Kofi's Media Blog: November 2013

Main Image - Attractive young lady looking into the distance

Name of magazine: "SHOWCASE'

Definition: a setting in which anything may be displayed to best advantage.

Colour scheme:

I was going to use this as my magazine front cover as she is the "set up girl" of the film trailer. However after recieving criticism I was told that the jumper that she is wearing (mise en scene) does not fit with my genre of urban drama.

After the critique I then took this photo. I believe this photo adapts to the role of a set up girl as she is wearing a puffy jacket and looks very suspicious whilst on the phone. I believe that this would work well on the front of my magazine as the suspense given out by the look on my models face is evident

Repertoire of Elements of Urban Drama Genre

Character: Typically in a Urban Drama movie there is generally three groups of characters; The Gangs, The Police, Innocent Civilians, along with these group of characters there is also typically a ex gang member who gets dragged back into his old gang life. Normally the female characters are stereotyped to be ignorant and to be used for sex appeal and the men are usually the gang members. Children appear very often in urban drama films as it gives the film a sense of how the innocence can be twisted to become involved in a gang or can also be used to show how a gang could be ruthless in killing a child.

Audience: Men seem to be one of the main audiences for Urban Drama Films as it's exciting and ruthless and gives the audience an insight on gang life. Also young adults from 14 upwards possibly from London would be interested possibly by the Urban Drama genre as it shows them what actually occurs near where they live.

Settings: For the majority of Urban Drama films the setting is quiet similar, there is generally always a dull, rainy day and a council house around an area which you can tell is full of crime e.g. graffiti showing vandalism. Popular settings also include London Streets, alleyways and Council.

Themes: For an Urban Drama film to be successful it needs to conform to some of the typical themes, themes such as Evil vs. Good, Misunderstood children, Dark Lives, Sin vs. Purity and even death.

Style: Conventional lighting for an Urban Drama film is quite low key, dark and gloomy with a dull, cold feel to it. They have a lot of use of close ups and a variety of low and high angles shots, to create tension. Another way of creating tension is through the use of sound, typically you'd get a lot of rap, grime, and nowadays even dubstep playing, this also gives an insight of what the gangs of today like listening to, in terms of music genre.

Iconography: An iconic item you'd find within a Urban Drama film would be some form of knife or gun, and of course most defiantly blood. In terms of clothing, Hoodies, Snapbacks and tracksuits are worn to represent how gangs dress.

Narrative: Typically the narrative of a Urban Drama film would be to have some sort of gang with gang members and gang leaders established, so the audience get an insight of the hierarchy of power within the gang, there is usually also a police group who the gang are running from at some point within the film, there is also usually a misunderstood gang member who believes he is doing or not doing the right thing by being in a gang.