DEAN COSTELLOE

Throughout this movie, the environments used are typically found in social realism films, and common examples of these are estates, poor houses and other living environments such as flats, parks, streets and particularly areas in which teenagers tend to gather and loiter around. From the first screenshot, we see Mia standing on the balcony of her estate building, looking out over the rural, urban area of London. The design of the buildings and the environment around looks rather dull and plain and this is used frequently in social realism films as it really captures London as a place and ensures that the audience feel empathy towards the run-down environment. 

 

Although the scenes are quite grubby and plain, we can see the film creators attempt to show a nice side to area with filmed shots of sunshine and sunset. This looked really nice and added a sense of calmness to the clips. A lot of the clips are very nice to look at due to the colours and nice angles that have been taken during filming. I find this eases the viewer into watching the film more comfortably, rather than feeling a bit put off by scenes being too dull or monotonous. 

 

Another common environmental style throughout is that the shots seem to have a dark atmospheric feel to them, particularly in points where conflict or drama is happening to the main character or in the movie. This happens not only in the social realism genre, but also in large amounts of films, however it seems to be essential to a social realism movie as it explores the nitty gritty sides of London and also the ugly lives in which characters commonly live.

 

In many instances, Mia is seen in 'dark' scenes, which all look very negative and involve some sort of conflict. This is to ensure that the scene in which we are watching is very dramatic, and the darkness of the scene is used in almost every social realism movie to fully explore these conflicts and also to enhance how much of an effect these scenes have on the characters lives. However, not every scene is dark, and certain scenes cleverly contrast this, by having more of a happy, bright feel to them, by using positive themed mise-en-scene and lighting. The brighter scenes are usually used to show a change from negativity to positivity, such as, commonly, the ending of films that end happily, or when somebody is interacting with a lover or crush.   

 

Another example of this would be from the screenshot below in which Mia is interacting with her love interest in a rather bright shot of the two of them standing in a lake. This cleverly shows positivity and also natural lighting from the sun and the scenery around her. The long shot of the two of them standing shows the characters' happiness due to the positivity and brightness of the scene. This contrasts the darkness of the scenes above as Mia was usually on her own and only in company when there was either anger or sadness present in the scene. These contrasts suggest that not everything should be seen badly because there are happy parts in life and things will get better. I feel like the way in which these scenes have been included is good because not many social realism films include these bright, happy scenes, but I feel like it gives the audience some confort while watching these films as they too see the brighter sides of life.