fact that the ruling district is overpowering the poor by fear. This shown through the use of camera shots as the close ups of the children's faces from district 12 portray fear during the reaping. Primrose, the younger sister of Katniss who is the protagonist in the text, is a strong example of being ruled by fear of the wealthy district as she gets emotional over the reaping and fears what is going to happen.

A technical convention which frequently occurs in the sci-fi genre is quick cuts this occurs in the Hunger Games.

Noir conventions in Drive

         Noir conventions promenant in "Drive" 

2011's film "Drive" holds various conventions of the film noir. The conventions are demonstrated through the narrative structure, technical conventions and character roles. As the text is modern, set in a sunny city with fast modern cars, the text doesn't hold the mise en scene conventions of a typical noir film. 

In the first scene we viewed of the text we witness a family at a dinner table with the fathers friend present. At this particular point the mother and father are talking about how they met in which is a positive subject. However a binary opposition is made due to the use of the non diegetic sound of sinister music. This is a convention of a noir film as the themes usually base around fear, violence and paranoia which conjures  up these feelings due to the music. This binary opposition is created to foreshadow the sinister events later to come in the text. During the same scene the camera pans on to the fathers friend, the protagonist, who is shown in a low key lighting. the low key lighting allows a shadow to form on his face which shows half of his face lit and the other half not lit up. This is conventional of a noir film as the low key lighting highlights the themes of depression and sadness that are usually present in noir film. The lighting used in this scene also portrays the good side and the bad side of the cynical protagonist present in the text. The use of the low camera angle facing up to the protagonist gives the character a sense of power and shows his importance in the text as this is the first low camera angle we see. 

In oir film the protagonist is usually very cynical with a fatal flaw. In the next scene we very the protagonist breaking into a car in the city whilst people are around, this gives the audience a sense of not caring. This is shown in noir film as at the time when noir film was set it was the time of the cold war 1950's, people started to care less as they felt they were going to die anyway.The fact that the character was breaking into a car, therefore showing he is a criminal, it becomes his fatal flaw in the text. The noir film themes are also shown in this text through the narrative. After the male dies, when he and the woman attempt to rob a shop, the protagonist questions whether woman did the right thing by walking out in the other male. This raises the themes of paranoia and mistrust in the text.