Trailer Research: Gang Culture

Because my story/trailer revolves around a gang, I feel that it is necessary to research about gang cultures. This is evident in both 'Top Boy' and 'Kidulthood' and in fact I feel are very essential for both texts. Therefore, I am going to do research and identify the key conventions of what makes a gang a gang, and how I can use this research to incorporate ideas for my own trailer.

Use of Weapons

To generalise, gang culture in Kidulthood plays a very important role. Although it is more enough friend groups instead of gangs, I feel that this film provides evidence which I can incorporate into my trailer. Firstly (and more importantly), the use of weapons are evident within the film. For example, a baseball bat is used to attack the main protagonist Trife, who at the end of the film is killed by the bat. This I feel is a effective  and identifiable convention of gang cultures as there are also always constant news reports of young people being injured/killed from weapons - particularly knifes and guns. I feel that it helps to show how gang members (mainly) carry weapons as a defence mechanism as well as a way to intimidate others. Therefore, I have decided to use a knife for the death of my main protagonist Tay, as I feel it works in a realistic manor as well as creating a more effective climax.

Clothing

As mentioned in my 'Props Checklist' post, the use of tracksuits and hoods too are a gang culture convention. This is primarily because it creates an intimidating look and more importantly is instantly recognisable for the audience. For example, if an audience sees a group of boys wearing a full grey tracksuit compared to something more formal (such as jeans), then the audience are most likely to be more intimidated by the tracksuits and recognise that they are in a gang. This is evident in both 'Top Boy' and 'Kidulthood' as most of the characters are seen wearing tracksuits. Therefore, I have decided to follow this dress code mainly to make my characters more identifiable and to add to the realism of my trailer.

Drug use

As shown in both trailers, the use of drugs successfully to add to the grittiness of my trailer as well as being used as a signifier of gangs in 'Top Boy'. 'Kidulthood' consists mainly of the characters taking drugs. This helps to add to the realism of the film as most of the audience will already be aware of drugs due to the cultivation from different media aspects such as newspaper reports and documentaries. Nevertheless, 'Top Boy' focuses more primarily on the selling of drugs. This also acts as a main reason for the excessive murdering of characters in the TV series, as the selling of drugs act as a storyline. For example, Dushane's gang are seen killing members of other gangs due to drug scandals or previous set ups. Therefore, I have decided to show hints towards both drug-taking and selling to help enhance the realism of my story.

Conclusion

Although I already felt quite confident on the main conventions of gangs, I felt that it would be a good idea to do more additional research. This is mainly because gangs are used to add realistic connotations to any TV show or series, as they are a common controversial issue which are known almost all across the world however more recognisable in cities (particularly London).