CIARA BYRNE
AMPLE MEDIA
CANDIDATE NUMBER 9045
FISH TANK
ENIGMA CODE
Fish tank starts with a opening sequence of the idents being presented with no additonal sound apart from the idents. The very start portrays the use of hand held camera shots and natural lighting which gives the film a minimalistic look, expected by the niche audience of social realistic films. This could also be seen to portray the economic factors of the film. The basic camera shots, lighting and mise-en-scene used show a low budget is likely to be used; the film has a very documentary type feel, as if the audience were there with the characters. The culture of society may be seen to impact on the storyline of the film as the main character shown in the extract is a teenage girl. The audience then may become more mainstream due to the teenage issues such as drugs, violence and relationships that are now expected, relating to a large teenage audience as the film was realeased in 2009, which now contrasts to society and views now.
The very first shot within this extract is a medium shot of a teenage girl, wearing a tracksuit and a top, in a bleak, empty room, panting. This instantly shows the director is trying to represent the council estate teenagers of society. The use of the medium shot gives the audience a sense of setting, where the girls is, and help to show the emptiness of the room. There is nothing to be seen behind her put fading paint work. The director may be seen to use such a shot to start to make the audience imagine. The questions of 'why is nothing there?' and 'why is she there, out of breath?' are brought to mind.
The costume within this shot, help the director to represent the typical council flat teenager. The use of tracksuit bottoms and a top are expected clothing for teenagers of this type. The audience now know the type of film this is and who it is about. They can expect to see issues linked with teenagers of this type in reality to be represented here such as drugs and alcohol abuse. It also helps to establish who the director is aiming the film at. These new expectations can be easily related to all teenagers as they all have lived through these issues; they can empathise with the situations and ideas raised – the audience can empathise with the character. This is then a much more mainstream audience compared to that of a typical social realism film. Traditional and pure social realism films have a more intellectual and higher class audience such as films like 'Poor Cow' and 'Kes' where issues of lower classes were raised, but it was thought that the higher classes would be attracted to such films as they could understand and depict the issues. This is different to Fish Tank as the culture we are within, the main audience of films are that of the people that the issues directly effect. In 'Kidulthood' violence and alcohol are depicted by Menhaj Huda and the main audience of this film was the large teenage audience as they were faced with issues of this type in day to day reality. This is similar to Fish Tank. Due to the way the character is represented and the setting is established in the start of the film, we can expect certain issues and themes to be raised that would relate to a conventional teenager, making the target audience of this film a mainstream, teenage one.
Although it may seem that the film has moved away from the social realism genre, the next hand held camera panning shot used help to show the film is still within that genre. The shot is a medium one, circulating around the back of the character as she gets out her phone and calls someone. The use of a hand held shot here after the ambiguous start, help show the true genre of the film. This shot gives out a very documentary, improvised feel. As if it were reality and we were really there. It gives a the audience a sense that they are there within the scene with the character. The director may have chosen to use such a shot to help the audience empathise with the character as the feel is that we are there with her, in the bare room.​
STORYLINE
Fish Tank is a British drama set in East London. The narrative of the film focuses on 15 year old Mia who lives with her mother and sister. The family has a poor relationship with Mia and her mother frequently in arguments. She has an interest in dancing and wishes to pursue it in a competition until everything changes. Her mother brings home a new boyfriend causing things to spiral out of control.
LOCATION
The location of Fish Tank abides the generic conventions of a social realism. The urban environment in which Mia lives demonstrates the genre of the film to the audience. Having an estate as the home for the protagonistsapplies character development into the opening sequence too. From the run down housing estate we learn that the lead character and her family are alower class family.
ANALYSIS
