Mise-en-scene of urban dramas

Mise-en-scene of urban dramas 

In this blog, I am going to deconstruct the mise-en-scene in urban dramas. This task will aid our group in choosing the correct mise-en-scene for when we create our own piece. 

Props

Phone from movie Anuvahood.

 This phone symbolises what is known as a 'Trap phone' or a 'Brick phone'. These phones are usually old and worn out. They are normally in bad condition due to the old technology. They are called trap phones as they are used by drug dealers and gang members and are easily disposable due to them not being worth any money. 

Drugs and alcohol from movie Brotherhood.

 If we are doing an urban drama, we are going to need drugs and alcohol for props. We are going to need bottles and cans of alcohol both full and empty. We will also need to make drugs such as weed, which we can use plants to create and also cocaine which can be created using flour, we then need to put these in small plastic bags in order to symbolise real drugs. 

Screenshot from movie Brotherhood of gangster holding a gun.

As our film will also involve gang activity, we may need to use a gun as a prop. In order to create the effect of a real gun we may need to acquire a BB gun in which are normally painted in bright colours, and paint it black. Another solution would be to ask people if they have any prop guns, such as friends, family, or the drama department at school, as purchasing one will cost money. 

Costumes

Screenshot from film Brotherhood of main characters wearing masks and balaclavas.

This picture shows the main characters of the movie brotherhood wearing masks and balaclavas which are covering their faces and therefore hiding their identities. This is very notable as these masks represent as mentioned before criminal activities and gang activities. We can use this in our movie in order to create a realistic representation of these characters. 

Three hood rats wearing hats and hoods in the movie 'Kidulthood'. 

From the screenshot above we can see that another common convention of urban dramas is the wearing of hats and hoods, and also the majority of actors are multicultural. We can use this in order to do aid our research in urban dramas so that we are able to get an idea of the costumes and clothing that the actors in our piece would be wearing in order to create an accurate representation of a teens and working class youths in an urban drama.