Analysis of Kidulthood opening

The film “Kidulthood” has a clever and effective opening, which instantly grabs the attention of young adults and teenager audience. The film begins with music which in todays society would appeal to the teenage generation, the music begins and sounds quite dark, gloomy and intense which already gives the audience an idea that the film may be quite a dark, mysterious, gloomy and intense film which would either appeal or relate (or both) to teenagers.

Kids talking on a playground is also heard in the background but is faintly heard, this connotes that the story would appeal to young teenagers but due to the faint sounds of a playground could connote that the film isn’t based around school life. The first thing that audience would see is a close up in slow motion of boys trainers as they play football on the field which could connote that the film does still have its realism within it, that school isn’t going to be portrayed as something its not but due to the field, boys and football being muddy it could represent the dark side of where they live and how hard their lives are.

The scene then cuts to a sped up panning shot of two girls talking, and due to the camera panning and focusing on them it establishes that the girls are two of the main characters, also known as the protagonists, in the film. The colours used in the shots are colours such as black and grey with a vignette border, this is used to set the atmosphere of the school which could make the audience think of it as quite a bad school full of hoodlums and troublemakers which reinforces the stereotype that is seen by the older members of society, this stereotype being that all teenagers act disrespectful and are troublemakers and hoodlums. The two girls are also portrayed as quite “chavy” looking, with one of the girls having her hair tied up at an angle, showing off her big gold hoop earrings and their uniforms not done up properly, also due to both girls being of different skin colour it could show that this film isn’t about racism and the school isn't discriminating against other races so it could possibly be more about social classes as the next shot is a contrasting shot of two other girls who look more presentable and could be of a higher social class but still have those few teenage looks about them with their uniform slightly out of place as if they are trying to fit in with the rest of the school, also to support my idea that the film is more about social classes, the two upper class girls have the camera slow down and zoom in a bit with the music changing by going slightly louder and distort which could connote that the two girls are soon to be victims within the school and according to Propps characters they would be the princesses who are in need of help.

The camera then moves to a group of boys in their own clothing, one with his hood up which again reinforce society’s stereotypical view on teenagers in todays society, this hooded teenager has quite an aggressive walk and facial expression while looking around, possibly for a person who has made him angry and impatient, the two guys this character is with have quite blank expressions and aren’t standing out as much which connotes that they aren’t important while the hooded teenager is, this hooded teenager is also represented quite negatively as described above and is therefore seen by the audience as a possible antagonist or villain according to Propp in the film and is disliked by the audience.

The shot then goes onto a close up of a drill bit being placed into a drill, the lighting is still quite dark and could possibly connote danger and possible harm to another character with the use of a mechanical device, the dark low-key lighting and music give the audience the false impression that this person is an antagonist and therefore makes the audience dislike him.

The shot then cuts back to the girls we first saw, the way they talk to each other using slang words in confidence shows that they are use to talking like that and are therefore seen in society’s eyes as possible troublemakers from a low class, we then have the camera cut back to the firstly addressed antagonist who is using foul language when talking to others, as a manner of inducing fear into others this again reinforces the stereotype mentioned before about teenagers, next we see a male character kissing and hiding with who this antagonist is possibly looking for.

Next the audience is seeing the supposed antagonist drilling, the audience has still not yet seen what this falsely accused antagonist is drilling which keeps the audience hooked on curiosity and creates an enigma.

By Akshay Bajaj