Documentary realism or Stylised set-ups?

THIS IS ENGLAND (2006)

Stylised set-ups?

Near the beginning of the narrative, our young character, Shaun, goes to the shops before going to school – It’s the last day of term. This scene begins with a long shot of the shop, the camera is static but shakes very slightly, this adds to the cinematography style that the director has throughout the film. In this scene and Shaun walks on from the left side of the frame into the door in the centre of the screen, this is then repeated later as he exits the shop and goes to the right of the frame. In this scene, Shaun looks small compared to the rest of the scene. This is the camera being used to reinforce the running theme through the film - Shaun being small compared to everything, this constantly shows the loneliness that Shaun is experiencing at this point in the narrative. From Smell looking about 20 and him looking 10, to the huge jelly sweets he eats in a later scene, he is constantly seen as small and the camera shows us this. Anther thing I noticed in this scene, that continues through the film, is that Shaun is filmed at a slight high angle, meaning that the floor is almost always visible in the background, where as this doesn't happen with other characters. This happens in the shop scene as well.