FISH TANK Case Study

Themes and Situations

• Main Character (Mia) is fighting and swearing constantly which connotes her stereotypical representation as a teenager. 
• She has no respect for her elders. (E.g: Swearing at her mum)
• Mia results in many crimes:
  > Stealing money (£5) from her mum's boyfriend's wallet.
  > Tries to free someone else's horse and gets caught whilst trespassing their property of land.
  > Throws stones at house.
  > Kidnaps a little girl.

• Mia's mum is a single parent who doesn't care for her children. This results in their negative upbringing as two daughters not being raised without a fatherly figure to support them. 
• Mia's mum does not work; she is seen always at home so she is not able to support enough for her daughters. 
• Mia's little sister (Tyler) is also rude and quite similar to Mia whilst having no respect for a anyone having a bad attitude and smoking at a young age not caring. Tyler and her friend are seen in the film smoking a cigarette in front of Mia. 

Influence

The film reveals Mia always walking out of her apartment. I would use this strategy to reveal  the escapism portrayed through a characters stress and struggles in a british realism life. 

Representation (stereotypes & archetypes)

• Reveals the stereotypical representation of teenagers. (Mia) Always getting up to 'no good'.
• British teenager girl having attitude and being rude all the time against everyone.
• Mia's mother does not care about her children and shows a bad example of herself (drinking, smoking etc.). This could be the reason of stress due to her not working, being at home all the time, and not having enough money to support also without a fatherly figure to help raise the daughters. (Needing guidance)

• Mia and Tyler are not seen going to school. They have no respect for anything with no education.

Influence

With the strong idea of the representation of a stereotypical british female teenager, i think this could strongly influence my film revealing a character's strong struggled life as a disturbed character whilst being shown through their British Social Realist representation/image. 

Mise-en-scene

• As we watch the film, we audience are able to denote the chipped paint on the walls of the flats and broken pieces of walls and furniture. (untidy) This maybe connotes that the area is struggled and that Mia's mum is unable to support her children with the lack of money in her possession. 
• The clothes that we seen worn by the characters in the film are ''baggy'' vests or jogging bottoms or hoods. Mia is seen wearing most likely the same clothes on the majority of days which could connote her unhygienic qualities and her reason of not being able to afford clothes. 
• East London: Typical British weather which is cloudy, wet, and rainy.  This helps to represent the area and environment which the film is set in. 

Influence:

The idea of the stereotypical aspect of weather could be very handy when being influenced in my film due to Britain being so very well known for its rainy cloudy weather forecast. 

Music & Sound Effects

• There are non-diagetic sounds such as faint conversations being heard, children laughing, talking, people yelling etc. 
• Music videos are watched by Mia on the television or heard on CD such as RnB, Hip-hop, and Reggae Music. For example: Mia's mum plays Reggae music very loud as Mia enters the building.
• ''Californian Dreaming'' song is not a British song. Mia is seen dancing to it being influenced by the escapism of british culture. 

Influence:

The film uses a lot of non-diagetic sounds which helps to create more of a social realism representation. I would use this strategy because it would really help to represent serious situations in story lines i may create as a realist outcome. 

Camera work & Editing

• The camera uses hand-held shots which impact upon the ideology of a realist film. (Camera is Shaky)
• There are many fast paces shots which help to connote a sense of tension during a action/event that may be occurring. 
• There are pans of each different area. 
• Establishing shots are shown revealing the area and environment which the film is set in. 
• Camera reveals Close Ups of Mia's face denoting her struggled emotions through her british realism troubles and stress. 

Influence:

The film reveals a lot of hand-held shots which could come in handy for my film and help it reveal its representation of realism in situations i create and will help to create tension.

Dialogue

• Characters are spoken like ''chavs'' as they use words such as: ''Cunt'',''Fuck off''and ''Bitch''
• Mia reveals to the audience a rude bad attitude as a fifteen year old through her dialogue.
• East London Accent is heard strongly and clearly.
• Most of the characters share the same british london accent. 

Influence:

In 'Fish Tank', the dialogue of the characters accents are revealed strongly to being represented as british characters from their accents. I would use a strategy like this because it would help reveal to the audience the background culture of the characters, 

Secondary Research on 'Fish Tank'

Institutional background

Director: Andrea Arnold

The Production Companies:

• BBC Films (presents)
• UK Film Council (presents
• Limelight Communication
• Content Film
• Kasander Film Company

> The funding came from BBC Films and Uk Film Council.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232776/companycredits

Audience Breakdown

• This film was mainly aimed mostly towards a British audience due to the elements and characteristics of the film being so closely related to the stereotypical british culture that we are so familiar with. 
• Although, ''Fish Tank'' (2009), also is trying its very best to make its film come across to America so that it can become further populated as a independent film. Due to ''Fish Tank'' not being completely cultural, americans would still be able to understand the storyline and situation involved within the film which they will then find suitable for their understandings. 
• In ''Fish Tank'', the only main british cultural references are the accents, and the area and environment placed around the characters. This is why Americans would therefore be able to understand the film better when there is not much dialogue within the speech of the characters that is related to our british ways of speaking.

Marketing Strategy

• There was more than one poster design created for the film.
• The film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival on the 14th May 2009 and that helped gain a great word of mouth and reviews.
• It was also shown at many other festivals such as: The Edinburgh International Film Festival on the 21st June 2009, the Jerusalem Film Festival 17th July 2009, and many more which helped to boost up ''Fish Tank'''s popularity across the public audience.

> As you can see, Festivals are one of the biggest ways that Independent filmmakers use to promote their films.