Our film opening conforms to some conventions of urban drama by focusing on the lives of young people in a council flat. However, it also subverts expectations by not including typical elements of gangs and violence. We wanted to represent young people in a positive way and show a different side of life in an urban environment beyond what is usually depicted. The characters dress and setting provide recognizable aspects of urban drama but the storyline focuses on a romantic relationship rather than gangs or crime.

1. Inwhatwaysdoesyourmediaproductsuse,developor
challengeformsandconventionsofrealmediaproducts?

2. We have chosen to do urban drama but we decided to add a small twist to it to make it more
interesting so that it can appeal to the audience more. The target audience for most urban drama is
usually young teenagers, the target audience for our film opening was also young people therefore it
conforms to the forms and conventions of urban drama. Our film opening conformed to some of the
forms and conventions of other urban films as it is set in a council flat, this makes it look more
realistic.
The audience will know that it is an urban film as it gives the idea that urban film are about gangs
and violence which we have discovered from our research, however over film opening also subverted
the forms and conventions of urban films as it wasn’t about gangs and violence. This is the twist of
the film the council estate building gives the idea that it an urban film therefore the audience will
believe that its mainly about drugs, gangs and violence but we changed our film and made it more
simple by adding on romance, this subverts to the forms and conventions of urban drama. We
wanted to challenge the idea that that if you live in a council flat, it is usually based on gangs and
drugs.
An urban film that I have researched was ‘Kidulthood’, this film conformed to the conventions of an
urban film because it was about drugs, sex, gangs, violence, the audience would expect to see this in
that type of film because of where it was set which was mainly in a school which was shown in the
film opening. After researching the film ‘Kidulthood’ it gave us the idea of relating our genre to gang
culture but making it different by adding a love story between the twins and the girl, this is different
compared to other film openings and by including this it has subverted the forms and conventions of
urban film. Eventually we wanted to move away from gang culture because we wanted to subvert the
stereotypes and wanted to show the positive side of it. Kidulthood was set in a school environment;
it was surrounded by a lot of people however our film is based on three people. To add to that, the
target audience for most urban film is usually young teenagers, the target audience for our film
opening was also young people therefore it conforms to the forms and conventions of urban films.

3. Howdoesyourmediaproductrepresentparticular
socialgroups?

4. In our film opening, we wanted to show people who are not white in a positive way as
often in urban drama they are shown in a negative way. We wanted to to represent young
people in a better life therefore we didn’t include violence, gangs, knife etc; which are
usually shown in other urban films.
Usually in urban films, you would come across rivalry with other gangs, our media
product is different from other urban films as its based on teenage life. We didn’t include
gangs as we thought it would be very typical. We have filmed in council estate blocks as
these are usually popular places of where urban films are set, it adds to the atmosphere
that’s created by the mise-en-scene. It’s very representative and stereotypical of urban
environments. Another way in which we have enhanced our representation is by focusing
on the clothing of the main characters. The boys were dressed in hoodies and jeans to
construct the image of teenage youth which also follows the conventions of urban drama.
As we have chosen twins as the main characters, they are wearing similar clothing such as
the hoodies which gives the audience the impression that they are living the 'thug life'. The
female character was dressed more girly; the different camera angles reinforced the mise
en scene in where it was set. Her clothing and attitude gave the sense that she's very
flirtatious and that’s what boys from urban film like about girls. The props and costume
used dictates to the audience the social class of the characters.