Textual Analysis of 'This Is England' (Shane Meadows, 2006)

Storyline
From the first few minutes of the opening credits, a sense of what the storyline may entail is given. This is displayed through the selection of short clips of different events that happened and are recognisable from the era that the film is set in. Frequently featured are clips that centre around the protests/riots, some racism and political figures. This would suggest that the storyline will follow the struggles in society at the time the film was set in (1983).

Enigma Codes

• Will the characters be involved in a riot?
• When will we get introduced to the main characters?
• Which side of the riots will the characters be on?

Characters?
We aren't introduced to the characters during the opening minutes and therefore can't make a judgement on their characteristics. However we can assume from the opening credits that the characters will be a part of the riots or the youth sub-culture group called 'skinheads'.

Mise-En-Scene
Location: shows run-down, graffitied garages/walls/council flat areas; suggests the charaters are working class.
Lighting: natural lighting because all clips used were filmed during the time that the events accured.
Costume: Typical clothing worn during the 80's

Cinematography

• Long shots are used to show the clothing worn to inform the audience of the era that the film is set in.
• At times the camera unstable in it movements as though it's hand-held. As well as the pixel/quality of the film clips are poor, this suggests most of the clips were filmed by real people on their own cameras.
• Panning movement of the camera provides a wider view of what is happening in the events shown.

Editing

• For the first 30 seconds the opening credits are inter-layed, for the rest of the credits the are super-imposed over the clips of video.
• The film clips are cut from one to the other, as if made by someone during that time to give the audience a feel of what life was like back then.

Sounds
The only sounds made are non-diegetic. A song is played throughout the whole of the opening credits, ('54-46 That's My Number' by Toots & the Maytals). The volume of the track increases as the credits progress.

Titles
Font: a majority of the credits are in capital letters and vary in size. All is easy to read, even though the font is worn out slightly in places of the text, it is to represent the era in which it is set.
Colour: all of the font is in white which stands out among the films clips used. This can also stand for the innocence of a main character and the worn out areas of the text shows the negative influence of the situation on the youth of England at the time.
Positioning: opening credits are varied in their position on the screen.