This Is England - Essay Example

? This is England I selected a five minute segment from the film "This is England one of the films discussed in class for the first week. The paper discusses and analyses the formal film elements in "This is England". Some of the elements analyzed in the film include mise-en-scene, framing, and also editing. Additionally the paper discusses how the elements shape the segment of the film. Consequently, the paper discusses how the variables work to come up with social, political, and aesthetic elements in the segment. The segment of the film was between 1:31:10 and 1:34:09 in the film "This is England". We chose to analyze the segment because it builds a good platform for the art. The segment also gives the spectator of what happened in England in 1980's, as the segment shows images of various iconic signs like the rubies cube, the segment also shows the gritty elements of war people faced in Falklands and England. The violence images and anarchy combined with the archive footage of the harmless periods of the 1980's. This creates a concrete contrast and creates the feeling of viewers to continue watching to find out what happened. The segment shows images of people and event that have effects on the actors, which are revealed in the segment, and the footage reminds us the aspects: give viewers knowledge about the environment and offers the anarchic setting that is present throughout the film. The shots of the film principle character occur immediately after the titles. The connections show the relationship between Shaun and rebellious archive footage previously in the film. The segment shows the soldier's picture by Shaun's bed and this shows enigma codes as the viewers need to know the connections. Margaret Thatcher voice is heard on the radio, which Shaun immediately turn it off: it gives the viewers the knowledge of attitudes on the prime minister at that time. Camera work. The segment has various ways of presenting "This is England", similar to what has been used in the entire film. The segment shows how the natural lighting is employed to show the realism effect. That is the way the producers used to produce "This is England". The segment is portrayed as a documentary, and the style presents things as they occur daily. Such realities are crowds, classes, and marriage. The segment does no different as documentary in concentrating on the principle character. The segment shows natural lighting consisting of light and dark. The segment shows the film at day and during the night, which makes it easy to film; because extra lighting is not required. The segment is presented in such a way that it shows the British at war and ways in which the society is united. The segment shows a hand held camera which confirms that this is a social realist art: they are low budget arts, so everything uses fewer tools and materials. Handheld camera helps the spectator to gain an insight and it involve the spectator to watch the film. At this segment, there are a variety of shots used: this makes the segment effective as the viewer is able to see all the various angles and ways of seeing something. Sounds. The soundtrack used in this segment is a diegetic sound. This type of soundtrack shows that the art is real because the spectator is able to hear the natural sounds. The sound is also used in the entire film. The producer analyzed the sound because viewers do not normally notice these sounds every day. Diegetic sound tells the visual story. Diegetic sound is another instrument to tell the story of the author. In "This is England" segment, the producer draws the viewer by shifting from the diegetic to non-diegetic. The segment changes the role of the music in the piece, he engages the viewer in the action. Also, the segment pulls off the viewer from the scene to separate the spectators from the story. The segment also uses traditional effects of sound and Foley to leverage the sounds of diegetic. The segment uses digenetic to toy with the spectators: mislead the viewers. The producer used effects to substitute the real sound of digenetic. He used sounds such as talking, clapping, and laughing to signify an active and a larger surrounding. Mise-en-scene Mise-en scene affects the film reading. Size, proportions, depth and proximity of the area and objects in the segment are manipulated through the lenses and placement of the camera. Additionally, decor and lighting determines the mood existing between the elements in the setting. Decor is an important element because it consists of the objects within the scene setting. Decor amplifies the emotion and mood of the film. "This is England", the selected segment reduced scheme of color emphasizes the impersonality and sterility of the environment. The segment also represents decor by the repeating patterns and a stronger location of the set. Decor in the segment emphasized the difference in social status of the characters. Mise-en-scene is evident in the film because the producer has a boy getting up in the morning and then go out; this is what is incorporated in the selected film segment. Although the segment has various changes, the ideas are the same. In the segment, the boy wakes up, and dresses himself up then he moves out of the house and goes to the shopping center. The arrangement of the sequence is an old style. The film has the features of a traditional film. The segment setting is quite empty: this emphasizes isolation in the segment. In the segment, the rear projection link action of the foreground with those in the background. This rear projection offers an economical manner to set the film in dangerous or exotic locations without enduring conditions that are too demanding. In the segment, the relationship between the shots of scenes on location using the rear projection is a signifying pattern. Rear projection is featured in the segment of "This is England". The car driven in the segment is shot in this manner because the restraints in physical shooting in the production rooms. Consequently, speeding the rate of the projected images found in the background or changing the angle of images. Rear projection enables impression of speed involving no real danger. Editing. The segment has no much editing. The editing in the segment is continuous making it hard to notice by the spectator. The credits and titles are edited because they have the transitions and the manner they are screened in the segment. The duration of shot is short especially in the titles, making each episode very short, and punchy helping the viewers to view the scenes in a short time. The editing of the segment gives the viewer clues to the attitude the characters have such as editing of the clips Costumes and makeup The garment worn in the segments is considered the costumes. The costumes are tools for storytelling, communicate details of subtle of personality and history of characters to the audience. The costumes help the characters to abandon their personality and become believable and new people on the screen. The actors in the segment have beautiful gowns and clothes that are extravagant because the script required glamorous entrance. National Identity The teenager representation within this segment fits in the culture of the movement of the skin head. The teenage boys representation within the segment are representations that are hybrid. The segment involves Shaun pictures while involved in the gang in the beginning of the film. The teenagers are stereotyped: we see them smoking, smashing and drinking. The segment shows the stereotypical behavior of teenagers during this time. We see Woody sympathizing with Shaun. He takes him under him care, representation of Woody is juxtaposed against Combo's. The girl's skin head representation are not similar from the stereotypes the media has created against the skin heads, although the subjects fits the stereotypes as they juxtapose into the culture through her behavior and appearance that do not fit in to the behavior of stereotypes which is associated with the movement of the skin head. In the segment, she holds a counter type representation: we see Shaun being loyal to Woody. Woody was the skinhead's leader. Tension is seen between the group when Combo arrives, and the entire group becomes the platform for racism. The segment focuses on the Shaun's father photo, and the representation of the segment is evident through Shaun's eyes. Shaun wants to be part of the group, and when the group of Woody takes him, he belongs to the companionship he has always wanted to. Combo invites him to his group through his dad's promise. White supremacy and ideology are created by combo. Reference Film analysis. Dir. Peita Bolden. Perf. Shaun. ABC Television Education for Schools, 1996. Laser Disc. This is England. Dir. Shane Meadows. Perf. Shuan. IFC Films ;, 2007. VHS. Read More