A textual analysis of This is England

1. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THIS IS ENGLAND
Emilia Waterhouse, Jack Archer
And Ed Cefai

2. SHOT TYPES
The medium Long shot of a number
of men clothed in the same way and
with a vey similar appearance
suggests the movements of groups
and common conformism in the 80s.
The fact that the shots are long shots
connotes that there were many
people involved.
There are 7 Long shots of violence. The numerous
shots convey that social unrest was a significant
problem of the 80s because most images were
simply displayed once.
There are two shots of the military, one
is a very long shot and one is a medium
long shot. There are two, amongst
various other shots the military shot is
repeated, which conveys the importance
of the military. Furthermore the very long
shot and medium long shot conveys not
only the size or the military but also that
the people are important as individuals.
Establishing shots of businesses and industrialisation.
The fact these shots are establishing shots connotes
that this was a key part of the 1980s. There are
multiple shots of this, which reinforces this idea.

3. CAMERA MOVEMENT
The camera tracks right and back during an
establishing shot of a council housing estate.
The tracking backwards reveals more of the
housing, which conveys that there is a large
amount of it, the same is done by the tracking
right because the housing continues. This
connotes that in the 80s many people had little
money and lived in council houses.
Furthermore the housing is all the same, which
reinforces the idea of conformism in the 80s
being common.
The track in and tilt down of the camera gains
the viewers attention and draws it into a specific
object, in this case a rubik’s cube, thereby
conveying that this was a popular item of the
80s.

4. EDITING
The opening sequence is constructed of various scenes with
a regular pace of cutting used to move from one scene to
another. The regular cuts connote that each scene has the
same relevance and the same importance. For this reason it
is connoted that each of these shots is something that is part
of England and they are each being used to display what
England is.

5. MUSIC
There is a score during the opening sequence of
this is England. 54-46 was my number by Toots
and Maytals is played. This is a representation of
the popular music of the 1980s, which was
Jamaican and Indian music.
The score is upbeat and positive and therefore
draws the various scenes together. However it is
contrapuntal with the numerous scenes of
violence, which again connotes that violence and
social unrest was common in the 1980s.