Urban Films

Adulthood (Noel Clarke, 2008) - Starring Adam Deacon, Nathan Constance, Ben Drew

Kidulthood (Menhaj Huda, 2006) - Starring Ami Ameen,Red Madrell, Noel Clarke.

Bullet Boy (Saul Dibb, 2004) - Starring Ashley Walters, Luke Fraser, Leon Black

Boyz N The Hood (John Singleton, 1991) - Starring Hudhail Al-Amir, Lloyd Avery II, Angela Bassett

Poetic Justice (John Singleton,1993) - Starring Janet Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Khandi Alexander

Beat Street (Stan Lathan, 1984) - Starring Rae Dawn, Guy Davis, Jon Chardiet

Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (Jim Sheridan, 2005) - Starring 50 Cent, Joy Bryant, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje


Written And Posted By Tatiana

Bullet Boy Opening Analysis

Bullet Boy is the debut feature by British writer-director Saul Dibb. Though the story itself is a familiar one, the film distinguishes itself through confident direction and strong performances from its two leads.
Set in East London, the film stars Ashley Walters (also known as So Solid Crew’s Asher D) as Ricky, a young black man fresh out of a young offender’s institute. Though determined to go straight, Ricky doesn’t even make it home before he’s in trouble again, thanks to his best friend Wisdom (Leon Black) and a confrontation with a local rude boy that leads to a series of escalating incidents.
Shot in and around Hackney, the film makes good use of its locations. In addition, Dibb and co-writer Catherine Johnson have a good ear for dialogue and their well written script gives Bullet Boy an authentic London feel. It also has a decent soundtrack

Narrative - the narrative of Bullet boy is shown in a very basic manner through voice over’s and texts shown throughout the trailer to back up and go with the voice over’s.
The narrative moment in the trailer in my view was the words "one shot" displayed and Ashley Walters shown with a gun to go with the text.
The trailer shows that the film uses Prop’s theory as you can identify Ashley Walters as the hero, his lover to be the princess, his mum to be the diner,
His friend to be the helper and the police to be the villains.
They also have used binarry opposition in the trailer by showing a child with a gun in several scenes.

Setting - This film is set in London and this can be seen through the scenes during the trailer, also during the trailer they show the awards won or nominated for the film and the awards are British.

Characters - all characters in the trailers are shown in tense scenes and no characters are shown in any shape or form happy or with nothing to worry about.
Ashley Walters is clearly shown as the main character as most the trailer is revolved around him and his fight against avoiding the police.
Other character roles in the film aren’t shown as of more importance as Ashley Walters although the child shown with the gun really gets the audience’s attention as this is something nobody wants to see.

Iconography - In the trailer I think the gun is used to link to the title of the film "bullet boy". The gun is clearly a major factor in the film and the trailers revolves around this and the title suggests so does the film.


Written And Posted By Tatiana

Kidulthood Opening Analysis

Set in the area of Inner West London, Kidulthood is a 2006 British drama film which tells the story of three friends who quickly realise that life comes at a price and that it is not to be taken granted for. Kidulthood is based on a group of West London school kids who react in different ways to the suicide of a classmate. It focuses around the character "Trifle" who is caught between his pregnant ex-girlfriend (Alisa) and gun running for his malevolent uncle. Then there's Trifle’s mates (Jay and Moony), spoiling for a fight with the neighbourhood bully (Sam).
Costumes - The costumes that are worn in the film as you can see from the trailer are mainly hooded clothing, tracksuits and trainers, this represents today's youth in a huge way as many teenagers in today's society wear these sorts of clothes. With many of the characters wearing hoods, it represents the major issue of crime within today's youth as many teenagers wear hooded pieces of clothing such as jackets and jumpers to cover their faces when committing a crime such as shop-lifting of which you may be able to see within the trailer.

Lighting - There isn't very much use of lighting within the trailer, but from what I could see, during the parts where crime or violence is taking place, for example, when Trifle is getting beaten up the lighting is very dark and dim whereas during the parts where they are outside in the city, the lighting seems to be very dim which symbolises the darkness of the film and what is going on. Right at the beginning of the trailer it shows a party taking place where extra lighting has been added to show the excitement of being in that sort of environment.

Actors - Even though Kidulthood will mainly appeal to those of a young age group, it could possibly appeal to those of the older generation due to the actors and actresses. Noel Clarke who is the writer and plays the character of "Sam" also stars in Doctor Who playing the character of "Mickey Smith". The way in which the film will be able to attract those of an older generation is if they like the way in which Clarke is able to adapt to his characters and how well he plays them

Props - Throughout the trailer you see that there are a lot of props being used, especially during the clips where violence is taking place, during these clips there are guns and baseball bats being used showing that even the easiest of things can be used as weapons, it also raises the awareness of the crime that is happening among teenagers in today's society where a lot of them are being attacked and even killed.

Setting - The setting is based in the deprived areas of Ladbroke Grove and Latimer Road where crime is most common and violence seems to take place more than anywhere else
Due to the portrayal of teenagers within this film, it seems that a lot of people who watch this trailer may be able to develop their own opinions of what they think teenagers in today's society are like based on the language in which they speak. There seems to be a lot of "ghetto" language used within the trailer, Kidult HOOD is filled with a lot of modern slang which greatly characterizes today's youth.
...Appeal...
The target audience for this film is mainly aimed at people aged between 15-24, the film itself attempts to represent a serious number of issues of what some teenagers growing up in today's society have to go through; this explains why so many people who are in this age group may watch it. There is also a very realistic approach within this film as most of the actors and actresses are within this age group and therefore know what others their age go through.
Sound...
The mood of the film is set within the trailer based on the music played. Throughout the trailer, the music is very upbeat which keeps the audience engaged and focused, added to the music are sound effects which also keep the audience engaged as it not only shows the level of violence within the film but also a view into what the film is about and what kind of film it is.
Camera shots
A variety of shots are used within the trailer; close up camera shots are used to provide a dramatic emphasis, highlighting characters' expressions which gives a sense into what will happen within the film based on their emotions and how they are feeling. Long range shots have been used to show viewers the environment and surroundings of which the characters are brought up in.


Written And Posted By Hind and Tatiana

Preliminary Task

Posted by Tatiana