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.
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