Shane Meadows- British Social Reality Dramas

Shane Meadows grew up in Uttoxeter but moved to Nottingham when he was in his 20's. Nearly all of his films are set in Nottingham. His films recall the kitchen sink realism of filmmakers such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, with a post-modern twist. Shane Meadow's films have won a few awards such as the Douglas Hichkox award at the British Independent film Awards. A room for Romeo Brass and Twenty Four Seven were inspired by Shane Meadows youth. Shane Meadows has a relaxed directing style, encouraging the actors to ad lib in order to create a better sense of reality. He is known as one of the rising stars of British Cinema. Shane Meadows constantly delves into his background to make boisterous, jovial, sometimes poignant films that only tenuously resemble anything else in the cinema of British working-class realism.

Shane Meadows uses different techniques to depict a sense of realism to communicate to his audience. The idea of local settings and use of unknown actors obliges the audience to pay attention to the storyline whereas in modern films, were big stars are used, the majority of the audience watching it are there to watch the star on screen rather than pay attention to the movie itself. This is also a technique that our group is focusing on, as we want the audience to pay attention to our story. However, our category of audience may be different to that of Shane Meadows as our story is concerning a young woman that gets taken by a group of men and is abused. The focal point of our story (like many of Shane Meadows plots) was to show a social reality, a build up to scenes of obscene abuse. This depiction of reality is used to mount up the Thrill. With a combination of narrative and camerawork, our group can create a similar realism to Shane Meadows films. Shane Meadows illustrates that major effects and huge budgets are not needed to have a huge effect on your audience.