Friday, 15 October 2010

3. Genre and Trailer Research

 To create our Film Trailer we decided it would be important to carry out research into trailers of the similar genre. In order to establish the codes and conventions of a film trailer and for the genre of youth crime. We hope to look at and analyse shots, lighting, edits, mise en scene(location), audio and general themes including characters and story lines. We also hope to establish audiences these films target. We hope by achieving this we can create a trailer that reflects and portrays the genre correctly. 







                               KiDULTHOOD
KiDULTHOOD released in 2006 is a British drama. The film is about a group of 15 year old teenagers from a rough area in London. It follows the characters for 24 hours after been given the day off school due to a suicide of a class mate. It shows their struggle as they face the choice between a life of violence and crime and their strive for a better life.

The Daily Mirror described it as 'as potent as a shot of vodka before breakfast-harrowing, uncompromisingly bleak but thoughtful look at the anguish of the young and poor in Britain.'

 However,The Times said, 'What KiDULTHOOD does is take all the violence, sex and intoxication experience in a teenage year and condense it into a single day, because that's far more marketable than a film about 8 kids spending 4 hours sitting on swings wondering what to do.'



In terms of target audience, the film is rated at a Cert15 although it has been questioned whether the issues were too strong for this catagory due to the film containing scenes of a sexual nature, drug use, violence and bullying however in order for the film to be classed as a 15 it cannot promote these things and the BBCF felt that it neither promoted or encouraged drug use and violence was not the focal point of the film. The aim of the film is to deal with the issues that the teenage characters face which would naturally be targeted for a young audience. Therefore if the BBCF passed it as '18' this audience would have been denied access to this film and the lessons to be drawn from it. We therefore hope to look at how the trailer address and calls out to this audience.




Trailer Analysis


The trailer opens with ‘revolver entertainment’ an independent film distributor that operates in both London and LA.


It then fades into the white and black frame with ‘Kidulthood’ it is simple and not flashy reflecting the film, this fades and there is a series of sharp cut edits before leading to an establishing shot of the London city at sunrise. The cut edits include; dj decks, a girl smoking, a boy with a gun, and a boy rapping.
All the characters featured in the shots are young and wearing youthful clothing i.e. baseball caps and hoodies a very stereotypical look for teenagers, the mise en scene represents youth i.e. at a party. All the characters are also doing things that are themes of the film i.e. the gun represents violence, the girl smoking represents drugs etc. Each character is looking directly into the camera there fore this is a direct mode of address; an attempt to draw in and stimulate engagement with the targeted audience. All of these things are a process of interpellation and attract and address their teenage audience and within the first 5 seconds of the trailer the audience are drawn in and can relate to the themes and characters of the film.
Throughout the rest of the trailer the film features several unique and unusual shots including a panning shot underneath the main character and a shot upside down as he walks away this could be because their target audience are teenagers meaning their expectations would be different therefore they may want to see something different and this shows the film does not follow the usual codes and conventions. The main character is black representing urbanisation of London and the cultural diversity, the lighting is dark reflecting the darkness of the themes of the film.  The camera work used is not steady and almost documentary style trying to portray realism.
The locations in the trailer include a school due to the age of the characters, the tube an iconic thing representing London, run down flats representing their socio economic situation. Finally it includes the streets of London and shops.

Harry Brown

After looking at kidulthood we decided we wanted to look at a similar genre of film but with a different target audience.

Harry Brown 2009 is a suspense and crime film rated at an 18. It follows one mans journey in a modern day Britain where teenage violence runs the streets. When Harry's only companion; best friend Leonard is brutally murdered by a local gang of teenagers he reaches breaking point and is compelled to act out and is forced to bring some kind of justice. Through out his bid to clean up the run down estate his actions bring him into conflicts with the police.


The film is set at an 18 due to the use of strong violence and language throughout the film. It also contains drug use and has sexual content. Therefore it would be believed the film would be targeted at anyone over the age of 18 and due to the themes in the film it might be thought to be targeted at a younger adult however, the main character in the film is played by Michael Caine, a well known and loved British actor and winner of several academy awards which could be seen as an attempt to cal out to a more mature audience. However The film also features up and coming rapper and singer Plan B who is well known by many of the younger generation therefore it could be the target audience is slightly broader than just the 18-30 category.    


Trailer Analysis
The trailer opens with the Canadian-American entertainment company, LIONSGATE logo. Followed by an establishing shot of a standardized block of flats. The flats show all the elements of council flats, being tall, simple and many of them. This straight away shows the audience that the film is set in a potentially rough area. 

 A series of quick edits then show, the main character (Harry Brown played by Michael Caine) peering out of a window at a violent gang fighting in the street. This hits the films over 18 target audience following the theme of strong violence.  Other scenes to portray this include Cars being set on fire in the streets by youths accompanied by the diagetic sound of car alarms and items on fire being posted though elderly peoples letterboxes. It’s clear from the trailer that the film follows a constant struggle between the elderly and youths within this area.  Juxta position is used to portray the contrast between the violent youths and the elderly people. With such a contrast of characters in the film, it could be argued that the target audience are of a broad age gap. Michael Caine is loved by many of the older generation whereas the youths in the film are played by actors who appeal to the younger generation such as Plan B.


The lighting throughout the trailer is extremely dark. Most scenes are during the night, either set in the gloomy flats, a subway, a crack den or on the streets. Even scenes during the day are set on dull, rainy days. This mise en scene supports the dark themes addressed within the film. 


SKINS
Skins is a British teen drama which follows a group of teenagers in Bristol through their sixth form years. It explores issues involving Drugs, crime, sex, dysfunctional families, mental illness and death. With a cast change every two seasons Skins keeps you on your feet with ever changing story lines. Series one followed 'Tony' (a 17 year old popular boy within his school) and his friends. Series three then follows 'Tony's' younger sister 'Effy', and her friends. 'Effy' who only had a small part in the first two series starts a new college, where she meets new friends and faces new challenges and choices. 


Although the film is rated an 18, the majority of the characters are under that age. Apart form the stereotypical parent figures who are often played by real life comedians.This may seem ironic as the show is aimed at teenagers and their main audience would be 15 to 18 year olds. One reviewer stated this 'cant really write a review rented this out and only watched 2 episodes then turned it off wasn't for me think you have to be a teenager to watch' Due to the conflicting rating and target audience the show has always been viewed as controversial, which has probably contributed to it's success.


Trailer Analysis


The mise en scence through out the trailer portrays a wild, teenage party we see that it is set in an average looking house that appears to get ruined. The trailer is so significant that its had a cultural influence; the programme has given rise to the term 'skins party', referring to a debauched night of heavy drinking and recreational drug use.

Similarly to the kidulthood trailer the skins trailer opens with a number of sharp cut edits. It starts with a person dressed as a bear jumping on a sofa this then cuts to a strobe light on dj decks and then to the main part of the trailer which consists of what is made out to be an out of control teenage party showing; things breaking, people kissing, people in only underwear, water pistols, a mattress being thrown, people sleeping in a bath and more all these things portray a theme of  a sexual orientation and being out of control something that is assumed as a stereotype of the modern day teenager. reflecting the song used in the background. The song is call ‘standing in the way of control’ by the gossip, the Soulwax Nite Versions remix of the song featured heavily in the advertising campaign for the 2007 E4 television drama.
In May 2007, NME magazine placed "Standing In The Way Of Control" at number 23 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever, which could of been.

Overall although the trailer portrays an unrealistic view of a teenage party what it actually does is shows an extreme hedonistic ideology of a modern day teenager which immeadeatly appeals to the teenage audience because it is so dramatic that it catches thier attention because they believe they can relate to the trailer because they may have experienced a few of the themes within the trailer i.e sex, drugs, being drunk or being at a party and this trailer glamourises all these things making it an attractive and exciting show for thier teenage audience.

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