Research Into Similar Products - Kidulthood

 Kidulthood is an urban youth drama set in South London. We watched this film and ones similar to it to look for conventions and see how the directors have used mise-en-scene, casting, language, shots, editing techniques, colour treatments, soundtracks and more. We notices that all the main characters were aged 15-21. This is a very stereotyped age group, especially in urban areas such as London. This is the same age range that we were going to base our main character on. They are stereotyped in the way that the speak, dress and act. They are portrayed as reckless delinquents with no care, this is shown by activities they do such as robbing, fighting, doing drugs, partying and more. These are all conventions and representations of the bad side of youth culture seen in all media
including newspapers and TV.

 The language they use is very specific to the social group they come from. Gang culture in cities in England use a lot of slang like 'blud', 'safe', 'yo', 'bredrin' etc. This is very typical and an audience can instantly associate these people with gang culture by the way the speak. This is a convention we will have to use in order to portray our characters realistically and believably. Another association made is by the clothes they wear. Most usually tracksuits, trainers and hats convey an urban youth, sporting brands such as Nike and Adidas. However, they are also seen wearing jeans and hoodies.

Youth urban dramas, or most programmes and films aimed at younger audiences almost always contain the same or similar themes and issues. These include violence, drugs, bullying, pregnancy, sex, partie and crime. Kidulthood doesn't fall short on any of these, but as we are doing a short film, we will have to pick a few of these themes and concentrate on them.