Bullet Boy (2004) Case Study

The film Bullet Boy was distributed by Verve Pictures in April 2005 with a certificate of 15. With this beingcommon conventions of a social realism were evident through;
a social realism film and having such a specific audience,

The Cast – Ashley Walters, Clare Perkins and Curtis Walker

Budget funding – Funded by the UK Film Council and BBC Films

Gross profit - £81,183

Filming locations – Hackney and East London, on screen locations

Limited cinema release - 75 screens only, within the UK

Social realism is also known for always having a common escapist theme; with the protagonist or antagonist always trying to escape one life for another. In the film, this is evident through the representation of Ricky.

The narrative of the film was really basic, it’s a story of two brothers 12 and 19 years old. Ricky, the protagonist is released from youth custody and tries to start life on the right path but finds himself in the middle of confrontation within minutes of being back in his area. This confrontation begins a small feud which continues to escalate throughout the film. With his older brother well involved with the gang life it’s only a matter of time before the younger brother Curtis was dragged into the business. Curtis found a gun in his brother’s room and began to play with it in the woods with his friend; who he mistakenly shot and started a family feud.

The target audience for social realism films such as Bullet boy are usually very particular and niche. Nowadays, they are known for being targeted at a younger audience ofMainstreamers, aspirers and succeeders and people in the C2, D and E socio-economic categories. However, at the time of Bullet Boys release, social realism was targeted at adults. This is because of the conventions of a social realism film which usually contain a lot of adult themes such as sexual content, strong language, violence and drug usage. Also, these conventions really anchor the genre of the film and add to the drama it tries to represent.

http://www.vervepictures.co.uk/docs/bbnotes.pdf

The bullet boy film used mainstream music such as “Brave New World and Score” by Massive Attack and a song called Bullet Boy as part of their main soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJvGrXIm0oA&feature=kp&safe=active

Camerawork – The Bullet boy film ran for 89 minutes, filmed in colour using a super 16 camera and edited in the Soho Images studio in London, UK. There are many camera angles used in the film and trailer; close-up shots which reveal emotions and feelings, two shots which reveal information about the two characters in the shot, establishing shotswhich inform the audience of the film location. Also, the lighting used in the film is all natural lighting because the film was so low budget; it was all filmed on location, with light coming through windows, from an electric light or street lamps.

Mise-en-scene creates an understanding for the audience. Things such as shots, costumes, props and settings are included in the Mise-en-scene of a film.

For example, establishing shots (as pictured below) of the location allow audiences to know where the characters are and give them a slight idea of what is about to happen. As the one below includes a picture of the character, it also gives the audience the opportunity to read his facial expressions.

The costumes used in Bullet Boy have strong connotations of what social realism films are about. Characters that wear “hoodies” are usually intimidating and seen as the “baddie”. However, the little brother Curtis in the films is regularly (as pictured) wearing a shirt which maybe says that he is not following in his brothers footsteps.  These are common within the genre, and have been since it was first established because it gives the characters a better sense of realism in contrast to the characters wearing suits, which would not make the film seem as real.

Finally, the props used in the film are those that relate to the social realism genre as they tie in with some of the themes used. Such as Gun crime and poverty, which are commonly used in many British social realism films;  as they  really establish  the genre and the narrative of the film. Some of these themes are what we will try and incorporate into our trailer to get the meaning across to our target audience.


Casting within the social realism genre is relatively similar, as the genre is still small a lot of the same actors are used by the same companies for different movies. This makes casting easier for the casting team as the genre is small but there is more than enough actors for every film. Commonly seen actors within the genre are;

Ashley Walters (Who stars in Bullet Boy)
Noel Clark
Kane Robinson
Cornell S John
Riz Ahmed

Even-though all of the names listed above are male actors, who usually make up the majority of the cast in all social realism films. Female actors are also normally used in these films to show either an escape route or a culprit in the trouble within the film. Female actors include;

Clare Perkins
Jaime Winstone
Kierston Wareing
Red Madrell

Created by Kortney Hudson