How does director Shane Meadows use micro elements to create meanings effectively?

sound – The film begins with a montage of British culture where they showcase things like sports, war, royals, British citizens, machines, crowds, violence, streets etc. The music played is 54-46 Was My Number – Toots and The Maytals. I think this music is untypical of the British culture as it’s reggae and used more in hot countries rather than rainy and cold England.

editing – The simple editing of the film creates a realistic and classic kind and means the film appears with more of a sense of verisimilitude because of the raw editing. The film is very realistic as the editing is just like filming a group on a day out, so the editing stays the same most of the film. It gives a documentary footage appearance. The main clip that was edited was the beginning montage.

mise en scene – The filming location was in Nottingham and the film itself was set in a Nottingham council estate in the 1980s. The town is a classic working class/lower-middle class neighbourhood. This is represented by the characters clothes, haircuts and lack of financial stability to be able to afford clothes e.g. when Shaun is joining the group and needs clothes to suit the group.

cinematography – close ups are used throughout the film to showcase the actors facial expressions during the scenes and wide shots of location views to enhance the theme of poverty and to show group violence throughout.