Kidulthood textual anlyisis

KIDULTHOOD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpNCyMYLqA


Kidulthood is a teenage movie directed by (Menhay Huda.)It's based on teenagers that live in London and the troubles that they face, which occurs all in one day. The first sequence of the movie we are introduced to a realistic location of a school playground portraying youths in the middle of their own activities. Youths is the central theme of the film. The characters are all introduced in the school playground, we see each of the characters socialising with their friends. From this, we as the audience can get a portrayed image of each character.

The setting of the first sequence being in a playground creates a verisimilitude image. As the sequence moves on we see the types of trouble each of the characters go through. For example, fights and bullying are two of the main issues we see in the first sequence. The first sequence creates a very urban vibe to the movie, which allows Young teenagers that go through hard times to relate to the narration. This is a great way they can reach their target audience and attract the ones that are unaware.

The use of camera shots, angles and movements are very effective in this first sequence. The following in my opinion captured a lot of the audiences attention:a close up on a boy playing football on the muddy grass with his school shoes, this close up shot can represent youth and can also show the audience what the school environment looks like. Its a low state unorganised school, this is obvious when we see the decayed grass with mud all over.

In terms of camera movements we see a tracking dolly movement at the beginning of the sequence when we are introduced to the characters. This puts the audience in a position where they feel a little uneasy because of the fast racing past of the movement.

We see a low angle shot of the girl that's being bullied, which represents the power of the characters, the girl being bullied is weak and helpless and the bully is shown as powerful through the low camera angle.

The use of mise en scene in the first sequence builds up the whole school environment. For example the school uniforms can make the audience foresee what age group or location they are about to preview, also the school uniforms been worn in a careless way which could suggest that the school students are careless as their appearance gives a first impression. This also is linked with the stereotypical image of teenagers to today's generation.

The use of editing creates a lot of tension in the school playground when a fight is about to start, this is were the fast pace editing comes in and builds tension, this makes the audience feel uneasy and also look forward to the narration.

However the use of sound from the beginning of the sequence builds tension and stress. The non-digectic soundtrack went really smooth with the narration and once again built tension and makes the audience focus and look forward to the storyline.
The conventions that make up this genre of the film include the following:
-Realistic storyline
-Troubled lifestyle
-Drama
-Tension
-The streets

This opening sequence of the movie has made a clear image to the genre of urban social realism. This makes me have a lot of ideas for my own opening sequence, e.g. the use of fast pace editing which I found very effective, it makes one very into the narration. This is a great use of editing and would be great if I use it on my opening sequence.
BY Rukhsar barakzai