Gone Too Far is a 2007 play written by Bola Agbaje. It draws on her ethnic Nigerian background and her London upbringing. After becoming a successful play, it was converted into a feature film directed by Destiny Ekaragha. The team shot for 5 weeks in Bethnal Green and the films spiritual home, Peckham. The budget was low therefore they faced a lot of challenges. The team camped out at Met Film Post at Ealing Studios for 4 months, emerging in April 2013 with the finished film.
I also watched another British Social Realism film called "The Selfish Giant" which is about two boys who get suspended from school due to Arbors hyperactivity disorder. They end up seeing scrap to a guy called Kitten.
The film had really good muse-en-scene and you can clearly see the way the features of the film relating to the genre.
For example, the film shows an everyday struggle for Arbor and Swiftys family and this is one of the major conventions of British Social Realism films.
During lessons we watched Tight Jeans which is also directed by Destiny Ekaragha. It is really funny and used good use of camera movements.
In relation to the audience and conventions I have learnt that British Social Realism films use unprofessional actors to make the film more realistic as possible. Only a few actors would have some experience in acting but not that much. For example in 'A room for Romeo Brass', most of the actors have been picked out randomly and this makes the scenes look more real. The actors turn up wearing whatever clothes they would normally wear during their days and this would be what they would wear during filming. Again, this makes the film look more realistic.
I also learnt that the films use lighting in a way to show a particular theme. For example a blue light shows how cold the atmosphere is and the struggles of life. They could also be seen in a dangerous scene. Also street lights and yellow lights show a theme of crime as streets lights are on in the night and that is when most crimes in films take place. This picture is from 'My Brother the Devil' and the yellow filter in it makes the shot look more dangerous than it actually is. The light could also connote the theme of freedom like it does in 'Anita and Me' where the yellow filter is on the shot of the girl riding her bike in the street.
I have also learnt that the use of wide shot safe really important in British Social Realism.
I will use these conventions in my work by filming on location and using people that are not everyday actors. This would make my opening of a British social Realism film more realistic. I will make sure they are wearing normal everyday working class clothes and nothing too fancy as this is what the films usually show. I will also use a blue greyish colour on my mise-enn-scene to connote that the film is about an everyday struggle and it is not a happy film. I will also make sure I film at the right time so that I can incorporate the idea of crimes and street lights if it fits my plot.
The texts I found very influential are; A room for Romeo Brass as the opening sequence does a good job portraying an everyday working class family that struggles somehow and shows some violence in the first few minutes as I found out that if you don't have something interesting in the first few minutes of the film, the audience will not be interested. I liked the way they showed Romeo walking home through the alleyway wearing his clothes like a norma teenager does.
I think it is important that I conform to these conventions as they are what makes up British Social Realism as a whole and this is what will get me marks when producing my own work.
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