'The Selfish Giant'
'The Selfish Giant' is a social realism film that came out in 2013 about two thirteen year old working-class friends in Bradford who seek fortune by getting involved with a local scrap dealer and criminal. I am going to look at this film as it is an example of a social realism film which is what my group are making for our coursework.
Production Companies
The first production company is 'Protagonist films' this is the independent film company that handles films from around the world, always maintain a strong focus on filmmakers with exceptional vision and story telling skills. The next company shown is 'BFI film forever' this is a charity who provide funding for film production, distribution, education, audience development and market intelligence and research. The major production company for this film is 'film4' who is known for social realism films over any other genre. We are going to use film4 for our film opening as they would be appropriate for the social realism film opening we are creating.
Typography
After the production companies are shown there is text shown the text fades in starting from the left side and moving across the text as it would be read. The first text says 'BFI and Film4 present' followed by 'a moonspun films production'. This is on a plain black screen. We will use this for the main title of our film the rest will be put over one of our shots. 'The Selfish Giant' is then shown over a black sky with a night landscape below it. The font is simple and white so it stands out on the background. We are going to use a similar, simple font on a black background so it conforms to the conventions of this genre.
Plot
The film opens with shots of a young boy kicking and screaming under his bed, we then hear a voice saying "calm down Arbour". The boy continues his aggressive outburst until you hear the boy say "it's me Swifty" this calms the boy down. Swifty talks to Arbour and tells him to come out so Arbour rolls out from under the bed. We then see a dark landscape with a person running followed by a horse. We then discover it is the boys taking a horse to a bridge where there are people with torches searching for something along the railway under the bridge. The boys sit on the bridge looking at the people with torches sharing a drink and wondering what the people are doing. They then decide to "go and have a look" so they ride off. We then see the boys dismount from the horse and hide it away. Arbour goes down to the track to see the two men pulling electric cable out from the tracks and lying it out across the railway. We then see a train coming so the men move out of the way and the wheels of the train cut through the rubber of the wire so it can be folded and carried away. Before they can leave another person in a high vis jacket and a torch shows up, his phone rings and he says "I'm almost there now" when he gets to the cable that the men had pulled out he stops and tells the person on the phone to "get some of [his] men down [there] now". While the man is distracted on the phone Arbour creeps in, steals the cable, climbs back on the horse with Swifty and they ride away with the men chasing him telling them to "get back here".
Camera Angles
The shot of Arbour under the bed is a combination of extreme close ups from different angles, this shows how little space there is under there. The shots are dark and follow Arbours movement to highlight the aggression and keeps the scene fast paced. The light from the room starts to come through when Swifty comes in to calm him down showing how Swifty is the person who keeps Arbour happy and calm.
The shot then goes dark again as the boys are shown outside with the horse. This establishes that the scene is set at night, a time by which thirteen year old boys should have been put to bed by their parents but not these two, highlighting the fact that these are not normal boys with normal families. The two boys have a conversation between the two boys uses close ups to show their reactions to each other also they are close enough to each other to see both in one shot. An over the shoulder shot is put in the middle of this scene to show the people on the tracks have turned around because they heard the boys talking and the boys have ducked out of sight. This highlights the fact that neither the boys or the men on the train track are supposed to be there because the men are worried that there is someone watching them and the boys duck so the men don't see them sat on the bridge. A long shot then shows Arbour getting off the horse and Swifty moving it out of the way so it is not seen. There is then a close up of the cable being pulled out from under the metal of the train tracks to show what the men are doing down there. The camera then pans to show the other man lying the cable across the tracks. A long shot shows Arbour peering around the corner of a small building, the fact he is hiding behind the building once again highlights the fact he is not supposed to be there but he clearly doesn't have a family who cares enough to worry about him. There is then a medium shot of the two men taking the cable out from the tracks but their heads are not in the shot to show they are not important to the storyline and they could be anyone.
There is then a reaction shot of Arbour who is trying to work out what they are doing. The fact a thirteen year old boy knows the men are stealing the cable for a scrap dealer demonstrates the sort of community they live in where this activity is fairly common. When the train comes a close up of the wheels cutting through the cable and the sparks coming from it help the audience understand why the men were laying the cable out across the tracks. The next shot is a long shot of another man wearing a high vis jacket, helmet and holding a torch, there is then a reaction shot of the two men dropping the cable and running to hide in the near by bushes. This emphasises the idea that what they're doing is wrong and probably illegal. The shot then returns to the long shot of the approaching man who's phone rings. While the man is on the phone Arbour comes out from his hiding place when one of the hiding men sees him he tells Arbour to "F*** off" this gets the attention of the man on the phone so there is a quick long shot of him realising there are other people there, it then goes to a close up of the man in the bushes as the light gets brighter as the man on the phone turns his torch on the other man.
There is then a medium shot from outside the bushes showing the man in the bushes jumping out on to the man on the phone to avoid getting caught. The two men are out of focus and fighting in the foreground while the focus is or Arbour picking up the cable and running back to Swifty on the horse. This shows how the men are unimportant and the thing that people should be paying attention to is the fact that Arbour has taken the cable. All of these shots are in the dark so you cannot really see properly which means the audience are confused as to what is going on unless they watch the rest of the film.
Editing
The editing in the first scene is fast paced to start with as Arbour is hitting the bed and screaming. This has a large impact as it contrasts the calm slow title screen before hand. The pace slows down when Swifty comes in as Arbour has calmed down. The editing is also match on action to show the action in many different angles and keep the opening interesting. This also emphasises the idea that Swifty is the one person Arbour can trust to look after him and ensure his safety. After this the scene where the two boys are sat on the bridge with the horse is slow paced as not much happens apart from the conversation between the two boys. This means the boys dominate frame time as they are the key part to the storyline as opposed to the two men on the train track because they are only important for the scene and do not matter for the rest of the film. There is then a cross cut to where Arbour gets off the horse. This then cross cuts again to show the men pulling the cable from the ground, shot reverse shot is then used to show the men, followed by Arbour, then back to the men. In this situation dominance has changed to the men as they are what Arbour is looking at so they are the most important factor in the scene at that moment. The editing remains as medium paced match on action when the man approaches. The diegetic dialogue the man says to Arbour, "F*** off" triggers the faster pace of editing as the fight begins and the action is fast paced so the editing matches.
Mise-en-scene
The use of a horse subverts the common conventions of social realism films because you would ordinarily see young people traveling on foot as they are too young to drive or one something like a scooter/skateboard. It is very uncommon that you would see two thirteen year old boys steal a horse just to ride around the local area. The canned drink they share is a common convention when it comes to young people in social realism films as they tend to drink fatty energy drinks because they are cheap and give you energy. The boys wear hoodies and tracksuit trousers which is common for modern working class people as they are comfy, cheap and practical.
Sound
The sound of the boy kicking and screaming opens which grabs the attention of the audience and has a big impact as it contrasts the quiet title screens. The accents the boys have are strong and very northern this suggests the people are more friendly, however this is contrasted through the fact that people are stealing cable from the ground. When out by the track all the characters whisper except the final man that comes in on the phone, suggesting he is the only one who is supposed to be there and the others are just trying not to get caught. There is no music over the opening, only diegetic sound, this is effective because the focus is then only on the characters and their storylines.
What can I apply to my work?
For our coursework we are going to use the 'film4' production company as it is the most appropriate company for the film opening we are producing. I also like the simple typography on the black screen so we will use this for the main title to draw attention to the actual typography. The camera angles will be basic and will be edited to a slow pace to reflect the boring life of the homeless girl. It will also be a montage to show a day in the life of the protagonist. We will also use the fact there is no non diegetic sound so the attention is on the character.
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