Themes and Situations
One of the key themes of Fish tank would be rebellion. This theme is quite obvious as the main character 'Mia' plays a disobedient, mischievous and tough role. She disrespects her mother and goes against any rules or regulations she is told to obey. This connotes the imperfect result of her mothers upbringing. This theme is also shown as Mia is seen to be involved in many physical fights with her mother and the girls around her council flat proving that she has quite a rough background. Mia disrupts the neighborhood with her behavior by throwing stones at peoples windows, this proves that she is quite a problem.
This screen shot show Mia behaving in a aggressive manner towards people who in with her and around her building.
Another theme I noticed in Fish tank was the petty crime.As this film was located around council flats it denotes to the audience that they are under-class people so including petty crime adds realism to the story line. The petty crime is identified when Mia is putting her hands into her mother's boyfriends wallet and taking out money. This connotes the desperation and poverty Mia is suffering from.
In Fish tank one of the powerful themes were Neglect. The theme is denoted when the mother neglects her younger daughter, she does this by throwing the little girl out of the kitchen. This connotes that the mother does not have much affection towards her children and treats them carelessly. As the children are neglected this could be the cause of the corruption of the their youth and the reason why the children are so rebellious. The mother subverts from her role and shows the negativity of being a young, single mother.
The last themes I recognized was the corruption of youth and drug abuse. The little girl is exposed to the nature of drugs and shown to be smoking cigarettes. We would stereotypical expect little girls to be eating sweets while watching television but Mia's little sister does the opposite by smoking with her friend. The audience can understand the negative upbringing the child has had and the influence she may have had according to her class.
From these themes I like the theme of rebellion the most. In BSR most teens are seen to rebel against their parents and I think this idea is quite believable and honest. Using this idea would help me to think of all the different choices of story lines i would be able to use.
Representation
The mother is represented as a careless, hard-hearted and heartless mother which subverts from what a typically mother should be like. She is shown never to give much attention towards her daughters making her a counter type. In this film her character is not the stereotypical mother which adds realism as some mothers are not always the caring and affectionate type we would expect in reality.
Mia played the role of the stereotypical under-class teenager. As Mia is from rough background she portrays that in her actions. She has a rough behavior towards her family and the people around her neighborhood. Mia also is a stereotypical teen because her dialog includes a lot of inappropriate language which most teens use. Another reason which makes Mia a stereotypical teen would be her goal to become famous by being a dancer, most teens want to become famous by being singers or dancers.
From these representation in my BSR film I would most probably use the stereotypical teen idea, I would use this because I believe that it is a realistic representation and adds more realism into the storyline.
Mise-en-scene
The costume in this film represents the class of the characters. It clearly denotes that the people are not very wealthy or have any class as they are usually dressed in tracksuit bottoms or basic t-shirts. The costume also tells the audience what type of character the actors are playing such as Mia who is usually dressed as a tom boy connoting that she is more of a sporty character who doesn't care much about appearance. The mother who is dressed in short revealing skirts portrays how provocative her character is, opposite to Mia she pays more attention to her appearance.
The ear in this film is very obvious. We can clearly see that it was created recent because of the clothing and the technology. Inside Mia's household we see the televisions in the rooms and the music players/ipods. These gadgets connote that this film is very up to date with everything we have today.
The location was crucial as it created the whole film to be realistic. The location was mainly in council flats in Barking and around Barking, as Mia was shown to run away from home a lot it allowed us to view the location better and see the urban parts of Britain she was living in. The council flats gave the audience a better understanding of the living conditions under class people were staying in and showed them the small, cramped rooms they would be living in. By doing this it gives us a insight of the poverty.
During Fish tank the props which were mostly used were the electronics such as the televisions, music players and video camera. The use of the props add realism as the main character is a teen and most teens have these items in their households and use them on a regular basis. Having these props would also appeal to the target audience as could relates to teens.
Other types of props used were cigarettes and alcohol, this shows the use of drugs in BSR and in what ways they are used and who they are used by.
Music & Sound Effects
In this film there is the use of sound bridge, it is used in the scene where there is a house party in Mia's home and the background music continues from the party in the living room to the next shot which goes into the kitchen. By using the sound bridge here it gives a sense of continuity and makes the scene flow better and helps it to look more natural and real.
Diegetic sound runs through the whole film because it is a BSR film and everything within the film should sound realistic. Diegetic sound is obvious the most in the scene where Mia kidnaps a little girl and walks through the fields with her, here we can hear the sounds of the wind blowing harshly and the sound of the branches they step on. By having the natural sounds from within the shot makes it believable and more engaging because the sounds are not fake and artificial.
In the opening we are able to see the location through the establishing shot. The establishing shots were usually mid shots with the main characters within them however it still helped the audience understand where it was based in England and that it was a urban, gritty area.
The camera work through out the film is unsteady and quite unstable, the camera is shown to follow the main character around and looks like it has been done with a hand held camera, this connotes that the film is a low budget production. It also goes with the theme of BSR as we wouldn't expect clean cut shots in this type of film.
In this film there is numerous close up shots of props and facial expressions, this allows us to see into more detail. The close up of the facial expressions help us see the characters reactions to situations.
Dialogue
The dialogue presents these characters as being very uneducated and ignorant. They use inappropriate language through out the whole of the film and this makes it clear that they are the underclass and have no respect or class. It represents the lack of education they may have received as they fail to pronounce their words properly we see this when a character says 'i'll have ya Mia one of these days'. The dialog helps to convey the gritty nature of the BSR film.
Institution Background
The Institutional background for this film is BBC films who have produced other films such as Billy Elliot, Street dance and Sherlock Holmes. BBC Films Work in partnership with major international and UK distributors and they have released over 200 films and are planning to release more in 2014.
Target audience
Age: 15 - 25
Gender: Male/Female
Ethnicity: White British
Internets: Music, dance and conflict.
Marketing Materials:
Fish tank is available in DVD and in blu ray and are advertised on websites such as lovefilm.com and putlocker. Having these films on websites like this make it accessible to teens as they normally watch films online now.
There have also been poster created to advertise this film in places such as in the cinema, the poster include the star rating on the film and short sentences to summaries why. The poster is in bold fonts to be appealing and eye-catching for the viewers and includes 'The best British film of the year' to persuade people to watch.
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