Analysis of similar films

I have researched into some urban life films that are popular, therefore I can gain ideas from things that have been successful.

Kidulthood:

In this film there are several teenagers around the age of 15, which is a convention of urban life films because stereotypically younger people are more likely to cause trouble. The setting for this film is inner west London, which is a suitable area for this genre since the city is more urbanised, this creates a more intimidating environment. Violence is a crucial convention of this film and the characters act in this manner throughout the film. Furthermore these characters engage in many illegal situations, such as taking drugs, petty theft and encountering in serious violence. Part of the story line of this film involves a relationship where the girlfriend is pregnant. Generally the personality of the characters in urban life films are not the most caring and are more interested in being part of a 'gang'. Due to this it is shown in the film that he does not partake in any fatherly duties, which suggests that these sorts of films do not worry about offending any viewers, instead use situations that may not be the best, however shows the truth in some cases. At the end of the film, a character called Trevor dies. This creates a more sad aspect to the film, rather than it being violence and anger throughout. Also he is one of the main characters, therefore in urban life films, usually the main character who in this case is the anti hero and is supposedly the strongest, ends up in a really serious situation where they are no longer the most powerful.

8 Mile:



This is a film based on events similar to the life of the main character, Eminem, who is a very famous rapper. Due to this, throughout the film music is regularly used, which inspired us to use music at the beginning of our film. Specifically we used the instrumental from the rap battle in 8 mile because it flows well with the establishing shots that we have. The type of music suits our film very well because stereo typically characters in urban life films listen to rap music. Furthermore the main character in this film is from a poor family who have gone through many struggles, which is very common in urban life films because it leads to the character using violence due to their unhappiness. The main aim of Eminem is to pursue a career in music, however he doesn't have the confidence at the beginning despite the encouragement from his friends. This shows that he does have people that care for him, which is why we introduced a character that can be on our main protagonist's side. 

Narrative

Exposition - Setting scene and introducing the main characters. This can relate to our urban life film clip because the narrative starts with the establishing shots of the location that we will be filming in. Then we introduce the first character who has just been let out of prison, with no where to go.

Development - The situation develops whilst more characters introduced. The main characters are introduced properly here so to develop the situation they start by bumping into each other  and then end up in an argument, when look at each other  they realize they were each others high school sweethearts. 

Complication - Something happens to complicate the lives of the characters. As the main two characters, Stacey and Ali, another character called Dom comes and makes a massive stir in the situation. He goes over to Ali and claims his money back for the drugs he took without paying him back. This comes as a massive shock to Stacey. 

Climax - A decisive moment gets reached, the matters come to head and suspense high. Here the narrative breaks out into violence towards the end of the scene. This is shown through the body language of characters and physical actions when things get a bit out of control. this is shown through punching and smashed glass. 

Resolution - We have decided not to have a resolution to our film clip and to leave it on a cliff hanger. This is because it is just a scene in the film and it will lead onto more problems later in the film. So at the end of this scene we have created we end it with Ali on the floor after the fight whilst Dom runs away with Stacey, making it end in suspense of whats going to happen to Stacey, which is intriguing to the audience.