The document provides information about the genre, narrative, characters, and setting of the film Bullet Boy. It describes the genre as social realism, which depicts realistic stories and situations from ordinary British people's lives. The narrative follows Ricky's bad decision making that leads to increased conflicts with his family and others. It also creates suspenseful moments. The film is set on a council estate in Hackney, London, representing poverty and how the environment can influence youth into crime. It represents an all-African English cast dealing with crime, family relationships, and violence in their community.

1. Genre
The genre of Bullet Boy is Social Realist.
Social Realist is described by the BFI as:
Better than any other genre, social realism has shown us to
ourselves, pushing the boundaries in the effort to put the
experiences of real Britons on the screen, and shaping our ideas of
what British cinema can be. While our cinema has experienced all
the fluctuations in fortune of Hollywood's first export territory,
realism has been Britain's richest gift to world cinema.
The genre makes us care about the characters
much more as it feels much more like our lives
than any other genre. It connects to us as we as
the audience can understand the situation that
the characters are in… it makes it feel more
realistic. It is not glamourized so relies on the
story telling and suspense to create the desired
effect on the reader rather than comic relief or
fear.

2. Macro Features
Macro-
The narrative of the story follows a fairly regular story arc as the film progresses.
Equilibrium- Normal life is established with prison and crime being normal in
their society, the theme of being trapped is established.
Disruption- Ricky’s bad decision making has started to show. He decides to go to a
party rather than straight home.
Climax- Wisdom is killed and Ricky tries to escape but is murdered at the train
station before he can leave
New Equilibrium- The Effect of Ricky’s death is shown, Curtis throws away the
gun.

3. Bullet Boy - Narrative
• Conflicts
- Ricky with his family
- Godfrey with Ricky & Wisdom
- Ricky & Wisdom with the authorities
• Suspense
- The killing of Godfrey’s dog
- When Curtis was pointing the gun at Rio
- When Beverley slapped Ricky and kicked him out of the house

4. Bullet Boy – Living with crime
• Bullet Boy shows what living with crime is like as
there are always people surrounding the person that
chose a life of crime that constantly get hurt. It’s
almost like the family have to accept the fact that
they’re now second best and no longer first priority
as a life of crime is more preferable to some selfish
people. Crime is the norm and it can influence the
younger generation into a life of crime when they
experience it firsthand.

5. Bullet Boy - Setting
Set on the streets of Hackney, London. Set on a council estate which is
usually associated with the underclass. Ricky lives in a block of flats that
are quite dull. The blocks of flats represents poverty. The experiences that
the younger generation can have can lead them to a life of crime. The
telegraph poles are surrounding Hackney suggesting the characters are
trapped in a world of crime and Ricky could feel like he is back in prison.

6. Main Micro Features
Cinematography-
Editing-
Sound-
Mise- en- scene-

7. Representation in Bullet boy
Representation of race or minority groups
The film stars an all African-English group of characters. Ricky's step father is a priest and his
mother heavily religious, maybe using prayer as a way of trying to protect her children as she
feels she has no power over them herself and every time she doesn’t know how to control or
handle her boys she gets the priest over.
Representation of crime
It is clear that crime is well represented theme from basically the start of the film. We can see
this as Ricky, who is only 18, is first seen being released from prison and is issued a probation
order.
Representation of family relationships
Family is a big concern of Ricky's throughout the film. It is clear that he has a good relationship
with his 12-year-old brother, Curtis, hides in a car boot in order to see his older sibling. The gun
given to Ricky by Wisdom also play an important role in the overall family dynamic. Ricky gets
angry when he finds out that Curtis had hidden the gun and I think this is because he does not
want his brother going through the same processes as he has already done (assault, prison).
Representation of violence
Due to his time in prison because of an assault charge, Ricky is released with a probation order.
We can see that Ricky is desperate to avoid anything like this again when having to back Wisdom
away from the rival gang member after smashing a wing-mirror. Maybe this was something that
Ricky would have caused a stir about before his time in prison, but because of his probation
order, he has to think carefully about what is worth causing a fuss over.