Social Realist Opening Credits
There are many conventions surrounding the genre of social realism. I thought I’d best be aware of them if I’m to make a social realism film! In my opinion, titles are perhaps the aspect of social realism which is easy to find conventions for. Other conventions rely heavily on content and context of the film. So let’s start with titles.
Font
The font of social realism is nearly always sans serif. Social realism deals with the working class, and a serif font would be far too professional and middle class. Serif fonts are also usually used because it looks like less effort has gone into it, and laziness is a stereotype of the working class, especially in films.
Some films will take this a step further, and add their own style to a sans serif font. For example, ‘This is England’ has titles which are made to look like graffiti, an issue which is shown in the film. This also matches the stereotype that the lower classes take part in vandalism.
Positioning
The positioning of titles depends very much on the film. Some social realism films aren’t shy about portraying their social issues, and can be quite ‘in-your-face’. In which case, the titles are likely to be displayed very overtly over the action, so that they cannot be ignored. However, other social realism are more subtle about the way they present their issues, and they may portray them in order to shock the audience, or make them feel sad, guilty, sympathetic, etc. In which case, the titles will match this sombre mood, and may be placed towards the side or in a corner, where they are not distracting from the central action, which is of the utmost importance if you are trying to induce negative feelings in your audience.
Of course, titles are not set in stone according to genre, and the content of the film ultimately decides the positioning of the titles in many cases. Like other films, some may position their titles so that they won’t be a distraction, or some may be overt, to really emphasise the content of the film. A good example of an exception to the usual conventions is the opening of ‘Trainspotting’, a social realism film in which not only are there very few titles, but the few that do exist are shown when there is either no or little action on screen.
With Fink Tank there are a few production names, then the title, then no more credits. This is highlight its not fictional.
Effects
Effects are not used lavishly in social realism films. The audience generally does not expect the titles to come jumping onto the screen, letter by letter in an array of colour. This is because many social realism films revolve around simple lives. Simplicity is the operative word here, and because social realism relies a lot upon the interactions between people, distracting titles are not desirable. Instead, effects such as simple fades or wipes are used. Mostly, titles will simply appear and disappear.
Here is a good example of credits in a social realism opening. It is ‘This is England’. The font is sans serif and as mentioned above, the font looks like graffiti, matching an issue in the film. The positioning is very simple. Names are placed either at the bottom if they are actors, or at the side if they are technical staff and such. The titles simply fade both in and out.
Font
The font of social realism is nearly always sans serif. Social realism deals with the working class, and a serif font would be far too professional and middle class. Serif fonts are also usually used because it looks like less effort has gone into it, and laziness is a stereotype of the working class, especially in films.
Some films will take this a step further, and add their own style to a sans serif font. For example, ‘This is England’ has titles which are made to look like graffiti, an issue which is shown in the film. This also matches the stereotype that the lower classes take part in vandalism.
Positioning
The positioning of titles depends very much on the film. Some social realism films aren’t shy about portraying their social issues, and can be quite ‘in-your-face’. In which case, the titles are likely to be displayed very overtly over the action, so that they cannot be ignored. However, other social realism are more subtle about the way they present their issues, and they may portray them in order to shock the audience, or make them feel sad, guilty, sympathetic, etc. In which case, the titles will match this sombre mood, and may be placed towards the side or in a corner, where they are not distracting from the central action, which is of the utmost importance if you are trying to induce negative feelings in your audience.
Of course, titles are not set in stone according to genre, and the content of the film ultimately decides the positioning of the titles in many cases. Like other films, some may position their titles so that they won’t be a distraction, or some may be overt, to really emphasise the content of the film. A good example of an exception to the usual conventions is the opening of ‘Trainspotting’, a social realism film in which not only are there very few titles, but the few that do exist are shown when there is either no or little action on screen.
With Fink Tank there are a few production names, then the title, then no more credits. This is highlight its not fictional.
Effects
Effects are not used lavishly in social realism films. The audience generally does not expect the titles to come jumping onto the screen, letter by letter in an array of colour. This is because many social realism films revolve around simple lives. Simplicity is the operative word here, and because social realism relies a lot upon the interactions between people, distracting titles are not desirable. Instead, effects such as simple fades or wipes are used. Mostly, titles will simply appear and disappear.
Here is a good example of credits in a social realism opening. It is ‘This is England’. The font is sans serif and as mentioned above, the font looks like graffiti, matching an issue in the film. The positioning is very simple. Names are placed either at the bottom if they are actors, or at the side if they are technical staff and such. The titles simply fade both in and out.
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