The film opens with a group of youths playing football. The walls behind them are covered in graffiti, here the mise-en-scene of set design communicates class/status of the area along with the people but there is also a typical link between youths and graffiti. When the title ‘cubs’ comes up, shortly after a red outline of a fox appears, the red here connotes several things including blood, death and corruption all of which are evident within cubs.
We next cut to a hand held medium shot of a boy and a girl sitting on a wall. The mise-en-scene of costume for both is tracksuit coat, jewellery etc, again typical of youths in today’s society. Due to the several close-up shots of the boy, similar within Antonio’s breakfast we become aware they are waiting for someone. The boy asks does she need to be in and she says ages ago, this shows her age as she has to be home at a certain time. This cuts to a medium shot of 3 males, one of which we automatically identify with being the leader due to his attire, he’s wearing jeans, a baseball cap and a red jacket, linking this to the title we could presume the two are related and he is behind the whole thing.
This cuts back to the boy and girl in which a focus pull is used to show both reactions. As the gang leader enters he kicks the gate open, possibly to evoke a response which it does as everyone stops playing football and lines up. The gang leader walks to the end and through a mixture of over the shoulder shots and POVs we watch as he examines them. When one boy attempts to talk to him he tells them to shut up! However when he gets to the boy he says ‘alright Carl’ and the gang leader nods emphasizing what’s confirmed later that they know each other. When the gang leader gets to the girl he say’s ‘what you doing here’ showing him as being sexist.
As we near the end of the queue everyone nods as he goes past as if they want approval from him. Finally as he gets to the end he nods at one boy and says ‘come’ and walks of. Everyone starts shouting that they didn’t get picked. The boy won’t accept this and starts running followed by the girl after the gang leader shouting ‘Carl’. He turns around and yells ‘What’ then he tells the others to go on and he’ll catch up. He turns around and in a colloquial manner say’s ‘what’s up bruv?’ He responds by saying ‘I fort your supposed to be looking out for me’ again as earlier we know they know each other some how. He laughs and says ‘You’re big man now’ then walks of and say’s ‘see you later, done be late’ showing he has authority within the conversation as well as in general. This cuts to the boy’s happy expression and him asking if he can bring ‘Davis’ he responds’ by saying ‘bring the boy’. The girl repeats ‘boy’ and then looks down. As the gang leader walks away in the background a red bus goes past symbolizing they are situated within the London borough.
We next see an elision of time, its mid-evening about 5 or 6 o’clock. Non-diegetic sound of a car alarm is n the background. As we watch the boy and girl behind rails we start symbolizing with prison which forebodes they are about to do something illegal. We cut to a POV of what the boy and girl looking down at an entrance to a tunnel surrounded by people. Then we watch as they walk down towards them in which we witness several people smoking and drinking. This cuts to a close-up of someone rolling a cigarette then lighting it and smoking the person coughs, which suggests that is may be weed. We next cut to a close-up of an exchange of money. Again symbolizing illegal activity is taking place and puts it to be an important theme/issue within this film.
In the background we can hear non-diegetic dialogue coming from the girl in which she is saying ‘I’ll show um what I’m really made of’. Next we watch as the gang leader strolls in along with 2 bull dogs on a lead. The girl continues her monologue to herself in the background. The gang leader starts heading towards them carrying a bat and says ‘If you Fuck up tonight you’re on your own’ here the 180 degree rule is used to show the boys expression along with the gang leaders. The gang leader warns him to ‘keep his eyes open for the feds because he doesn’t want to get nicked like his brother’. This finally establishes why he has to look after him, because he got his brother arrested.
The gang leader walks away and shouts ‘Oi’ everyone starts to move, shouting and the dogs can be heard. A lower body shot shows the leader going into his pocket and take out a gun and shoot at the floor. Everyone starts running; quick cuts are used to show them slow down as well as a fox, then them running after the fox in order to show their urgency. These are also cut with the dogs growling suggesting something will happen between the fox and dogs.
As they close in on the fox, the gang leader shout’s slow down, these cuts to a POV of the fox. We next see the boy go into hit it, but the fox goes under the fence. Everyone starts screaming at him, diegetic music starts playing and the boy walks away. Other people start to fade as music gets louder. The boy spots the fox, stares for a moment, looks behind at the gang then back at the fox and then shouts he has found the fox. They all start running and jumping over a fence and down an alley way, on the way they nearly knock over an old lady who looks shaken. A car alarm is heard going off. This cuts to the fox, the dogs have caught up and they are growling. As they approach the fox they start ripping it apart. Everyone looks on, the gang leader starts kicking it, and the fox lets out a squeal. This cuts to the girl covering her mouth which then cuts to the fox dying on the floor torn apart.
