Adulthood Textual Analysis.

Is this the ideal life for any teenager on their first steps towards their journey of Adulthood? Just finished six years of prison after murdering the protagonist Trife, Sam is attempting to begin to pursue his life when he finds that maybe his troubles have only just begun. He finds out that Trife’s close companions have grown up and are still holding a grudge against him. But with his mother and brother at risk by his perilous life, he decides to try and sort things out; however will it lead to another protagonist's death? A HORRIFYINGLY INTRIGUING MOVIE, A REALISTIC URBAN DRAMA.

During the beginning of the movie ‘Adulthood’ a wide shot was used to capture a couple and two further boys. All characters are facing the camera, looking at a car that had just parked up ahead. Behind these four characters we see heaps of people dancing in the background which instantly illustrates to the audience that they are at a party, rave or club. Additionally, with the non-diegetic sound used (party music) we are assured that this is some sort of party. We can hear lots of diegetic sounds of people talking and laughing and of course the conversation that is taking place with the main focused characters in this shot. Arguably the director Menhaj Huda used this wide shot in order to place these characters in some relation to their surroundings. Additionally it’s been used to represent today’s stereotypical youth. The wide shot keeps in view the setting and people and their costumes, which gives the audience an idea what these characters are like, they’re up late at night partying with heaps of people, some/ most of which they don’t know. It’s not a comforting image for certain types of audiences such as parents or older people in age; however for the younger audience this would be intriguing. Therefore it is clear that the intended audience for this film would be youths. They would enjoy viewing the type of life they lead themselves. However teenagers are not so aware that their choice of life could lead to bad consequences and this film introduces this to them. Maybe it will effect what youths do, perhaps leading to less teenage crimes in the world? You never know.

The first view we get of any of the characters is introduced to us by a high angle. We see a huge group of girls and boys dancing together at some sort of party. We hear blended sounds consisting of diegetic and non-diegetic; laughter, talking and with added music. This high angle may have been used to portray these characters as vulnerable and powerless. Arguably this image of them is juxtaposed with the choreography these characters use to dance with, portraying them as confident, a sign of power and self esteem. This angle could have been used to represent all these people as a group and not individuals; they reinforce the stereotypes of teenagers in general negatively. However because this is the first view we get of these characters, we do not know anything about them and the director may have used this angle to mislead the audience.

In the film Huda uses a camera movement called tracking. We see a girl who’s dressed masculine-like, with dull colours perhaps portraying that her life is empty and meaningless. As aforesaid we hear a mixture of sounds, people’s laughter and the background music. The camera is tracking a girl at a medium shot length perhaps to get a closer look at this character, maybe indicating that this is one of the main characters involved in the movie. This movement could have been used to show how this character represents her surroundings involving today’s youth. She reinforces the stereotypes of teenagers connoting the influences young people have on each other which are strong. One possible effect for the audience might be to create pure suspense as we start to ask, who is this girl, and why is the camera focused on her? We start to wonder what will happen next.

A really good piece of editing that was used in Adulthood: split screening. We see a split screen of two different moving images happening at the same time and place. One possible effect on the audience would be that it causes tension and excitement as the split screens focus on certain characters. Arguably this may be evoking that these characters are the ones to look for in the rest of the film. The director Menhuj Huda may have chose to use this piece of editing in order to reinforce the idea of stereotypes of todays youth by using certain moving images - some of which are sexually intimate and exposing, representing the negatively of it all. It also comes to a shock to the older audience as it's the first impressions we get of the characters which count.

The costume used in the opening scene is usually linked with the streets. It's very urban like which again reinforces the idea of stereotypical youths as it represents the immaturity they still hold even though they are grown into adulthood. My group is using a similar theme for our film which is urban realism and I really liked the idea of using similar types of costumes to reflect on our characters personalities in our opening film.

I was really fascinated by the editing consisting of wipes, split screen etc. I think it creates an exciting feeling to the audience especially as it was used to start the movie with as it brings the audience in from the start. we will definitely use the the types of editing in our opening sequence as it is vital that this beginning brings the audience rapped round it from the start.
There are certain props that caught my eye in the short clip. for example cigarettes reflect on their unhealthy characteristics as teenagers. I think it would be vital to include such props as it would reflect on the theme of urban realism.
By Rashaa Albani.