Themes and Genre for Short Films

There are many films that explore issues and themes pertinent to British identity, society and culture.  By researching these films it is helpful for our group in the production of our short film as we are able to take ideas and themes and implement theme in our own production.  I have explored the themes of many modern British works including 'This is England', 'East is East' and 'London to Brighton' in order to gain ideas.

'This is England' challenges many issues including multiculturalism, diversity, racism, discrimination, national identity and even class and status.  The issues raised are all quite controversial however are relevant to British culture and society.

The issues raised in this film helped us to gain an understanding of the themes and content we want to include within our short film, however we will be looking to do so in less graphic way as we have a target audience of 12 and above, therefore if we were to include content similar to 'This is England' then it would not be appropriate for our target audience.  The film challenges the idea of national identity and focuses on a lot of british stereotypes which we could possibly include in our work.

Other films that challenge the idea of national identity, british stereotypes and class and status that I have looked at include 'East is East' and 'Dirty Pretty Things'.  Both challenge the idea of the role immigrants have in society and contain many stereotypes of British culture which we look to integrate into our film.  From researching these films we see how the themes of a multi cultured society is a common topic for British filmmakers.

 

Another common style of British film is the 'British Gangster' movie such as 'Lock, Stock and two smoking Barrels', 'Snatch' and 'Rise of the Footsoldier'.  All of these films challenge aspects of British crime and the underworld of crime, however the themes are too controversial and graphic for us to include in our movie with a BBFC rating of 12A.  However it was helpful to research these films and get a greater depth and understanding of British films and the themes they challenge within the society.