Thuvaaragan Kuruparan

Production Aims
For my Film Studies F634 coursework, my aim is to produce a five minute
short film sequence, illustrating the ways in which the representation of
black teenage males has changed over the past 15 years in both British
and Hollywood films. In the past, black teenagers have been represented
as violent and aggressive. They are portrayed as the antagonist who gets
defeated. I managed to plan a thesis that the representation on black
teenage males has changed over the years in which I began to write a
three thousand words essay exploring my topic of the representation of
black teenage me in media text. I explored films such as Kidulthood 2006
which is a British film making comparisons with Coach Carter 2005 which
is a Hollywood film as well as comparing it to more recent films such The
hunger Games 2012 showing the change in representation of black
teenage men compared to teenager from other races.
The idea in which I have come up with is to present a five minute film
focusing on an 18 year old Asian male who is a part of a gang. My idea will
be focused on creating a sequence that will be based on the teenager,
Amir and his struggles of choosing the wrong pathway to follow and him
trying to make the right choices. I have researched a number of media
products, which I will be able to incorporate elements from into my final
production. I first watched Kidulthood, primarily focusing on how the
male teenagers are represented and the directors use of costumes and
props as well as their role within the film overall. Ive particularly chosen
this film as I believe the main character Trevor is portrayed in a less
stereotypical manner for an ethnic teenager as although he is an antihero, at the end of the film he chooses to spare Sams life by telling his
friends to not go after him. I will however, be presenting the character
Trevor in my film in a more stereotypical way. In Kidulthood, the main
antagonist Sam is a tall black male who has an intimidating look about
him I will be trying to follow this in my production by making the character
Trevor a tall black male who looks intimidating to the general public. As
well as this, I also looked at other A2 productions, exploring Choice,
which focuses on a teenager, influencing my prime location settings. The
director used a bedroom with a single bed as one of their prime locations,
emphasising on the main protagonists loneliness as well as being able to
deliver microelements such as mise-en-scene more clearly. Therefore, I
thought I should use a room with a single bed as well as have one main
character, focusing on more of a personal perspective of the main
character.
My main focus is the representation of teenagers in my final production,
as I will be focusing on the representation of my characters, showing how

Thuvaaragan Kuruparan

the representation has altered over the years. I will be focusing more on
an idea of representation as the portrayal of teenagers has altered over
the years due to the influences of many social and political factors such as
social media and riots/protests. I will be communicating my ideas through
the four major microelements. Mise en scene is a key factor, which I will
be using in my production to emphasize on the change of teenage
representation. The location used will represent the background of the
characters, reflecting on their upbringing. As well as this, their costume
will reflect on the type of person they are. They wear dark colours and are
mostly covered head to toe representing tem as gangsters. The location
is another factor which will be used to communicate the messages and
values especially the scene where Amir kills Michael.
Overall, I aim to produce a film that not only provides my audience with a
meaningful sequence but a powerful message which will be mainly be
delivered by the main character Amir, through dialogue.