Analysis of the

opening two

minutes of 'Kidulthoo

d'

Here, I have analysed the opening 2 minutes of the film 'Kidulthood'

to pick out the key features and

conventions to assist me when creating my own video. This will help make my own production more

professional and look as much like a British Realism as possible.

The titles at the beginning of the film lasted for 32 seconds. The music came in at 20 seconds. The music is upbeat and you can hear children shouting.

The opening 2 minutes features two girls, dressed in a school uniform. However, they do not look smart - their ties are short and shirts are un-tucked which shows us

that they do not particularly care about their appearance and have little respect for the school or themselves. They

are wearing black hoodies and lots of heavy gold jewellery. The one girl's hair is scraped up in a side-pony.

Both girls have very strong London accents, which is typical of a British Realism film. This lets us know where

the film is set.

The opening two minutes include only one location - a school. Most of the

actors wear typical school uniform which helps set the scene. Also, the actors are

unknown (a convention of British Realism) and this helps make the scene

more believable.

The opening 2 minutes are made up of mainly mid-shots. This doesn't allow us

to see the setting very clearly. However, we do get the impression that the school

is run down by the appearance of the students, the dirty looking grounds and

the colouring of the scene - dull and grey.

We are introduced to the main characters by a series of two shots. The shots are cut

together quickly which begins to create atmosphere. There are also quick sweeps and zooms between shots to distinguish

between characters. This makes the audience feel uneasy about

what is happening on screen. The characters come from a mix of ethnic

backgrounds.