WHAT IS SOCIAL REALISM ?
Social realism is an artistic movement expressed in the visual and other realistic arts.
As a sub-genre it often includes:
- social and racial injustice
- economic hardship
- life struggles
- working class
Social realism is a genre often used by british independent film makers to portay the truth of life and to shock the audience without any use of voilence and gore necessarily.
Within our film we would like incorporate this genre as we are basing our storyline an real life event which we came upon when watching the national news. Our film will show kindnap which is a day to day occurance, allowing the Horror to really speak truth to the audience.
Below are some examples of british films which include social realism. We have researched each of these films to fully understand the genre and how to show it in a successful way.
Codes and Conventions:
Use of unknown actors - making it more realistic
Social class - majority of the time focusing on working class
Location - council estate or run down areas
Issues - drugs, sex, poverty, prostitution, homosexuality, alcoholism and crime.
Political and religious views.
Young age - most films usually include young teenagers to young adults aged between 13- 20
Target Audience:
The target audience of this genre varies massively depending on the codes and conventions. For example the target audience for 'Kidulthood' is more likely to appeal to the younger generation as the main cast members are young. This is aimed at teens aged between 13 - 18.
Other films however, such as 'Spare Time' and 'Happy Breed' which would take an interest to the over 50's.
A film like 'Billy Elliot' can be viewed together as a family as its a feel good film and isn't so dramatic toward drugs etc. So social realism films can really have a variety of audience dependent on the film's codes and conventions.
OUR DECISIONS BASED ON OUR RESEARCH
After researching into this genre we have decided that this would be a great choice in sub genre as it really relates to our storyline and is a popular choice for independent British films. Our main focus for our trailer is to scare and shock the audience, we plan on doing this by looking into real life stories and incorporating this into our trailer to give the realism factor to really hit the audience hard and aware them of the horrible world we live in. We don't wish to take the gory approach to our horror as it is unnecessary and will make the age certificate a lot higher than need be.
To make our trailer successful we will include appropriate codes and conventions:
Use of unknown actors - we can easily do this as we do not have the funding available and this will make it more realistic.
working class - we will also focus on working class so that it can be relate-able.
Location - At the moment we show a house owned by a working class family, however we feel it would be better to include a run down estate to really hit the codes and conventions needed to really relate to the social realism we are trying to create.
Issues - Our story line includes poverty, crime and sex. We may not be showing this to its full potential at the moment so I think we may need to make this known in our trailer.
young age - Our film is definitely aimed at a younger audience and we have done this by including young actors so that our story is relate-able. We wish to show the seriousness of socialising over the internet and the horrific outcomes that can be caused.
Use of unknown actors - making it more realistic
Social class - majority of the time focusing on working class
Location - council estate or run down areas
Issues - drugs, sex, poverty, prostitution, homosexuality, alcoholism and crime.
Political and religious views.
Young age - most films usually include young teenagers to young adults aged between 13- 20
Target Audience:
The target audience of this genre varies massively depending on the codes and conventions. For example the target audience for 'Kidulthood' is more likely to appeal to the younger generation as the main cast members are young. This is aimed at teens aged between 13 - 18.
Other films however, such as 'Spare Time' and 'Happy Breed' which would take an interest to the over 50's.
A film like 'Billy Elliot' can be viewed together as a family as its a feel good film and isn't so dramatic toward drugs etc. So social realism films can really have a variety of audience dependent on the film's codes and conventions.
OUR DECISIONS BASED ON OUR RESEARCH
After researching into this genre we have decided that this would be a great choice in sub genre as it really relates to our storyline and is a popular choice for independent British films. Our main focus for our trailer is to scare and shock the audience, we plan on doing this by looking into real life stories and incorporating this into our trailer to give the realism factor to really hit the audience hard and aware them of the horrible world we live in. We don't wish to take the gory approach to our horror as it is unnecessary and will make the age certificate a lot higher than need be.
To make our trailer successful we will include appropriate codes and conventions:
Use of unknown actors - we can easily do this as we do not have the funding available and this will make it more realistic.
working class - we will also focus on working class so that it can be relate-able.
Location - At the moment we show a house owned by a working class family, however we feel it would be better to include a run down estate to really hit the codes and conventions needed to really relate to the social realism we are trying to create.
Issues - Our story line includes poverty, crime and sex. We may not be showing this to its full potential at the moment so I think we may need to make this known in our trailer.
young age - Our film is definitely aimed at a younger audience and we have done this by including young actors so that our story is relate-able. We wish to show the seriousness of socialising over the internet and the horrific outcomes that can be caused.