Despite the many specific technical expectations that originate from the social realism genre, within the introduction of this film there will be many generic conventions of an introduction that will be presented to distinguish it from the rest of the film. The introduction is the hook for the audience, where the protagonist is represented for the first time and the main theme and issues are subtly hinted at. However the genre will have an impact on this representation. Social realism sets out to represent realistic themes and issues in a realistic way by the use of minimalistic micro techniques. The use of naturalistic lighting, simple camera movements, little use of non diegetic sound, and realistic settings all are inexpensive showing a major budget will not be needed. Due to this small budget given to this genre of film, in the past the distribution of these has been minuet. Only a slim niche audience were attracted to these films. The films were not widely available and even though they were screened at art house cinemas, only specific people knew about these and what they screened. The films had to be sourced out; they were difficult to be found. However due to the change in culture and the introduction of the Web and the possibility of leading to Web 2.0, social realism films are now more readily available; more people have knowledge of the genre. They have new ways of watching these films as they are screened internationally through streaming websites and there has been a large proliferation in the hardware that can be used to distribute these films: Bluray and DVD. Also there has been a massive influence by the UK Film Council on British social realism films. They have been providing budgets for the production of these films meaning, not only are the films more readily available, there are more of them. With this film festivals have boomed within the last few years with the introduction of many new festivals across the globe. This has lead to better attendance and a wider audience demographic attending these festivals. All these cultural factors have lead to a change in the primary audience for these films. Not only has it grown in size due to the increase in availability, the demographic has grown in scale as it attracts new ages, such as young adults in higher study interested within media arts. Although this growth, the audience is still considered as niche as still only a small number of the population actually attend screenings of these films compared to Hollywood blockbusters, but this is expected due to the economical factors preventing the worldwide marketing and distribution of these films. So although we have seen a change in the audience, the expectations of the genre are still the same. They expect to see all the generic conventions of the genre and introductions to be presented to them, but used in an integral way to help introduce themes and issues within the film.

From the very beginning of the film, the editing technique of post-production titles has been integrated by the director. On first glance, the use of the title ‘Think Film’ may just be seen to advertise the main production company involved with the production of this motion picture. However, this can is also a subliminal code to the audience. ‘Think Film’, being recognised as one of the top documentary producers, winning awards with the feature documentaries, ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ and ‘Born into Brothels’, instantly tell the audience about the type of genre the film is likely to be within. Although the film is placed within the social realism genre, the style of film is very similar to the documentaries they are known for, with the use of minimal techniques across the 4 technical elements, all to portray a sense of true-life verisimilitude. Therefore just by the use of this one, short production title, the director is already able to set up expectations within the audience about what techniques to expect and the types of macro issues and themes the film will include. This convention is used across almost all film introduction as it instantly sets the atmosphere of the film to the audience, and can be seen used well within Marvel Films’ such as ‘Spiderman’ and Film Four’s ‘This is England’ as both production companies are well recognised for making films in specific genres; Marvel being action/adventure and Film Four being Documentary drama, Kitchen Sink drama and Social Realism.

After this title, sound becomes a key component within the film. During the other credits, there is a crescendo in a soft, slow tempo, calm, humming. This continues till the very first shot, close up of the protagonist’s face. Here the director has used sound, editing and camera composition/movement in synergy. The non-diegetic sound of the humming when used in the midst of the first shot may be to show the character is daydreaming. The sound is calm and peaceful and from the shot we see the character is in a deep stare, undisturbed. However, the impact on the audience here is quite the opposite. The sound is not understandable, almost confusing. There is use of shallow focus, only the characters face is clear. The background is ambiguous; we don’t have an understanding of his class or status. The audience are instantly distanced from the character. He may be physically near and clear, but the audience have no understanding of the character. The director’s rationale to use such techniques to distance the character is to show his distance from reality. The character may be seen to be in ‘his own world’. He is distancing himself from reality. And the length of the shot adds to this meaning, the character doesn’t want to return to reality. It almost portrays that he finds more comfort in his head than in the reality his is situation he is in.

This distancing from reality is then emphasised with the loud, constant ringing of an alarm. At this point the movement within the first shot is vital to the macro meaning. The ringing of the alarm may be seen to be awakening the character from his imaginary world he is within, bringing him back to the annoyance of reality. This is used with the constant shaking of the shot. This adds an edge to the character, as the repetitive alarm clock is a shake in the comfort he is within, that this break in peaceful tranquillity causes the character wake and be forced into the reality he does not want to be within. This use of the alarm clock is not only used to show this break in peace, but it brings the audience closer to the protagonist. They can relate to the annoyance it brings in the morning. It brings their dreams to an end and they are back in reality, and this is the same situation for the protagonist. Both are forced back into reality.
The shot then changes to a wide long shot, with deep focus so all the mise-en-scene within the shot can be seen. The audience can now see the true state of the character. He is within an unclean, deprived, room. However the proxemics of the shot make the protagonist seem small and constrained by the table within this wide spacious room. This then adds to the director’s rational. The room can be seen to be a metaphor for the world he is within, spacious, however he is so distant from reality that only a small number of people understand him, that he feels constrained by this and that he does not conform to society. This can be said to foreshadow future events, as his student becomes one of the only people that understand him.

Here, just within the first two shots, we see the director has given the audience a deeper understanding of the character. He has distanced them at first, but then brought them closer with the use of sound and mise-en-scene. The protagonist is shown to be more calm within his own world rather than in reality. However, he is also a lot more distant from the audience when dreaming than in reality. We can relate to the annoyance of the alarm clock, but not the humming as it was unclear and the dialect was not understandable. It’s almost like the audience are lead to understand the reality he is within, but not the inner world of his, that he enjoys more. We see there is friction between the two worlds, and is subtly hinted at through the use of natural lighting and the chiaroscuro effect this creates on the character. Only one side of his face is lit, and the other is dark, showing clearly that there are two sides to his personality. Then by creating this friction, the director is able to draw in the audience. They are curious about why he enjoys his own world more than reality.

This depiction of the protagonist then contrasts later in the introduction when we see his job role of a teacher. Firstly, the stereotype of a teacher is to be a role model; a person that students can look to for support. However, with the depiction that has been built up of the protagonist, the audience can clearly see that this is not who he is, as they infer through the mise-en-scene of the first two shots that the character may be taking some form of drug. This is not what society wants younger generations to be brought up into. Him playing both these very different roles in society will have an effect on the way he teaches. This is what the director is trying to show. After the scene within the flat, we go to a shot in the car. By the synchronised use of dialect and camera movement, the director is trying to show that the character is attempting to separate his personal life and his professional life. By using the camera shot that is once close to the character and then looks on at him through the window of the car, it shows to the audience that the character is trying to leave his home life behind. Like he is trying to separate the two. It almost gives the sense that the audience becomes the view of the characters personal life looking on at the protagonist walking away. Also by the use of these techniques to show the character trying to force separation, we see the character gain a new, higher status. He is now within a school. He is no longer the low status addicted to drug citizen; he is a role model to students. This is what forces him to want to keep apart his social life and his work life.

Now this vision of the character is portrayed to the audience, of conflicting roles within society, through the constant use of camera movement, editing and sound, the audience have no real understanding of the character, he is still very ambiguous. After which the director shows how in reality you cannot separate two conflicting personalities, how they will influence one another.

The first shot used within the school environment is a low angle long shot, with the protagonist moving ever closer to the camera. The first thing we see within the shot is a young boy running out of the school. This is juxtapositioned with the protagonists, slowly making his way up the stairs. The protagonist already abandons that stereotypical role model of teacher. He has the very same attitude as the young student as both do not want to be there. The audience then get the sense that although he may have the status of a teacher, he is thought of as a kid. The low angle used represents this well as when the shot starts the young student is shown to be a larger figure in the shot than the protagonist. It almost shows that this power that he has gained, is not really there. It is false due to his personality. His status is lowered down to that of a student. Then with the use of mise-en-scene within the classroom scene, we see that instead of standing, being tall against his pupils, he is lowered down to their level as he is sitting on a desk. He is shown to have the same childlike characteristics of a student.

Then how does the director show that both personalities of the protagonist are linked? By instantly lowering his status down to a student by the use of camera angle and specifically eye line match within the classroom scene, we see that the character is not the stereotypical teacher. His two personalities have affected one another. This is then augmented by the sound during the two school scenes. The small annoying sounds of the school bell, the scraping of table legs on the floor, constant talking within a classroom are all amplified so they are louder than expected. Although all the sounds are synchronous with the scene, the volume is increased to the level that the director believes the character would be experiencing with his illness from the drugs the audience assume he consumed. The audience are directly put into his position, feeling his pain and the annoyance he faces. It lets us emphasise with him for the first time through out the introduction.

This link to the audience is finally what I believe the director’s rationale for the introduction was. He first distanced them from one side of his personality, but attracted them to the other. The audience were confused about his personal life; he always seemed ambiguous. However, by the clever and skilled use of camera shots, sound and mise-en-scene within the school scene, the director brought the audience back to terms with the character. They understood that this annoyance of reality and his inability to meet the expectations of the teaching role might be why he relaxes when he is in his daydream. The audience are finally able to emphasise with the character by the end of the introduction, however the director still leaves the scene of ambiguity to the character as there are still aspects of him that are very distant from the audience, especially within his home, personal life. This increased knowledge, but still curiosity left within the audience is why I believe the introduction works well not only within the social realism genre, by the constant use of generic techniques, but as an introduction, an hook as a whole.