In the clip from 'Monarch Of The Glen' the representation of age is presented to re-inforce the stereotype that young people are reckless and careless and shows adults and the elderly having power over youth. The 4 areas that show this representation on-screen are Mis-en-scene, camera, sound and editing.
Mis-en-scene
The location of the scene is important. It is set in an mansion which is a stereotype of adults. A mansion can be seen as a location of authority. Costumes in the scene include the elderly man who crashes his car. He is dressed in a tweed suit, which implies he takes pride in his appearance. This is a juxtaposition to the stereotype of youth who don't take pride in their appearance. The props used in the clip are tools, which are associated with hard work. In the clip, only adults and the elderly use tools which signifies that the older generation are hard working compared to the stereotype of youth. Another prop is the car which symbolizes maturity since only adults can drive. When the young girl tries to drive, she crashes showing that she is reckless and careless, a stereotype of youth. It also shows that she is not mature. Another example of location is the young girls room which is coloured pink, which clashes with the rest of the mansion which has a brown colour scheme. This symbolizes the division between youth and adults.
Camera
Low angle shots are used when the adult man is disciplining the young girl. This shows that the adult man has power over the young girl. This reinforces the clip's representation of adults being powerful. The clip uses medium shots throughout the scene but when the young girl runs away, the style changes to close ups. This symbolizes the emotion of the young girl and youth in general. The medium panning shots of the adults and elderly building things shows equality between the two age groups. This shows that the clip is focused on adults and elderly having power over youth rather than conflict between adult and elderly.
Sound
The dialogue used when the young girl is whispering to herself how to drive is a symbol of uncertainty found in the youth stereotype. In contrast, the elderly man who crashes his car talks eloquently which shows he is mature which contrast with the two age groups of youth and elderly. Another example of dialogue is the young girl screaming I hate you at the adult man. This shows irrationality in the youth stereotype in the clip.The foley used symbolises hard work with tools clanging and people working together when the adults and elderly are on screen. This furthers the stereotype of these two age groups being hard working whilst youth are not. The music used when the girl runs away from home is sad, symbolising the changing of emotion in the young girl. This is contrast to when the adult man gets emotional (angry) at the girl for lying to him, where no music plays. This shows that emotion in youth is presented more irrationally.
Editing
Adults and the elderly have the most screentime in the clip, which is a aspect of composition. This could symbolise that the clips feels that these two age groups are the most important and that youth should have less screentime. There is a motivated cut when the young girl crashes the car and it cuts to the elderly man who starts shouting at her. This is another example of an older age group having power not only in the scene, but in the structure of the clip.
"The clip uses medium shots throughout the scene" - why? Aged meaning?
ReplyDelete"The music used when the girl runs away from home is sad, symbolising the changing of emotion in the young girl." - could you develop this? isn't rather self indulgent and drama queen to do this?
Some good points linked well to stereotypes of age. To access the higher marks you need to expand on your examples - editing has very little and will restrict your marks. Similarly the soundtrack and foley can be developed when discussing composition - it is difficult to get the higher marks when you are separating the examples out like this as they work together. Change your approach to how you are writing your response to cover all elements in each scene. See examples on the blog.
To improve:
Revise and learn your terminology - easy marks to be had here
Look at the more sophisticated structure of the essay response
http://www.slideshare.net/MrSouthworth/exemplar-response-g322-tv-drama-and-audiences-and-institutions-film
Predict the edits: Pace, shot rev shot, etc.
AAE 16/20
EX 13/20
T 6/10
35/50 B3