British Social Realism - Production Log, Week: 2

British Social Realism - Production Log, Week: 2

This week we learnt about the different conventions of a social realism film and how that would appeal to the audience. The biggest thing to include is mise-en-scene as long as it is based on reality, therefore sticking as close to what would be realistic. For example clothing is a very important aspect, so in an urban area a hoodie and tracksuits would be a very typical choice of clothing to wear and use in a social realist film. Lighting is also another very important aspect in these types of films, it often uses natural lighting and from time to time may use artificial lighting when inside and most of the time will use a blue/low saturation colour correction to help bring the mood down.

We also discussed the archetypes of characters in a social realist film. This includes The Lost Boy (main character, who as a big issue/problem), the failing man (a worse off Lost Boy), the weak but aggressive man (bully), downtrodden woman (suffering woman/mother), the saviour (who turns the story around for the lost boy), the follower (will follow most people and often switches sides) and the female with a conscience (the strong character.) In addition to this we also 
discussed sound. 


In a social realist film there is a lack in how much diagetic and non-diagetic sound editing occurs. Often there will be very few if not any sound effects added in because this is seen as unrealistic. This goes as the same for foley sounds, even thought it is meant to increase realism, it is believed sometimes less is more. Sound mixing will occur but often the dialogue and sound is kept as natural as possible, many British social realist films will have their actors improvise their lines instead of repeating a script. There isn't much non-diagetic sound except for music, which is only used to set the scene and give more of a back-story to a location depending on the genre of music.


From this week I have found out that in my production I will be using these conventions to my own benefit, for example implementing different archetypes into the plot as well as using specific lighting and mise-en-scene. This will help to draw on that pessimism and fit the criteria for a social realist film.