Trailer Research: Introduction to Kidulthood + Top Boy

Introduction

To help me understand my story better, I thought it would be a good idea to research similar TV programmes or films. This means programmes/films which may have a relatable setting, culture, soundtrack, characters, etc. So, I decided to focus my research on two pieces of production - one which is a film and the other a TV series.

Top Boy

In general, I have gained a lot of inspiration from the TV series 'Top Boy'. The 4-part drama series is situated in inner London and portrays the realistic gritty life young people face. For example, the series portrays a huge amount of excessive violence and murder ranging from the death of young children to fully-grown adults. Additionally, the series also provokes deprivation which the characters live in however mainly showing the severity of gangs and drug scandals. Watching both of these series (1 and 2) has allowed me to learn both physically and emotionally the gritty life of London (however giving me hints to other areas in England) which I can incorporate into my project.

Kidulthood

Kidulthood however is an iconic London-situated drama fictionalised film which too focuses on gang culture within inner London. This successful film which was released in 2006 sparked the sequel film 'Adulthood' (2008), as well as leading to the release of the more recent film 'Anuvahood'(2011). The British drama is based on the lives of teenagers in West London. The characters in the film are generally anti-social and violent which leads to the death of one of the major characters. I feel this film will be useful due to its gritty location (like Top Boy) as well as giving me an insight into how the characters are portrayed.

When making comparisons to Kidulthood and Topboy, I will be mainly using the trailers, which are provided from links below:

Kidulthood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdoKD4gTQ2c

Top Boy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1nsgU0meaw

Now that I have chosen which texts to research, hopefully it will allow me to create a better understanding so that I can make my trailer seem more realistic and effective!