Urban drama film research

The first shot you see in the Kidulthhod trailer is a a production company logo and brand name.

The reason for this is to highlight to the audience who is making the film

Genre• The genre of the film is urban drama and this is because it’s a drama film set in a an

urban location with young people and urban dramas nearly always feature young people.

• The clothing that the characters are wearing in the trailer uphold the films genre, such as the hats and hoodies. Urban dramas can also be violent and be based around gangs and in this trailer there were knifes, guns and baseball bats. Aswell as this there was a guy rapping in the background. Slang was also used and this is a common convention of urban dramas.

• Admittedly the typography isn’t associated with the drama as the text was thick and bold.

• Titles and typography were not used to link the story together. Only three times during the trailer were titles used and this was at the start of the trailer and about a third of the way in and also at the end to highlight and make clear when the film was released.

• The films main character trythe is often shown with his hood up or with a weapon of some sort and this makes the audience feel that he will take part in crime throughout the film.

Narrative and characters

• There were a few significant moments shown in the trailer such as the part where they are beating the man up and this makes him an enemy to them and this is quite significant in the context of the story.

• All of the main characters were put in the trailer and no characters that didn’t need to be in the trailer weren’t in the trailer. Trythe was probably afforded most screen time as he is the main character.

• Noel Clarkes character was also afforded a lot of screen time because he is the antagonist

• The characters are easily identifiable because everyone is against the antagonist and Trythe and his friends can be seen beating him up so it is very clear that he is antagonist.

• The trailer I have analysed is linear because it builds up towards a part of the film which is at the end. This is a common convention of film trailers.

• Information about the plot and characters is given through fast editing and quick cuts which show a montage of the films main events and characters. I feel this is a good way of highlighting the events because it is very clear.

• The enigmas in the trailer are ‘who will die because it is clear to the audience that someone will die because the trailer is full of violence and there are many weapons shown in the trailer and therforethe audience is inferring that someone will die and this is a common convention of urban dramas.

• The parts of the plot that are left unanswered is what will happen towards the end of the film and who will die. Because right at the end of the trailer there is there is a long shot of Noel Clarkes character swinging a baseball bat.

• There is no evidence of the films accolades and reviews this means the film makers are not adhering to common trailer practise as there is usually at least a small amount of accolades and reviews.

The reason for the trailer not having any accolades or reviews of the film is because there the film was very low budget and maybe it wasn’t well received by people and therefore it makes little sense to put bad reviews of a film in the trailer because this creates negatives publicity.

Editing and Camera shots

• The trailer uses montage editing which allows filmmakers to fit a large chunk of the film into the trailer but condensed enough that it is just a short 2 minute and 7 second sequence. Drama is achieved through a number of close ups on main characters to show there reactions to certain things.

• There wasn’t much evidence of camera movement because many shots were in different scenes.

• Trythe the main character is highlighted through some obscure shots, such as the one below and this is to give more of a presence in the trailer and to increase his importance.

• Many dark colours are used in the clip because many bad things happen in the clip. It wouldn’t make sense to put in bright colours to portray bad things.

Sound

• A sound bridge is used throughout the whole clip as there is soundtrack which is played through the entirety of the clip. The soundtrack is a rap. Rap music is often associated with urban dramas. This use of soundtrack helps to reinforce the urban drama genre.

• There isn’t a voice over used in the clip as the film makers are trying to let the quick cuts and dialogue show the story and promote the film

Conclusion

• Overall the film trailer I have analysed uses many of the typical trailer conventions. It is also very clear which genre the film is and this is because of the iconography, props and sound used in the clip. It is also very clear which characters are against each other and which aren’t and also the story is very easy to follow because of the use of montage editing and short and snappy shots.