Analysing Fish Tank.

Fish Tank Trailer

Themes and Situations:

The key themes in Fish Tank are the themes of poverty, an unstable family life, the corruption of youth, violence and dancing. These are highlighted throughout the film because the theme of poverty is shown clearly through the mise-en-scene as all of the characters wear scruffy clothes and tracksuits and trainers, connoting they cant afford expensive clothes. The film itself is set in Barking, which is not a wealthy area and to be more specific, one of the locations is a council estate. Connoting Mia and her family cant afford to live elsewhere in a house or a nice flat. The theme of having an unstable family life is shown through the circumstances in which their family lives. The mum seems very unconcerned about her children as we see her verbally and physically abusing them - in particular the older child, Mia. Mia swears around her mum and sister an to them, connoting she has no respect for either them, due to the foreseen circumstances. The youngest daughter, Tyler, also swears and uses abusive language, connoting that she has not been raised correctly in a stable healthy family. Violence is also a theme in this film, because immediately within the first 10 minutes of the film there is a fights that happens between Mia and a group of girls, there are a couple of times where we see Mias mum slap and pinch her, Mia also gets into an altercation with a couple of boys who almost try to molest her. The final theme I have identified is dancing. From the beginning right throughout the film until the end, there are a lot of scenes that involve dancing. We see Mia watching a group of girls dancing in the beginning, Mia herself dancing numerous times throughout and at the end when she says bye to her mum they dance together as a way of connecting and saying their farewells.

The mother slapping her daughter (Mia) in the face.

 

The main theme in this film is an unstable family life, I would use a theme like this if I was to make a British social realism film because in the mundane it is a dominating issue within the working class population.

Representations:

There are many representations of white working class brits throughout this film. One of these representations is that young white mums from a working class background are not maternal. We see this in this film because the mum doesn't pay attention to her kids needs and seems to pay more attention to her boyfriend and sacrifices her kids needs for her boyfriends wants. Another representation is that many female working class teenagers that live on council estates, aspire to become dancers but because of their unconventional family lives are left with no hope as they gain no support from their families. We see this through Mia, who always goes to an empty house to dance alone and rehearse a particular routine and doesn't tell her mum because she knows she will just laugh and not support or encourage her.





The mum having sexual intercourse, whilst daughter (Mia) is watching.

I would use the chavy stereotype for most of my characters as it goes well with the genre of the film (British social realism).

Mise-en-scene:

Fish Tank is set in Barking. The main locations used in this film are a council estate, parks and various other locations in Barking. The majority of characters in this films are given a costume that create a 'chavy' stereotype. For example, most of the characters wear tracksuits, vest tops and trainers, with a pair of hoop earrings. Mia always dresses in a black tracksuit with trainers and hoop earrings with her tied up, connoting that she's quite a tomboy. Props used in the film also add to this 'chavy' stereotype, such as; drinking cider/beer, dogs and London buses. These props are fairly culturally relative to working class brits as most of them can only afford to drink cheap liquor and cant drive, therefore make good use of public transport. Dogs are used in the film as tools to make characters seem more intimidating and the dogs themselves are represented as vicious, making the owners look irresponsible.

The council estate where the film is set.

In the mise-en-scene I would use the council estate as a location because it is a stereotypical view that a lot of working class Brits with unstable family lives live on council estates.

Music and Sound Effects:

Modern R&B music is used throughout the film, such as; Cassie - me & you, Ja Rule Ft Ashanti - down 4 u. Songs like these are used to support the main character Mias aspirations of becoming a dancer, connoting she hopes to become a dancer for an R&B artist. Reggae music is also featured, when the mum throws a party, to extend the appeal and show that white people listen to reggae music too.

• I would use reggae music in my British social realism film because it complements the 'chavy' representation well and fits in with the stereotype.

Camera Work and Editing:

Many shot types are used in this film. For example, as the film starts we see an establishing shot to show where the film is set and the main location - a council estate. Long shots are also used a lot, to show the audience the full picture of what is happening in the scene. For example, when Mia is watching the girls dancing, a long shot is used so we as the audience are able to see all of their body language and dance moves and the environment they are dancing in. There are also a reasonable amount of mid shots used, to show the characters expressions/emotions in more detail as we can see their facial expressions and their body language.



Mia and her mum face to face.

 I would use a lot of mid-shots in my British social realism trailer, so I could show more of the charcters' dispositions and how each of the character reacts differently or similarly to each other. In this screengrab, the tension between Mia and her mum is shown through this mid shot as we can see how tense they both are and how close they are.








Dialogue:

There are many abusive used from the start to end by most of the characters of varying ages, such as; fag, cunt, fuck, fucking, butters and skanky little pikey. All of this illiterate language supports the characters 'chavy' stereotype. Mia, her mum and little sister all use this language, so mia and her little sister have heard their mum using it and have grown up  thinking its okay to use this in their every day language. The use of this language in this social realist film, connotes that it is stereotyped that white working class brits of all ages use this language in the mundane.

• I would use the word 'fag' a lot because it also compliments the 'chavy' stereotype as it is popular language that they use.

Fish Tank Research

Institutional research:

Fish Tank was written and directed by Andrea Arnold. It was produced in co-production with the UK Film Council, BBC Films, Limelight Communication, Content Film and Kasander Film Company. The release date wad the 21st June 2009 at Edinburgh Film Festival. The Criterion Collection exhibited it on DVD and Blu-ray. Fish tank was given a budget of $3 and
collected a total of $2, 357, 852, meaning this film was a box office flop/turkey.

Audience research:

Fish Tanks audience is 13-18 year old white females from a working class background. The film is given a certificate of 15 but because of the issues faced in the film and who faces them, it appeals to a younger teenage audience as they can also relate to these issues, for example the unstable family - a 13 year old girl could identify with that.

Marketing research:

Fish Tank was distributed by IFC Films, this is an independent distributor and therefore due to their small marketing budgets they only used traditional marketing techniques, as they are much cheaper than techniques like viral marketing. This film was supported by the UK Film Councils prints and marketing's fund.