Advanced Portfolio: Genre research for my project

I have chosen to produce a short film based on relating to people my age. Therefore my characters, props, locations, narrative must be real life in order to relate and be credible with my audience.
I chose to do a film on youth culture as to deviate away from the generic typical horror genre A-Level film.

Other films that are based on youth culture such as Kidulthood are filled with gangs and weapons, this is not what I want my film to consist of as I want it to be as realistic and relatable as possible. The characters are very gang cultured and the film concentrates on relating to gang culture and not youth culture of the majority, for example the main character is black ethnicity and walks around with a baseball bat and a gun, most of the youth culture is not involved in gangs therefore my film is not going to be generic or copy cat, but relatable.

The characters in my film aren't going to be the stereotypical idea of the older generations view on the term 'youth culture' as this involves anti-social behaviour and crime. My film will involve characters who are street and are apparent in the rave/drug scene, normal young people who get dragged into it and the turmoil it can cause.
For example, characters in Kidulthood are straight from the south London estates and adopt the chav look and lifestyle whereas my characters will be self sustained as they work during the week then go rave on the weekend and take drugs, they wear expensive clothing like Stone island, Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry, Ralph polo sport, retro/vintage clothing is essential in youth culture of today. My short film will shine a negative light on drugs in youth culture by a hardhitting story line, however in order to hit home, the audience need to be able to relate, therefore I have to make it as real life as possible by including all the props and character styles.

This is my friend Harriett who I took pictures of, she is the perfect person to illustrate youth culture as her style of dress and her attitude to life fits in perfectly with my youth culture portrayal. She goes out almost every weekend doing whatever she wants, she doesn't wear make up, very naturally pretty, wearing in this picture an oversized vintage shirt over a girly crop top with a Ralph polo bag, in the midst of the rave.
This is the type of youth culture I will be involved in when making my film, unlike the stereotypical kidulthood culture which most people would expect, like the generic young chav;

The lifestyle of my audience is based around living for the weekend when they can go to raves and take drugs and socialise, these pictures that I took whilst I was out in a rave typify my audience and character types within the film in the environment, clothing and atmosphere sense;

This is the typical clothing of the characters in cultured youth.

The mise en scene in my short film needs to capture the culture of the rave, I can do this by capturing the lights and atmosphere of the setting using different camera shots to set the scene and be in and amongst the rave.

The locations that will signify the youth culture in my film, I will be filming in places like Digbeth in Birmingham where the underground scene is huge. Events with big name djs such as this event;

The under ground scene has never really been portrayed in films so I don't really have any other film to compare mine to, however, my short film will be a drama, based on youth culture, therefore I can analyse dramas in order to see how the camera effects the audience and the tension it creates.

Dramas.

The boy in the striped pyjamas is a drama film that is based of real life events in history just like my film is a drama based on real life youth culture. The way this film creates drama can help me enormously in creating drama in my film via camera shots and sounds. One particular camera technique which I liked in creating drama in this film was at the climax of the film, the camera shots lasted a second long, transitioning very quickly, being the driving force of the fast heartbeats of the audience and the build of tension is huge. It is very effective and I plan to use the same technique in the climax of my film.

My drama needs to engage the audience by having an interesting narrative that has verisimilitude to the audience, giving space for debates about policing, criminality and social and cultural issues.
My drama needs to add the question of morality into the audiences mind and also play on the innocence and guilt gauge of the audiences mind.

The integration of drama in youth culture will be very exciting as there are many possibilities for a story line/ narrative.

What features of a drama appeal to my audience?

I asked a selection of 15-24 year olds as to what appeals to them about a drama and three main elements kept cropping up;

-The intense nature of emotions
-Twists that captivate
-Good acting

This research shows that my audience males and females aged 15-24 do watch dramas however not as much as comedy's and thrillers, however, a verisimilitude drama would improve already high viewing figures as it a more relatable drama.

Locations

The locations I will film my youth culture drama will need to be a real place where youth culture exists, to capture the true reality. The locations I am contemplating are warehouses in digbeth, Birmingham and Bristol.