In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Examples of a British urban movie/tv show:

Cast/Characters

Characters are usually working class, northern, single parents, focused around male protagonist, with the socio-economic group C2DE.

In our opening sequence, we focus on 4 female protagonists instead of a male but they are of working class and within the socio economic group C2DE. They are also of 4 different ethnicities just like the cast of ‘Some Girls’ above. This signifies that they live in a diverse area like London where it is possible for these 4 ethnicities to be friends in contrast with somewhere like Wales, for example.

Lighting

Lighting which is low key which is more mundane and plain which differs from Hollywood which is high key glitz and glam.

We have used this convention as we wanted to make it more urban and realistic to its genre. Using a local park in the mid afternoon helped us achieve that lighting.

Setting

The location is usually in a working class area, which is usually run down.

We have used our local park in the area of Kilburn which is a rather run down, estate filled borough, this gave us a more realistic and urban setting.

Filming style

The shooting style is often more documentary style as oppose to Hollywood, and more shaky (possibly handheld/headcam).

We used a DSLR and handheld camera as we did not have resources such as a big professional camera but in doing so, we have seen how hard it is when you have limited resources available and/or are on a cheap budget as most British urban films are.

Themes

It tends to highlight current social issues within those areas.

Underage sex, Knife crime, Drugs, Pregnancy and Bullying are main themes that seem to occur in British urban films.

Our film is focused on the themes of social cliques, bullying and friendships. We chose this as teenagers can relate easily as they have been through it. Jade, is being bullied in our film and she goes through a summer of hell.

Costume

Costume is plain dull and may include uniform/working clothing as seen in 'Kidulthood'.

In our film, we used this convention and had our cast wear normal teen clothes, such as hoodies and uniform, so that they could be clearly identified as working class and it suited their specific characters. E.g. Jade and her nerd glasses and hoodie, identified her as the nerd.