Masculinity & Male Dominance:
The character Bronson's physique and how he obtains it; by exercising vigorously and fighting the prison guards are all key points in this theme of masculinity. The exercising and the speed and force at which the audience exercises allows the audience to connote that this character is a powerful typical masculine force which most men who're interested in British Social Realist films will aspire to be like. The location of the prison lets the audience denote power and strength which are other things commonly associated with masculinity. The colors red and black are very primitive and give the scene an animalistic vibe, this is further enhanced with the colors denoting power which relates back to the theme of masculinity. 
The idea of male dominance is something that is often explored in and/or questioned in British Social Realist cinema. Films like "Bronson", "This Is England" and "Looking For Eric" all deal with different aspects of masculinity and male dominance and are all British Social Realist films.
Violence:
The opening immediately uses violence to set the tone of the film and use it in a very realistic manner. The opening makes the audience feel more comfortable with some of the shocking fight scenes and more violent scenes later on in the film because the audience is already used to the violence because it's the first thing they see in the film. The violence is an essential backbone of the film because the film revolves around Bronson's struggle to become the most powerful and legendary man in his prison and uses violence as his way to get it. The violence is also used to show the personality of the characters because it gives the audience a chance to connote from the fighting style of Bronson and how he never gave up that he is a fighter and won't stop no matter what comes at him until he has what he desires.
The fact such graphic violence is used early appeals to it's audience because violence is often a common theme in these films while also grabbing audience members who're not familiar with films like this because of the documentary like approach the films have makes the violence graphic and draws the audience in. The violence is constantly shown with motives which is often a common theme in British social realist films. The motivated violence is not explained at the beginning of this opening so it gets the audience thinking about why the characters are behaving so violently and what their motives are which in turn make the audience want to know more and get them hooked. The motivated violence not being explained at the beginning lets the opening benefit greatly from this because now the audience will wonder how "Britain's most violent inmate" is the way he is and how he got there.
Aspiration:
"My name's Charles Bronson and all my life I've wanted to be famous."
The film explores how Bronson has dreamt of being the toughest and baddest prisoner in the United Kingdom and we see his aspiration slowly becoming a reality. The film uses his aspiration as the driving force behind the film and we see how this dream helped keep Bronson strong and achieve the things he has by the spark and flicker of this dream he aspired to get.
"I knew I was made for better things"
The theme of aspiration relates back to the target audience of people who watch British Social Realist Films because the audience members may also be in a situation in life they're not happy with and want to aspire to becoming something better and complete a goal they've been dreaming of like how Bronson has even if Bronson's dream is more extreme then what the audience may have in mind.
Mise-en-scene:The cinematography for the solitary confinement chamber that Bronson resides in is red with heavy shadows, this cinematography lets the audience connote danger and fear and in turn then results in the audience assuming that the character of Bronson is dangerous. The idea of a danger male character is often explored in British Social realist films as there is often a male character of negative imagery; Combo ,"This Is England", Begbie "Trainspotting".
The red and black lighting is part of the design of the solitary confinement chamber so it adds verisimilitude to the scene. The design of the solitary confinement chamber seems to appear like a cage that is holding the character Bronson prisoner, because Bronson is naked in this scene while in the solitary confinement chamber it makes the character appear like a caged beast which the audience can easily connote from the production design.
The idea of characters feeling caged in is very common in British Social Realist films with characters often appearing caged in by the environment they're surrounded in; Mia's estate in "Fish Tank" and the urban landscape that Trife in "Kidulthood" was a resident of.
The costumes of the Prison Guards are the uniforms of Prison Guards in Britain during the 1970's and 1980's. In British Social Realist films the costumes are often existing clothing that is common in Britain, although the Prisoner Guard uniform is not common attire the costume accurately represent what British Prison Officers would wear and therefore adds realism and verisimilitude to the film that British Social Realist films often try to capture.
Camera: The camera is often left in a still position watching what occurs on screen and never moving within a shot. This makes the audience feel like a spectator. In British Social Realist films I have begun to notice that the camera work is either majorly hand held to make the film have a documentary like feel to it or it usually has a fixed camera most of the time that makes the audience feel like a spectator to the film. Both camera techniques help the audience feel like they're in the world of the film. The camera positioning in the shots is often done to mimic that of CCTV which adds to the realism of the film even though the picture quality of the camera never changes. The CCTV style layed out shots lets the film benefit from the feeling once again that audience is a spectator in the world of the film.
Editing: Fades are used to show large passings of time at the beginning of the opening, as the scene progresses jump cuts are used to also show passings of time but these passings of time are much shorter than those that should have occurred when fades are used. Cutaways are used to show more of the prison and that the guards are getting ready to subdue Bronson.
The cutaways also effectively show more of the location and make it more obvious that the current location is a prison by showing hallways. Just before the fight starts there are even more jump cuts, the audience can connote from the jump that this is possibly the state of mind the character Bronson is in.
Quick cuts were used when the fight began this allows the audience to denote speed and adrenaline pumping in the speed of the cuts while once Bronson is subdued the quick cuts stop to let the audience denote the speed and adrenaline that was once present before is no longer present.
The idea of making the audience feel the way the characters are feeling is common in British Social realist films because it makes the audience care about the characters and makes the audience more socially invested.Fades were also used in "This Is England" to show Combo's frame of mind after injuring the character Milky.
"You Kill Me, You Kill Me And Kill me..."
Dialogue:The little dialogue there is in the opening comes from a short narration by the lead character Charles Bronson as he talks about how he believed he was destined for greater things. The narration is a bridge to a scene of Bronson gettng prepared to fight some Prison Guards, this short narration and bridge gives the audience the a small insight into what the story will be about before leading into a flashback. There is not much sound other than the soundtrack that is playing. This may sound negative but it is in fact done to it's advantage.
The lack of dialogue and major sound means that the audience has to pay even more attention so it grabs the audiences attention almost immediately. The music playing at first starts eerie and sinister which adds to the verisimilitude that the cinematography has already set however once Bronson begins attacking the Prison Guards the music heavily contrasts what you see on screen by the tone of the music, the dramatic irony almost represents how Bronson feels when he fights as the music retains it's chilling lyrics but takes a transition from dark and serious to a more upbeat tone.
The song that plays is "The Walker Brothers- The Electrician". The films use of existing music is very typical of British Social Realist films because they often use existing music rather than getting their own composer in, however sometimes they don't have a soundtrack at all.
Sub genre and how it's explored: The sub genre of the film is Biographical. They explore this by first having a narration by the character Charles Bronson on whom the film is named and based upon. The sub genre is further explored by having familiar locations with the character Bronson explored almost immediately in the opening such as the solitary confinement chamber. This gives the film historical accuracy that a biographical film would require. The film also has actor Tom Hardy adept the mannerism and appearance of Charles Bronson, this makes the film feel realistic and accurate to the real life events that involved Charles Bronson.
What impact has this research had on the development of your ideas?: This research has helped my development of my ideas because I have now began to consider the effectiveness of sound and what it can be used for. I've also realised that my actors will have to look like the characters they're playing and be believable because British Social realism films are all about realism if my actors don't appear like who they say they're playing for example a drug dealer or someone suffering from abuse the film loses the element to draw the audience into the world which the film so heavily requires on. I must take into account the realism of the film from all areas whether that be location, actors it must seem real. I have also learnt that even though my film is British Social realism I can still be stylistic with my camera techniques and style of editing.
Aspiration:
"My name's Charles Bronson and all my life I've wanted to be famous."
The film explores how Bronson has dreamt of being the toughest and baddest prisoner in the United Kingdom and we see his aspiration slowly becoming a reality. The film uses his aspiration as the driving force behind the film and we see how this dream helped keep Bronson strong and achieve the things he has by the spark and flicker of this dream he aspired to get.
"I knew I was made for better things"
The theme of aspiration relates back to the target audience of people who watch British Social Realist Films because the audience members may also be in a situation in life they're not happy with and want to aspire to becoming something better and complete a goal they've been dreaming of like how Bronson has even if Bronson's dream is more extreme then what the audience may have in mind.
Mise-en-scene:The cinematography for the solitary confinement chamber that Bronson resides in is red with heavy shadows, this cinematography lets the audience connote danger and fear and in turn then results in the audience assuming that the character of Bronson is dangerous. The idea of a danger male character is often explored in British Social realist films as there is often a male character of negative imagery; Combo ,"This Is England", Begbie "Trainspotting".
The red and black lighting is part of the design of the solitary confinement chamber so it adds verisimilitude to the scene. The design of the solitary confinement chamber seems to appear like a cage that is holding the character Bronson prisoner, because Bronson is naked in this scene while in the solitary confinement chamber it makes the character appear like a caged beast which the audience can easily connote from the production design.
The idea of characters feeling caged in is very common in British Social Realist films with characters often appearing caged in by the environment they're surrounded in; Mia's estate in "Fish Tank" and the urban landscape that Trife in "Kidulthood" was a resident of.
The costumes of the Prison Guards are the uniforms of Prison Guards in Britain during the 1970's and 1980's. In British Social Realist films the costumes are often existing clothing that is common in Britain, although the Prisoner Guard uniform is not common attire the costume accurately represent what British Prison Officers would wear and therefore adds realism and verisimilitude to the film that British Social Realist films often try to capture.
Camera: The camera is often left in a still position watching what occurs on screen and never moving within a shot. This makes the audience feel like a spectator. In British Social Realist films I have begun to notice that the camera work is either majorly hand held to make the film have a documentary like feel to it or it usually has a fixed camera most of the time that makes the audience feel like a spectator to the film. Both camera techniques help the audience feel like they're in the world of the film. The camera positioning in the shots is often done to mimic that of CCTV which adds to the realism of the film even though the picture quality of the camera never changes. The CCTV style layed out shots lets the film benefit from the feeling once again that audience is a spectator in the world of the film.
Editing: Fades are used to show large passings of time at the beginning of the opening, as the scene progresses jump cuts are used to also show passings of time but these passings of time are much shorter than those that should have occurred when fades are used. Cutaways are used to show more of the prison and that the guards are getting ready to subdue Bronson.
The cutaways also effectively show more of the location and make it more obvious that the current location is a prison by showing hallways. Just before the fight starts there are even more jump cuts, the audience can connote from the jump that this is possibly the state of mind the character Bronson is in.
Quick cuts were used when the fight began this allows the audience to denote speed and adrenaline pumping in the speed of the cuts while once Bronson is subdued the quick cuts stop to let the audience denote the speed and adrenaline that was once present before is no longer present.
The idea of making the audience feel the way the characters are feeling is common in British Social realist films because it makes the audience care about the characters and makes the audience more socially invested.Fades were also used in "This Is England" to show Combo's frame of mind after injuring the character Milky.
"You Kill Me, You Kill Me And Kill me..."
Dialogue:The little dialogue there is in the opening comes from a short narration by the lead character Charles Bronson as he talks about how he believed he was destined for greater things. The narration is a bridge to a scene of Bronson gettng prepared to fight some Prison Guards, this short narration and bridge gives the audience the a small insight into what the story will be about before leading into a flashback. There is not much sound other than the soundtrack that is playing. This may sound negative but it is in fact done to it's advantage.
The lack of dialogue and major sound means that the audience has to pay even more attention so it grabs the audiences attention almost immediately. The music playing at first starts eerie and sinister which adds to the verisimilitude that the cinematography has already set however once Bronson begins attacking the Prison Guards the music heavily contrasts what you see on screen by the tone of the music, the dramatic irony almost represents how Bronson feels when he fights as the music retains it's chilling lyrics but takes a transition from dark and serious to a more upbeat tone.
The song that plays is "The Walker Brothers- The Electrician". The films use of existing music is very typical of British Social Realist films because they often use existing music rather than getting their own composer in, however sometimes they don't have a soundtrack at all.
Sub genre and how it's explored: The sub genre of the film is Biographical. They explore this by first having a narration by the character Charles Bronson on whom the film is named and based upon. The sub genre is further explored by having familiar locations with the character Bronson explored almost immediately in the opening such as the solitary confinement chamber. This gives the film historical accuracy that a biographical film would require. The film also has actor Tom Hardy adept the mannerism and appearance of Charles Bronson, this makes the film feel realistic and accurate to the real life events that involved Charles Bronson.What impact has this research had on the development of your ideas?: This research has helped my development of my ideas because I have now began to consider the effectiveness of sound and what it can be used for. I've also realised that my actors will have to look like the characters they're playing and be believable because British Social realism films are all about realism if my actors don't appear like who they say they're playing for example a drug dealer or someone suffering from abuse the film loses the element to draw the audience into the world which the film so heavily requires on. I must take into account the realism of the film from all areas whether that be location, actors it must seem real. I have also learnt that even though my film is British Social realism I can still be stylistic with my camera techniques and style of editing.
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