How important is location to the films you have studied for this topic?
(Get Carter)

Key location is ideal for any movie with any genre. Location sets the scene and the rest of the film and is what supports and sustains the whole film. Location is not only the setting but the time, day and age as well. Location can create deep meaning and also question the audience which creates over all interest in the film.

Get carter (1971), directed by Mike Hodges and starring Michael Caine as "Jack Carter", talks about a British gangster from London travelling to Newcastle to find out what really happened at the time of his brother's death. The film opens up on a wide shot of Jack Carter gazing outside a window of what appears to be a luxurious  apartment. This directly gives the audience the impression that London is a high society place filled with luxurious apartments and as Jack Carter is dressed in a well tailored suit, it suggests that people from London are pretty wealthy as well. As the scene goes on we see the interior of the apartment, the mis-en-scene reinforces the wealth of London as we get a close up of Jack pouring scotch into a crystal glass from a crystal bottle. The chosen materials and props show the audience that the protagonist is wealthy and that London is a wealthy city meaning that it is also Jack's comfort zone and if he is taken away from London, he is out of his comfort zone.

The first impression of Newcastle on the other hand is that its a city filled with poverty, violence and grittiness as we get several establishing shots of the industrial sceneries in Newcastle. Also the colours in the shots are much more grey and bland as its gives the audience a negative atmosphere but could also symbolise the ugliness and grit of Newcastle. As jack enters the house where he is staying, he talks to the landlady, we get a low angled shot of the two walking up the stairs. As she is the first woman from Newcastle we have met in the film and the way she is introduced is through her backside shows how men thought about women in the late 60s and early 70s. The house were he is staying is as gritty as the outside of Newcastle as the walls are of a dirty grey with ripped wallpaper and tight small rooms, this shows the audience the vast difference in economy north England has rather than in south as poverty affects most charcters in film.

Although criminals in the film such as Kinnear have advantages and a certain amount of wealth that other characters don't in the film. The film shows us that although set in a poor place, the criminals and gangsters with the money are still able to live with luxury  and differently than the orthodox working class. Kinnear owns a massive mansion, american style cars and has big parties, which shows the audience that in the north you have to break the law to get what you want and to live a single inch of luxury. Woman again are seen as trophies and objects as they are ordered to fetch drinks by their gangster boyfriend which refers back to the time this film was made and how women were seen and portrayed in films and in real life up north. 

The final scene were Jack chases Eric through the muddy dirty wasteland of a beach really shows the audience what north of England really is. As seasides and beaches usually symbolise happiness and summer, in Get carter it symbolises the end, death, and ugliness as the beach is filled with rubbish, industrial items and is covered in trash and muddy dirty sand. The audience understand that Jack really is in a hell hole as he has to run through mud in the fake beach. Also ironically the two men both wear fine suits which contrast the unattractive wasteland beach they are running through. The scene uses a lot of establishing shots to show the enormity of the dirty seaside but also to show the never ending leading grey sea which symbolises the never ending search that Jack has but is now about to end. The scene also uses a lot of shots of the sea water rolling in to refer back to how his brother was killed and left in the water. But it could also refer to the last bit of nature as something bad is about to happen. The shots of the sea is also a juxtoposition of the two men wanting to kill eachother as they run through a peacfeful yet dirty beach. 

Overall location is important in the film chosen as it signifies meaning and shows the audience the context of time and setting of the film. It also lets out different styles of atmospheres and feelings and emotions for the audience.