Analysis of "This is England"

In today's lesson we spent time looking at the facts and figures of the production behind Shane Meadows' film "This is England" (a Warp film.)

With the financial help of EM Media and Screen Yorkshire (both of which are regional wings of the UK Film council (which has now become BFI,)) and the support of Optimum Releasing (now Studio Canal, and owned by NBC Universal,) "This is England" had considerable success; grossing $82m worldwide (a figure that is rather impressive, given that the budget was only £1.5m.)

The director of "This is England", Shane Meadows (as pictured below) has also directed films such as "A Room for Romeo Bass", "Dead Man's Shoes", and "Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee" (among others.) Due to Meadows' distinctive, social-realist style, he is very much the Auteur. 'Social realism' is a naturalistic form of realism that focuses specifically on social issues and the hardships of everyday life, and Meadows' certainly has the knack for this type of film (as evidenced through "This is England".) Another key feature in a social-realist style film is the protagonist, who's usually of the lower class or a minority; in the case of "This is England", the protagonist is 12 year old boy called Shaun Field, who lives in a poor area with his mum, and who's dad died fighting in the Falkland Wars.

Despite being from an Indie company such as Warp, "This is England" managed to gain significant success; 5 weeks of running time in the UK, shown on up to 151 UK screens, and earning £1.3m in the UK box office. Add that to the rest of the success and earnings from around the world, and you'll see why "This is England" has spawned three mini series continuing the story, and a sturdy fan base.

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Camera Shot Types: "Bunny and The Bull"

An assignment was set in which we had to select a movie, take three screen-shots from the opening scenes, and then identify the camera shot types used and why this was done. For my film, I selected "Bunny and The Bull" (of Warp Films.)

This is a mid-shot, where the camera give the view of the abject/subject as directly face-on in the centre of the frame. This is the opening shot of the film, and it appears to be the door of a house. Having watched the film, I believe the purpose of this shot is to show the audience that the story is to take place within the house behind this closed door, (a fact which the audience will realise is significant as the film's story unfolds.) 

This is a close-up  (bordering on extreme,) where the camera focuses on a particular object in close range, so as to give the audience a more detailed look at the scene. This is shot is from the opening sequence (which features multiple close-ups of household items, which are specifically designed to show the names of the film's management, crew, and actors, thus acting as the opening credits/titles.) This shot is important because it focuses on the hand of the main character (as revealed shortly,) and this is our first introduction to him (his name is Stephen.) The hand is on what appears to be blankets, at an angle that implies that while the character is lying down - possible even asleep - he is not relaxed, as the wrist is not limp and the tendons in the hand are strained. I believe this shot was a close-up  so as the show the audience these details, helping to build their impressions of Stephen as being a troubled man. 

This is a dutch/canted angle (when a shot it tilted, usually done to show the audience that something is wrong/off with the scene.) This shot is actually spinning, as it is meant to show the character (Stephen) watching his clothes spin in the washing machine. I believe this shot was included to further the audience's understanding of this character's inner troubles. What's particularly interesting about this is that it is Stephen who is spinning around (from the audience's point of view) as opposed to him staying still and us 'spinning around him'. This adds to our growing impressions of Stephen as being slightly mad.