Young Offender

Idan is a recent arrival in a young offenders institution. He feels antagonism towards the non-white inmates and struggles to control his hatred and rage, obsessively writing letters as an outlet for his racist beliefs. Terry, a disgruntled prison officer, sees an opportunity to play power games. He gains Aidan's trust and exploits it with fatal consequences.
Crew

Director
Isabel Anderton

Producer
Rachel Drummond-Hay

Editor
Tom Lindsay

Director Of Photoography
Chris Maris

Cast

Ali
Nadim Khan

Terry
Jay Simpson

Aidan
Freddie Machin

Funded By

Digital Shorts plus awards from the UK Film Council and South West Screen

Being Bad

REPRESENTATION

From the beginning it is apparent that this film wants to portray youth as rebellious, the first character we see looks like he is in his late teens (Malik). The scene is shot to make it look like the character we see steal a ped. However later on in this film we see the teens becoming hedonistic and only worry about having a good time. There are moments where just trying to have fun has bad effect on the characters because it conflicts with each other. This shows the teens as immature and ready for the life they want.

INSTITUTION

This film was made Dazzle Films. Dazzle films is an up and coming independent short film institution. the director of this film was Laurence Coriat and the producer is Amy Kate Neil.

VALUES
The focus of this film is on the lives of 3 teens. Malik, Lina and Hocine. We see that the teens only part take in very open activities and not being cooped indoors. This shows that the teens we free. The characters seem to be of an age where they could/ should be at school yet we only see them out, there are no other people their age in the film.

AUDIENCE
From what i got from the film i believe that the audience would be a younger audience as it seems to have a raw feel like more main stream youth dramas (like skins). Because it focuses on youths this would make it able to relate to by youths. This film is french which would hinder its possible audience variety.

LANGUAGE
This film was made in France and uses french actors, but it is filmed in a coastal area, this gives the film a whole new feel rather than having it in a city centre where the availability if shots would change inevitably changing the narrative which fits what the film is trying to show. Because there are shots in the sea it shows the freedom of the teens and how it is only them there, also if this is what the people their age did then why were they he only ones there.

IDEOLOGY
The ideology of this film is the freedom of teens and how they treat and interact with each other. Even with the lack of dialogue this film manages to show the feeling of each of the characters through the unique use of cut away scenes like interviews where we get to see the true feeling of the characters. Furthermore the narration and text on the screen show that the teens may have had bad a communication skills. Also these teens where shown to be hedonistic and out going by jumping and playing in the sea without a care in the world.

NARRATIVE
I believe that the preferred reading of this film is that youth may seem hedonistic and care free but deep down they have alot of feeling that we the audience may no even realise. Through the use of the cut scenes to the interview type scenes, the audience gets to see into the real thoughts and feelings of the characters.

GENRE
This film is a romantic drama because of the focus on the teens and the one girl we see. Malik clearly likes her but she seems to mess him around.

If not now, When?

Representation

This film represents youth in a hard brought up area trying to escape the violence and gangs that are prodomtly associated with london estates. The film focuses on Daniel a male youth who is inspiring to become big in football but is also batting to stay away from gangs. The director uses real location and a real cast to add to the relaism that the film gives. The films also represents the realism of knife crime through the camera shots of the gangs in the short film.

Institution

The film reveals at the end that it is produced by Paper Mannequin Productions. Nilesh Bell-Gorsia and Akash Lockmun are the men behind this productions and are the writers/Directors of If not now, When?.

Values

The films really focuses on the reality of london estates and the gangs involved within them. The film trys to signify that some sterotypical people who you would feel were in a gang are not actually but are trying to escape that life. We hear a quote in the film 'You got to be in one to get out of one' this signifies that the majority of people around these areas play a part in a gang.

Audience

From watching this film i feel that the audience would be people of the same profiles as the cast. The audience would be young males who are from a similar background or share certain characteristics as the cast.

Language

The location in which this short film is filmed in is very conventional to films of this narrative. By shooting by an estate in london it gives the film a real edge and adds a sense of realism. Also by using a steady cam to shoot the majority of the scenes it also gives the audience the feeling that there aswell and makes them feel part of the drama occuring.

Ideology

The ideology of this film is mainly how youths can get 'sucked' into being part of a gang. The film explores possible routes out of gangs by showing how a sterotypical guy from an estate who could fit a gang members profile stays away from the gang life to concentrate on his football. The young guy knows that by concentrating on something this will get him further away from the life predicted for him. The director also includes how youths are associated with knife crime by including the last scenes.

Narrative

The main aim by the director of this film is to show the life of a youth trying to escape his surroundings. The film starts off by showing how he is a normal youth with his family and shows how the family are close together with the sister messing around with Daniel. Also with the introducion of his girlfriend this signifies to the audience that Daniel knows who is close to him and wants to keep them by staying away from violence. However after showing to the audience that he is a keen footballer the story has a shocking twist that leaves the audience in shock. With Daniel being stabbed this connotes that it is very hard to escape from violence for youths.

Genre

I feel that due to the change of emotions of the cast and the way the film is structed, I believe the genre of If not now, When? is a drama.

Skin Deep

Representation

Skin deep is representing a young boy, who lives in a run down estate which is predominately a white neighborhood. Romo, the young boy, is a mixed race boy, half english, half pakistani. The film represents the hard times asian people had in these times. The director has shown how Romo tries to hide his true identity by joining in with a 'Skinhead' gang. The director has also represented 'Skinheads' in this film and has represented them as being thugs and abusing to other nationalities. This can be seen as a true representation as skinheads of this era were known to be abusive to other races. The director also represents other peoples lives by showing the area they live in. the area is shown to be very run down and this signifies poor lifestyles.

Institution

The label that distribute and deal with Skin Deep is Dazzle films. Dazzle film is a UK independent label that covers, distribution and sales rights for a collection of UK award winning short films.

Values

The film represents the true values of people living in a poor area. The film shows how people have to differ their identity in order to either keep a low profile or fit in with the crowd. The film illustrates well how poor conditions can affect peoples lives.

Audience

This film connotes that the audience would be young adults, as the dialogue and the complex of the body language showed by the cast is too difficult to understand for a young audience. Also I feel the audience will probably be males as the main cast are males and act in a violent way which would attract males over females.

Language

The mise en scene in the film is shown to be very poor condition due to the poor people in the area. The director uses real cast and is shot on real location to really show to the audience that the characters are living in a poor area. the shots of the streets signifies to the audience that there is nothing to escape from and therefore gangs are formed and cause trouble amongst society.

Ideology

The values of these short film is to get the audience to understand what some young people have to do to fit in. The director shows this by having the protagonist as a mixed race boy in a socially white area. This challenges the young male and the youth must dis obey his beliefs in order to fit in. An example of this would be when he is in a situation where his skinhead mates are abusing a asain boy and Romo is in a dilemma, but decides to join in with the abuse to again feel accepted by a group.

Narrative

The film is shot on real location and the protagonist Romo is a mixed race boy. We first see him challenging his identity at the start when he is shouting at himself in the mirror, trying to act like a skinhead. It then adds up why he is doing this, when he is working in a garage with racist skinheads and we see that Romo must go against his own identity to fit in. However is this the right decision? The short film ends with Romo crying and is clearly distraught again in the mirror and he starts to shave his hair off. This signifies to the audience that the young male still doesn't know who he is.

Genre

The genre of this short film is drama as we see how lives can be changed by decisions wrong or right only the person can decide.