'Top Boy' deconstruction

The following clip is from the Channel 4 urban drama 'Top Boy'.

• The clip begins with the older character calling out to the schoolboy. A wide angle shot of the older character is followed by a close up shot of the schoolboy's face. The juxtaposition between the two camera angles of the characters reflects the differences between the two within the plot line of the clip and how they are viewed by the audience. The wide angle shot connotes how the older character is more detached and has an unwanted presence in the view of the schoolboy and other characters in the scene- the opposite of how the close up shot of the boy's face reflects how he is closer to the audience as he is vulnerable. 

• The way the older character is presented as being 'unwanted' is reflected within the parallel diegetic dialogue between the two where the older character uses profanities and puts clear pressure on the schoolboy to leave school and "chill with us".

• A over the shoulder shot of the two characters talking brings the audience closer into the characters' interaction.

• After the schoolboy defies the older character's orders and tries to return to school, a close up shot of both characters shows the older character violently grab the schoolboy as the camera reflects the fast-paced actions depicted in the scene by moving in the same deliberate way. This connotes the violence and danger shown within the sequence.

• As the schoolboy flees the scene and the older character starts to chase him, non-diegetic music starts. The background music is moderately fast-paced which again reflects the danger the schoolboy is in. 

• A close up shot of the schoolboy's mobile phone is shown on the floor which he has dropped whilst being chased. The shot also shows the phone ringing as someone tries to ring the schoolboy from school after learning of the violent and dangerous events earlier in the sequence. This emphasises the schoolboy's predicament and the image of the lost mobile phone also reflects the schoolboy's situation of perhaps being lost in unwanted circumstances.

• One of the final shots of the sequence shows the older character looking over a garden wall after the schoolboy loses his pursuer in the chase. This shot is a high-angle shot from the window of a nearby house as well a POV shot of a man viewing the situation from above.