The Ellington Kid

Representation/ characterization 

there are three main groups:

The customers 

with costume such as bright blue/yellow tracksuit and a leather like bomber jacket, contrasting the outfits with the other groups. representing them as "teenage like" as they are seen joking around. the boy in the bomber jacket also portrays the role of the story teller. Giving the audience a flashback. they are represented as 'normal' teenagers, which consists of characteristics like being playful, the way of speaking etc. The youthful/ teenager aspect is also represented in the clothing choice. 

The gang 

wearing mostly black which metaphorically represents danger and labelling them as the bad guys. black bandanas are also seen as gang related accessories, which paints the characters for the audience. The cloth choice represents a stereotype of what the bad guys would wear, as the dark colour pallet and little to no identity shown instantly informs the audience the type of characters they are. Black is also a typical colour for the antagonist to wear, which can contrast the other characters as they are seen wearing neutral and colourful clothing. 

the Kabab shop staffs

The setting and uniforms indicate that they work there. the use of the sharpening the knives at the start, represents their characters as professionals. 

the colour red in their outfits can be used to highlight their characters as the red stands out the most among the colour black and grey, on the other hand, the colour red can be used metaphorically to embody blood, which can be used to link with the knife crime, their jobs and what we think they have done to the gang members.  

victim 

the victim was the only character who wasn't represented in a group, which can mirror isolation, but also weights the narrative out to show the Kabab staff VS the gang as they both had 3 members. the victim was also wearing a light grey tracksuit, which is a blander and lighter colour than the other characters, which could represent him as being the neutral character that was used to balanced the narrative. 

Narrative 

the opening of the film reflects and foreshadows the narrative of the film, as the film's narrative revolves around the idea of the friend's "story", but is contrasted and makes the audience question by the use of the kabab staff creepy smile and strong eye contact at the boys while he was sharpening his knife at the end of the film. This allows the audience to be actively thinking about what might have happened 

starting off the film with the sounds of cutting meat and the sizzling sound of the deep fryer mirrors the setting to the audience, which is the significant setting in the film. the use of knives at the start could also be used to foreshadow the knife violence that happens through out  the film, and could also be used to symbolize knife crime in society. This acts as an introduction to the narrative and the rest of the film. 

The boy telling the story acts as the story teller, giving the audience flashbacks and descriptions, alongside the visuals presented on screen ,creating tension for the audience. 

The resolution of the narrative is when the friend finds out his friend is "joking", but when the camera pans over to the Kabab owner  smiling it makes the audience question the whole story. Which can be linked to the opening of the film as it is stated as "Based on a true story, kind of" Which can be used to indicate that perhaps the film narrative is similar to a circular structure as the story ends where it begins. 

mise en scene 

Props

Knives

Knives contribute an important/main part to the films narrative as it reflects many things such as mirroring knife crime in society, and also mirroring the contrast of the usage of knives in a good way and a bad way. The Kabab shop staff usage of knives reflect the purpose of using knives for work purposes  , however the gang usage of knives reflect the bad usage of knives as they use it as a weapon to show power. The contrast shows that depending on the mind set of the person that is carrying it or using it, the statutes of the knife varies between tool vs weapon 

cinematography

The film consists of a hand held feel to the camera as there is seen to be a lot of movements, whether it is pans or camera movement to reflect a certain feeling. For example,  when the gang is in the kabab shop, the camera has a movement feel to it which can mirror the feeling of uncertainty that the scene is portraying. The film also uses pan techniques to highlight key information, by making only that element visible in the frame before panning to another element. The film also uses a large amount of medium shots which allows the audience to focus on important details. This also allows the characters facial expressions  and surrounding to become highlighted as well. 

The film uses the idea of Dark VS light to represent good Vs Evil in the film. Darkness (or night time) is often associated with something bad or it is often used to foreshadow bad events, which is why night times are often used to build tension in films. In this film, they portrayed the stabbing incident at night is this creates a unsettling atmosphere for the audience. This is then contrasted with "light" as in films, light is often associated with good or heaven, which is why it is often used to bring the audience some sense of ease. In this film, light comes in context as the Kabab shop light, which acts as like a haven for the victim as it is where he goes for help. Light is also used to portray "reality" as the story is being told in day time by the boy, which does play along with the "this story is based on a true story, kinda" narrative as the artificial light of the shop VS the natural light can be used to contrast each other and portray that perhaps the story didn't actually happen 

Example of pan technique 

Light VS Dark 

Editing 

The editing is fairly slow paced, for example, the scene where the Kabab owner went to lock the door. this creates tension for the audience as everything is happening at slow pace, but also can be used to  reflect the victim's reality of what it was like to be stabbed. This slow paced editing can also be used to able the audience to focus on what is happening in the narrative. The film also contains a flashback type of editing which creates a contrast between present and past.

Sound 

Sound plays a significant part in this film as it relays on story telling to tell the story narrative, but also relays on elements like sound effects and background music to create and carry the tension created by the story teller and the imagery. The story teller is very important as his tone of voice and the way he expresses his self conveys and manipulates how the audience feels about that scene. The sound of sharpening knives at the start is also significant as it reflects the narrative but also mirrors the atmosphere the film is set in, the sound is very high quality and highlighted in the film which reflects its importance. The background sound is fainter that the others mention but still contributes a lot to the film as it follows the narrative and reflects what the narrative is trying to convey, which  can be used to control how the audience feel. 

What can I take from the film/message

The ability to tell a story/how the story is told effects how it is received 

diegetic sound can help a story telling experience seem more real, effective