Fish Tank case study

Themes and situations 

Corruption of youth is a major theme that runs throughout the whole of the film, though it is expected in a run down urban area set on an estate with working class people. For example a huge sign that corruption of youth is a theme is when the two kids are smoking or when Mia has sex with Connor, who is most likely twice her age and her being under aged makes the corruption of youth more powerful.

Aspiration is another big theme throughout the movie because Mia being the protagonist and her dream of wanting to be a dancer makes it big. Her aspiration of wanting to be a dancer shows up several times throughout the film for example when she picks up the leaflet for the dance auditions or the several scenes where she practices her dance routine.

Poverty is a theme which is encountered many times in the BSR film, for example Mia asks or steals money from Connor many times throughout the film, also the fact that Mia walks everywhere rather than take the bus or train reiterates her lack of money. 

Typically in BSR films, these themes are used to shows the realism and authenticity of situations that the film wants to portray. Conforming to these themes and rules to using them it would make my production more successful. I could stick to one big theme to look at in my production which would make it easier to illustrate or look at more than one  smaller theme and expand on what BSR films are all about.

Representations

A stereotype of the teenage boys near the beginning looking at girls in a sexual way while they dance. This stereotype enforces the fact that boys around that age are only interested in on thing with girls at that age and look at them like thy are possessions. 

An archetype that is broken in the film is the archetype of the mother role, the mum in the film is not like a typical mum who cares and watches out for her children, but acts as though she doesn't have any responsibility at all. She throws parties at home while she makes her children stay in her room, she has doesn't care where they go or what time they come back home. 

A stereotype of gypsies is looked at in the film, the three boys that live in a caravan are an example for this, the typical fact that they live in a caravan connotes that they are gypsies. Also the stereotypical representation of gypsies being aggressive towards people is shown when Mia is handled by the gypsy boys.

Mia herself is a counter type of the archetype of the protagonist, she is not heroic and is only doing the things she does for herself not like the typical protagonist of any film. This brings realism to the situations of the film seeing as it gives an insight as to what a working class girl of her age would be like to the audience.

These representations are easy to portray in my production seeing as I use the correct stereotypes and archetypes for characters to give a clear understanding as to who they are to the audience.

Mise-en-scene 

Clothing is a big part of the film, it represents the place very well, throughout the film the girls are seen to be wearing very revealing clothes and a clear repetition of clothing seen in the film connotes the lack of wealth as well as the type of people that live there: working class people. Mia wearing the same clothes in the film; tracksuit bottoms with a top and jacket re-enforces the lack of wealth.

Location in the film is represented in various ways, the fact that it is in the UK is clear seeing as they speak English but location within that is around London because of the fact that it is a very urban area, this is because of the iconic red bus that is seen in the shot below.

The era is clearly portrayed in the props that are used in scenes such as the television, the objects that people possess. For example Mia is given a camcorder to record herself dancing, the camcorder is a symbol of the modern day era because if it was not modern the handheld camcorder would not exist.

Lighting is used very creatively in some of the scenes for example, at 01:06:33 there is a shot of Mia dancing, the only light source is natural lighting from the window which is quite dark. This creates a silhouette of her which brings the audiences view from her expressions to her actions instead. Also a lot of dark lighting is used to set the mood for the next shots, most of which are dull, dim and gloomy.

I though some of the shots were very creative and use of surrounding and lighting added to the effect of what was trying to be achieved: creating a real and gritty atmosphere for the audience. I particularly liked the shot where the dark lighting created a silhouette of Mia, because it enhanced the effect that it was supposed to express more of the actions she was doing rather than he expressions.

Music & Sound effects

The film uses music a lot, though it is all diegetic music, whether it be music from the TV or music from a CD in a car, this creates a more realistic feel to the the production, a lot of the music is urban, R&B music which connotes the that Mia is of the teenage age because that is what is typically listened to by people of that age but when Connor appears in the film the music choice changes and becomes more like Jazz music and finally once Connor has left the music at the end goes back to being urban by playing a Nas track - 'Life's a bitch'. This re-enforces the situation while Connor was and was not there.

I could use this type of ideology that the type of music changes with the introduction of characters and reverts back to 'normal' when a certain character leaves to show the the effect they had on the plot or other characters.

Camera & editing

The camera work and editing is far from perfect, it has the gritty, un-varnished feel to it as it should. This type of camera work gives the audience a sense of realism as well as what BSR films are trying to achieve. Also a shot that i thought worked well because of its creativity was the shot below because it is not a primary shot of what is happening but is a shot of a camera that is showing the action.

Dialogue

Dialogue in this film is very aggressive, straight to the point and uses a lot of slang, even to the people they don't know. This back up the fact that they are from a working class background because it shows they haven't been taught how to talk formally at all. But this type of dialogue helps the audience understand how characters are feeling very easily and also how the environment they live in effects everything especially with speech.
For example here is a quote from the film I used from IMDB quote page for Fish Tank. 

'Mia: I'm leaving then.

Joanne: [dances] This is one of your CD's.

Mia: Yeah. It's Nas.

Joanne: Yeah, it's great.

Mia: You can keep it.

Joanne: Well, go on then. Fuck off.'

'Mia: Keeley, it's me. What's going on? I've left like three messages. I said sorry, didn't I? You know what I'm like. I was pissed off. Ring me back, you bitch.'

'Mia: What are you looking for?
Billy: A Volvo 940.
Mia: What's it look like?
Billy: Like a Volvo 940.
Mia: Cor! Clever Dick!'

This quote shows the type of explicit language people use even with people they are supposed to be close to, when Joanne says 'Fuck off' to Mia it shows even as a mother she doesn't really care which shouldn't be typical of a mother archetype. This connotes the working class background of the characters and re-enforces the aggressive tone of the typical language of the film as they tend to swear in nearly every sentence possible.

Even in the second quote where Mia is expected to sound apologetic she still calls her friend a 'bitch' in the end but it isn't intended to be rude, its just another normal word for the her. 

In the third quote Mia is talking to Billy a bout a car, and ends her speech with 'Cor! Clever dick!' but it doesn't have any malice to the tone seeing as it is a joke, the use of the slang term 'Cor' and calling Billy a 'Dick' re-enforces the connotation of Mia being an uneducated girl of the working class background who doesn't have much vocabulary at her disposal other than basic words and swearing.

Institutional background

For this production there are five production companies involved as said on 'http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232776/companycredits?ref_=tt_dt_co' :

• BBC Films
• UK Film Council 
• Limelight Communication 
• ContentFilm
• Kasander Film Company

The main company that is part of the production is the BBC which was co-funded by the UK council as it had the opening credit, also the BBC is famous for producing other BSR films such as Ill Manors and the UK council have produced films like the kings speech. All of which were very successful. The UK film council has produced around 200 films so far and the BBC about 237 (quoted from IMDB BBC production page).

Target audience

The target audience for this film would be between 15-40 with no specific gender in mind, with a clear interest of typical life of a teenager and possibly dancing. The location for the audience would be the UK seeing as it is set there and the ethnicity would be mostly white seeing as the main characters are all white.

Marketing material 

Because theses films are British made and have a fairly low budget compared to Hollywood blockbuster films, the marketing materials are limited. But the way they are marketed are low budget and still effective enough to gain a decent audience. 

For example finding websites to sell the DVD version of the film, for example Fish Tank is sold on websites like Amazon, Play.com and PlasmaWindow.com. As well as putting the footage on Blu-ray as well as DVD to appeal to an audience who prefer better quality films. Also using posters as a marketing strategy  is practical cheap and effective because it can be shown to a lot of people.

 The poster here has been infused with reviews to make it seem more eye-catching as well as this the poster has been used as the front of the Blu ray cover.