Ken Loach

As part of research into British drama, I looked further into one of the genre's most iconic directors; Ken Loach. Currently on YouTube, users are able to watch some of Ken Loach's films in full length for free as well as view exclusive trailers and interviews with the director. Here is a shot of the YouTube channel;

Via this website I chose to watch Cathy Come Home which is a social realism film directed by Loach based on the issue of homelessness. It tells the story of Cathy who is constantly moving from place to place to a find a home because she lost her own. Although the movie never depicts her actually living on the streets like how we would like our own teaser to do, here are some shots which I thought were still effective;

I found the lighting in this effective as it makes it appear as if Cathy is all alone is the dark. This represents her loneliness and the struggle with the dark period in her life as she seems have hit rock bottom in the film. This is also shown through the look of unhappiness on her face. Also the high positioning of her collar shows how cold she is.

By positioning the characters in the bottom left of the shot it makes the building appear bigger and over whelming. This may represents how overwhelming it is to afford a property in 1960s Britain. The building also appears run down and old because of the boarded up window and door. This presents that even if the couple in the bottom were to finally own a home their life may not be necessarily better.

I particularly like the background to this shot as it brilliantly captures the slum environment Cathy and her children have been forced to live in. It is also very effective when in comparison to the high quality look of her coat as this demonstrates how homelessness can happen to any class of person instead of it being typically the working class.

This shot highlights the isolation of Cathy's character. This is done through positioning her in the centre with nobody around apart from her children. This creates empty space within the shot which adds to the isolated atmosphere. Also the isolation is enhanced because of the use of a high angle shot which makes the audience look down on her from a distance.

By looking at Cathy Comes Home I have discovered some interesting shots which could be incorporated in our own teaser trailer. I have enjoyed Ken Loach's style of directing as he uses lots of short but significant scenes within his films to represent along time passing by but whilst sustaining the audience's attention. We should consider this in our own teaser trailer as we found as a group social realism is quite slow paced but the use of several short shot will make it seem quicker.