Poster Deconstruction 1 - Fish Tank

This is the first of our Poster Deconstructions. We think this is important and useful as we will be designing our own poster for our film and we can analyse similar ones so that we know what to include and what works well on a poster.

Layout and Features

1. Introduction to film -> 'The' = ultimate, important, showing  what to expect -> high expectations.
2. Comments by trusted sources and companies -> publicity and reach -> trusted by the viewer. (targeted at target audience - e.g teenager magazine, if aimed at teenagers)
3. Using well-known names + awards promotes the film + viewers know they can trust them -> Cannes logo -> visual importance -> iconic.
4. Names of Actors/Actresses
-> small font because social realism don't want them to be unrealistic and famous as they want it as 'real' as possible.
-> focusing on representing the characters rather than acting skills.
-> [L-R] Main character order
5. Tagline -> Summarises and almost quoting from character
-> small text, not drawing attention to 'making' a tagline -> as real as possible.
-> placed at the bottom of poster, last thing you read, leaves us thinking.
6. Credits - Small (blurs into stripes on top)
-> can be read if needed -> less important as often social realism films are low budget anyway.

The Image/Representation

7. Shows the setting and background to the character -> urban area -> representing that her area/ socialisation is always in her mind -> holding her back?
8. Wearing a hoodie 
-> representation of wearing a hoodie -> youth, trouble, hiding, covering identity.
9. Stomach and bare skin showing -> representation, subtly sexual.
10. Hoop earrings and gold jewellery -> the fashion?
-> infers and represents she is socialised into this, working class, looks 'cheap'
-> 'Chav' Culture
11. Blue tint on photo - down mood, sad, cold, lonely ?
-> clouds in background shows normality and shows that it is a normal day of life.
12. Wind swept hair -> showing movement -> representing unexpected acquaintances and decisions
13. Shadow on one side of face and looking into the light -> associated with hope and freedom.
-> darkness to lightness transition- change?

Title 

14. Capital letters - simple font
-> represents simple lifestyle, nothing complicated or fancy
-> boyish to represent character
15. Orange colour
-> stands out against the blue -> protagonist wanting to stand out?

Stereotypes and Depicting our Teenage Character

'Most common words used to describe young people in British newspapers in 2008 were yobs, thugs, sick, feral, hoodie, louts, evil, frightening and scum.'

The 'Chav' Phenomenon

Many people would say that there has been many developments in the terminology used to refer to the working class in society, and that these have become more negative and non-constructive recently because of some media objects. This 'chav' phenomenon has begun as we think of what the working class of the twentieth century was like (hard working) and we then look at our current 'underclass' as some may say, and these have become this character. 

Many would associate this 'chav' style as to a relevance to Vicky Pollard from the comedy sketch, Little Britain. This would include the stereotypical sportswear, and big gold jewellery. This comedic aspect to chavs in the UK is showing that there is more liability now in naming a person a 'chav'. The constant comedy of being a chav as well, such as Catherine Tate means that people are more aware and are now naming this style as this phenomenon, which many would say is increasing judgemental society. 

From a BBC interview with Kate Jarvis, who plays Mia in Fish Tank: 

Teens are often portrayed as a patronizing way on screen, especially 'working class' kids. But Fish Tank feels different. Were you wary at first though?

"I think all teenagers are different. This film was shot in Essex which everyone knows has got this bad reputation, but I really do think there are certain areas of Essex that are really nice. And, like everywhere, there might be some kids who act like the media are portraying them to be, but there are others who are completely different... All teenagers are different and they're not all bad, like hoodies just wanting to go out and make trouble..."

Rose Tyler from Doctor Who is a good character we want to use as influence as she is from a working class background. (click on her photo to see a YouTube video which we think depicts her character well). Although she is from a sci-fi television show, we think that she depicts and physically shows what we want our main character to be like. 

Kelly from Misfits is also a good example of what we want our character to be portrayed as. (click on photo for character profile).

Costume

Our trailer is based upon the life of a working class girl therefore the costume that we include has to be of an affordable. We are going use fairly basic items of clothing such as leggings, plimsolls and a cardigan. The clothes we use have to show that this person does not really know about fashion and doesn't care much for there appearance. Fish Tank can be used as an example of this as she is working class and her appearance is not her main priority. She wears hoodies, trackies; mostly clothes that are comfortable.

           

The girls in the party scenes will be in different attire, they will be dressed in a more provocative manner. The clothes would include mini skirts, hot pants, bandeau's  crop tops etc. This also provides a contrast between the main girl and the others who are at the party.

The boys that will be in the party scene will all be wearing fairly similar clothing to show how they all want to fit in with each other. The clothing is most likely to be jeans, hoodies, polos, sweatshirts, t-shirts etc.

                        

Inspirations

We got ideas for our trailer from various different films and TV shows of a similar genre:


Fish Tank 

Fish Tank is a British Drama film which tells the story of fifteen year old Mia . We were especially inspired by this as it gave us the idea to give our character a sense of hope and purpose in the film. Mia's dancing abilities in Fish Tank helped us as a group to decide that our character should also have a talent which sets her apart from other people, which we decided should be art.


Skins

The party scenes from Skins were our main inspiration, we want to show how teenagers act at a party and what sort of things they are exposed to. The fast paced shots and quick edits which are seen in Skins will be very similar to what we will use in our trailer.

Representation Theory

Social Realists use the Reflective theory which is the idea that what you are watching is exactly how it is in real life. They are social 'REAL'isms (the clues in the name). Despite this, Staurt Hall said that you can't expect everyone to depict the same message as the creator intended. In relation to the Social Realism 'Fish Tank', this is set in a council estate and deals with common issues related to living in working class area; such as little money, poor conditions and living off benefits. Fish Tank RE-presents the stereotypical view of working class estate living.
Furthermore, the constructivist theory (discursive) deals with issues of power and knowledge. This suggests that the audience will react differently depending on their culture, beliefs and the way they have been brought up. For example; if a Working Class person living on a council estate watches Fish Tank they may be offended, while someone from a Middle Class background may find it amusing. These theories are all relevant within Social Realists.

Narrative Theory

Social Realist films usually use the narrative structure that Levis-Strauss' binary opposition theory proposes. For example, in the Social Realism 'Fish Tank' there is conflict between the opposite characters of the main girl and her mother as they both want complete different things in life. The mother had children at a young age and lives off benefits, while the daughter wants to break free from the usually 'council estate' life. Also, between the girl and the other girls on the estate as they are complete opposites; the main girl wants more out of life than the other girls who only care about being attractive to men and following the lives of celebrities.



Another narrative theory useful to use in our trailer is Barthes Enigma Codes. Social Realist films almost always have open narratives to emphasise how unpredictable real life. In the Fish Tank trailer, there are so many different possibilities to how the story plans out as so many mysteries are built; for example when the main girl gets grabbed by a group of men it is hard to depict what is going to happen exactly.

Trailer Deconstruction 2 - Fish Tank

Mise-en-Scene

With fish tank, the mise-en-scene changes depending on the mood of the part of the trailer. at the beginning there are shots of her living in the small apartment with her mother, and this shows her claustrophobia, straight from the first shot. (1) We also see establishing shots at the beginning, showing this council estate with green around it, providing us with the hope that maybe she can be happy one day. (2) It is also important to analyse the costume that she has been put in, we can see from a quick shot of her confronting a group of girls, that they all wear the same thing and many would say this depicts on this idea that in her neighbourhood you have to wear the same as others to feel as though you fit in (3). When she is going through the happier stage, where she is developing a friendship with this male character, the mise-en-scene changes accordingly and shows a lot more large open spaces with your shots (4).









Editing

At the beginning we see reasonably quick shots of her and her life. There are also a few fade in's of publicity information such as 'jury prize winner' so that people are more drawn to go and watch the film, as it is well known (5). At the beginning of the trailer, we notice there is a blue overlay to the footage of her and her life and this could represent the mood and atmosphere she is feeling right now. We can clearly see that she is unhappy and with the darkened lighting in the scenes, this helps portray this to the audience (6). Later on in the trailer when the action is starting to unfold, captions are faded from black to blue font with emotive phrases to keep the tension building for the viewer (7). Later on in the opening, there are more fade ins and out when she is going through a discovery stage with a mysterious character and this is shown with the brighter shots as well of them in the water (8). and again this changes dramatically at the end where there are plenty of shadows in the shot and mysterious figures, therefore arising questions to the audience (9).

Sound

We are introduced to the protagonist with an urban background track. This depicts that the character, is feisty and that they are not necessarily shy, with the urban music representing her personality (10). When there is action as well, such as when the mother slaps her child, the sound effects are accentuated to provide the audience with a clear   message that this is causing her trouble in her life. There is also an  accent which is a clear trend throughout the trailer and many would say this helps add to the atmosphere of where she lives and her up-bringing (11). There is a track change twice which also represents the mood of the main character, and this is clear especially when added to the mise-en-scene of the fields (12). Towards the end also, the pace gets quicker and extra sound shots of heaving breathing add to the atmospheric nature and creates even more tension (13).

Camera Angles

When we are being introduced to the character, there are many positioning of the camera which represent that we will see the film from her point of view (14). This is showing the viewer that this is the main protagonist and that we will be following this character for the film. There are again, long shots added to the mise-en-scene in the middle of the trailer when she is discovering with the male character and this again adds to how the audience are interpreting her mood (15). At the end, it is clear that the mood is escalating and the tension is building as the camera angles become more 'random' and less specific and sometimes cut off information from the scenes that are being shot. This adds to the mysterious aspect of Social Realist films and therefore keeps the viewer gripped (16).