This document discusses the distribution, exhibition, and consumption of social realism films in the UK. It notes that many distributors of social realism films are non-profit organizations focused on the aesthetics of film rather than profit. Exhibition of these films is done through arthouse cinemas like Arnolfini and Cornerhouse that cater to sophisticated audiences through simple, calming designs on their websites. Reviews of social realism films on sites like IMDb tend to be more precise and critical from viewers familiar with the genre, while reviews on LoveFilm can be harsh and ignorant from mainstream audiences unfamiliar with the artistic elements of the films.

1. TARGET AUDIENCE
RESEARCH
OBJECTIVE 1
Distribution, Exhibition &
Consumption

2. DISTRIBUTION
The station is owned and
operated by ITV plc under
the licensee of ITV
Broadcasting Limited.
Carlton has been branded
on air as 'ITV1' since 28
October 2002, and as 'ITV'
since 14 January 2013.
The Iron
Petticoat
Made In Britain
Carlton
Video
Dealers
The Guinea-Pig

3. Artificial Eye
Fish Tank
British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable
organisation set up to encourage the
development of the arts of film, television and
the moving image throughout the UK.
The Beat That My
Heart Skipped
BFI
Love Like Poison
Artificial Eye is a British film
distributor, specialising in foreignlanguage and art house films for
cinema and home entertainment
Kes
Above Us The
Earth
Get Carter
Under The Skin
Many of the distributers of social realism films are non profit companies and
organisations that care little for profit and more on the aesthetics of the film.
Their purpose is to spread the artistry of film

4. PROMOTION AND PUBLICITY
“ASTONISHING” “Electrifying
Performance” – terminology not
typically used for „Blockbuster‟
films; aiming for sophisticated
audiences open to different
views/opinions and are not easily
offended – the nazi symbal tattoo.
Blurred and colourless background
indicates that the main focus is in
fact the character and not his
story/location, grey suggests a
serious tone.

5. The poster here is clustered with colour and action, the
typography is bold and red meaning that it is trying to get your
attention immediately. There is near to no text apart from the
actors, title and copy rights leaving this poster to have very
simplistic lexis and syntax.
On the other hand, this poster is promoting itself
to a entirely different audience. The typography
is most certainly neisch due to the terminology
used, “Poignant” and “Sensitively buzzes”, it is
unlikely that anyone other than it‟s intended
audience would understand this use of lexis.
There are many reviews from critics and film
festival awards the film has won, thus showing
that respected film critics have seen the film and
found it successful; these film critics, such as
Sight and Sound, may have an acquired taste in
filmography and therefore their reviews may not
apply to, say, a mainstream audience hence why
this poster is considered more social realism
than anything else.

6. ADVERTISEMENT
Films targeted for mainstream consumers would
have themselves advertised inside a gossip
magazine, or on every advert break in a program,
they‟d be seen on buses and on large billboards
etc. They can do this because they have a much
larger budget than most social realism films and
their target is anyone they can attract because of
their popular features/a list stars/plot.
Empire is also a major multiplex cinema company
and shows adverts and films that put the most
„bums on seats‟. Companies such as Empire care
little for the artistry of film but more on how they
can make money from it.

7. The advertisement of a social realism film is much different in the
sense that although they have a much smaller advertising
budget, they have a particular audience demographic who would
appreciate the aesthetics of the film much more than a
mainstream audience. These audiences tend to be, in some
way, more sophisticated so would not be looking in gossip
magazines nor watching mainstream television programs.
Sight and Sound magazine is a respected article funded by the
BFI so those who are a fan of BFI may begin reading Sight and
Sound, then they may subscribe to a magazine/website of this
type to keep up to date about any new „sophisticated‟ film
releases.
Sight and sound has been publically criticised for its “snobbish”
reviews, which means that they have an acquired taste for films
and movies. Being a very harsh critical magazine means that
they also have a particular audience that may value their
opinions and reviews.

8. REGISTER/LEXIS/SYNTAX
When advertising for a movie, the syntax used when advertising/reviewing
can greatly define the type of film.
Generally, if the terminology is quite simplistic and describes more on what
happens in the film rather than the meanings in it, it usually signifies that the
film has little depth and may be simple so every audience has the capability
to understand it.
Social realism advertising mostly involve a lot of media terms and phrases as
the audience viewing them has a better understanding of these terms than
most. There are usually awards/nominations on posters/dvd covers to signify
that their effort was recognised by respected critics and audiences.

9. EXHIBITION AND
CONSUMPTION

10. ARNOLFINI
The Arnolfini is not just a social realism cinema but
one supporting the arts; it is a neisch cinema. The
layout of its website clearly shows that it is catering
for a certain taste due to its aesthetically peaceful
design. The plain white wash background and
condensed information is simple yet pure,
compared to a main stream site of young taste that
results in colour, action and cluster of stuff-stuffstuff and more stuff.
The inclusion of a calendar suggests that Arnolfini
aims to attract students as their lives tend to be
busy. The slideshow featured on the first home
page has no sudden popup videos but a slow
calming slideshow which give you a choice
whether to interact with it or not.
There are no distractions, such as adverts, but
it purely focuses on drawing attention to
what‟s important; the galleries, bookshops and
reading room are features which, say a
teenager, would be uninterested in as well as
the lexis, like “delve”, are complex phrases for
the well informed and educated audience that
Anolfini applies to.

11. However, there is a feature in the top right hand
Cornerhouse is indeed very similar to Arnolfini; there is corner which allows the user to share anything via
the white pure zen background, the typography is
mainstream social networking sites. Cornerhouse are
simplistic, there is a calming slideshow which gives
attempting to become more popoular by using this
you choice as well as the simple sub headings and a
mainstream marketing scheme.
calendar designed specifically for busy people e.g
students.
The films exhibited by Cornerhouse are said by actual
Cornerhouse to be the workings of artists who have
purely made the films for the artistic eye; not
everybody has the capability to see the art within so
this shows that the website as well as Cornerhouse
itself have designed themselves for a specific
audience. There is also a feature in which you can sign
up to a newsletter, giving the audience a chance to
develop a closer relationship with Cornerhouse.

12. There is a feature where you can read or write movie reviews
once you‟ve gotten onto the film title you wanted. Anybody and
everybody can be a critic – its an opinion free-for-all. There is not
a feature to search up any specific genre of film which is a major
debunk since any film fan may not know what film title or tv series
to watch; if you do not know the film title then there is no chance
of you being able to find it easily other than hours of scrolling. The
film reviews on a social realism film , if you find one, are written by
anyone so may be an unjust and not truly analytical view – you
may not be able to trust it as they may not be familiar with certain
media aspects and social realism concepts that make the film
great but they perceive as “boring”.
Although LoveFilm is dedicated for all
film lovers, it markets itself as mostly a
mainstream movie/tv distributor; the
adverts shown on t.v, radio etc are that
of the mainstream culture. The
homepage for their website is clustered
with various movie choices, giving the
user little time to think about what it is
they really want to watch.

13. Although lovefilm and IMDb are partnered, IMDb is a
source of information about the making of the movie, the
actors themselves, box office, budget, profit etc rather
than a viewing site itself. There are multiple playlists of
trailers listed by their genre and a feature to create your
own watch list for later. Each heading contains even more
subheadings so the user is able to obtain a dense amount
of detail on what or whomever they‟re researching or
interested in.
The advertisement of the films are a mixture of both
mainstream and less known but critically successful films.
The website is full of reviews and opinions yet the reviews
are much more precise and critical rather than LoveFilms
viewers who may have misunderstood the film and
therefore call it “rubbish”.
This shows that the main users of this website are those
seeking research about the ins and outs of a film as they
may be a student or even an artist wanting to create a
piece of media.

14. KES – IMDB FILM REVIEW
The viewer clearly understood the film and the reference to
Loach as “his best film” shows that this viewer has
experienced many other of Ken Loach‟s creations.
The lexis used shows that the viewers who review on IMDb
are more sophisticated than LoveFilm, supporting the fact that
IMDb is a more reliable site for distribution and reviews.

15. FISH TANK REVIEW LOVEFILM
Although respectable film critics
congratulated Fish Tank for it‟s incredible
acting and moving address of issues, the
majority of the audience who have viewed
this on Love Film are very harsh and appear
to be quite ignorant, “Pass me the pills” one
responds.
The responses are unfair because it is these
public voices that diminish the artistic value
of a film because they are unaware of the
critical components which build social realism
films.