Task 4:Independent film 71

Task 3:Case study:The Minions

Representation of Age: Skins

Representation of Age-Skins

Within the mise en scene the producers use costumes to convey messages about their ideologies of the representation of age. We see the 'chav' costumes on the boys who arrive late, contrasted with the posher,richer costumes of the hosts of the house party. These contrast further with the grungy dark costume of Sid and again with Cassie's gold dress and flowing hair. On first reading, the chav image seems to conform to the stereotypes- the director is feeding the audience with a representation of age which we expect.It does not challenge us to think beyond this stereotype. However, the multiple representations also suggests the ideology that the stereotypes are wrong; there are many different 'types' of teenagers, whose difference should be celebrated (but perhaps are not by society).

Within the mise en scene the producers use props to convey messages about their ideologies of the representation of age. The trampoline is a prop when we see Cassie jumping on it; this symbolizes youth as it is a activity that mostly children take part in. This is juxtaposition as it implies that life shouldn't be this complicated for teenagers they should be having fun. Showing that teenagers are forced to grow up. This is also implied when Cassie faints and Sid drags her of the trampoline to help her. This could be perceived that he is taking her innocence and youth away from her by dragging her down. But obviously he is trying to help her cause she has overdosed in pills, this conforms to the stereotype of teenagers making mistakes, being immature, and taking drugs. However it subverts to the stereotype of teenagers being selfish when Sid is helping her.

Within the sound the producers use diagetic, off screen sounds to convey messages about their ideologies of the representation of age such as laughing and heavy breathing. This happens just before we see Cassie jumping on the trampoline. At first the sound of heavy breathing and laughing conforms to the stereotypes of teenagers as it tricks us into thinking she is having sex as we cannot see her therefore playing on our stereotypes of promiscuous teens. But actually she is just bouncing on a trampoline which is a completely innocent action. This could show that teenagers are forced to grow up to fast and behave in a adult way, but they are still children and should be allowed to do children like activities.Therefore this challenges the audience to reflect on their views on teenagers, by looking beyond the stereotypes and reconsidering.

There is also diagetic, contrapuntal sound at the party. This is a clashing of sounds as there are multiple things happening for example mixture of sounds of  glasses smashing, music, people fighting, shouting, flirting and laughing. All these sounds create chaos, and some use foley sounds to empathize the sound. This could give us an impression that teenagers lives are like a whirlwind, this could make the audience realize what some teenagers go through on a daily basis. The party scene and then outside scene show contrast in teenagers, reiterating the fact that each teenager is different and has different struggles in life. For example it is clear that Cassie suffers from depression and in this scene she overdoses in pills. But at the party there are people going through arguments and having fights with people. This subverts and conforms to the stereotypes of teenagers as some follow the stereotypes and some do not.

The editing is fast pace when the characters are fighting at the party, the camera work is non-steady when the fight is taking place and there a multiple shots with fast transition. This is showing the point of view from the characters perspective at the party. Whereas in the outside scene the pace is slow and there are only a few transitions as there are not many shots. The producers convey the message that some teenagers lives are fast pace and complicated, but some are slow pace or maybe that they can only do things at slow pace. As they are not mentally ready to multitask and cannot cope with everything all at once.This subverts the stereotype by showing sympathy for the teenagers who are struggling, Empathizing again that they are too young to live complicated lives.

Representation of Disability - Coming down the mountain

Representation of disability- Coming down the mountain

In ‘coming down the mountain’ disability is presented as a burden and as something we should sympathize with. There are various examples of this, shown through editing, camera work, mise en scene, and sound.

The editing of ‘coming

 down the mountain’ is sl ow pace, mainly in the part where Ben is on the bus by himself on his way home and there is chaos around him. We see that he is confused and seems to be slow compared to everyone else. This makes us think that disabled people are slower than everyone else which can be seen as offensive. Also through this we see Ben’s point of view of living with a disability and his lack of understanding. From this we can empathize with Ben and feel sorry for him, his view point is shown after David’s, this could be implied that it is harder for disabled people to express their points of view.

The editing is also straightforward and in chronological throughout the clip, this means that what happens, happens to most people every day. Therefore they wake up, have breakfast, go out and come home then go to bed. This shows that the life of Ben and David and their family is repetitive and they have a set routine of life and that living with someone with a disability causes the careers to have unending responsibility to look after them. This presents disability as a burden and makes us feel sympathy for the careers who have to consistently supportive.

Due to the editing the speed of transitions vary but are mainly fast. For example in the section where Ben, David and one of David’s friends are in the playground discussing a party and multiple children are running out of school and having various conversations. In this section Ben is just standing in the playground confused as everything is happening to fast for him to understand what is going on. The shot transitions are so fast that even us as the audience feel a bit confused and don’t understand what some children are saying. The fast transitions shows that Ben symbolizes confusion, stress and being different to everyone else. This makes us feel empathy for Ben as he is surrounded by chaos and not coping with the stress of not understanding. This presents disability as something we should sympathize with.

The camera work of ‘coming down the mountain’ using a variation of angles, frames and shots including movement. There is a high angle, point of view shot with a layer over the top. Showing a target using the editing effect. This is from David’s view point, from his bedroom and he is holding a toy gun which is aimed at Ben. This can link back to the very beginning of the clip where the first words we hear are David saying ‘This summer I decided to kill my brother’ showing David’s anger and intolerance with Ben’s condition and behaviour. Due to the high angle shot, with Ben being below David, this implies that disabled people are lower down in society and are looked down on. The point of view being from David shows that it is tough coping living with a disabled person, this makes us feel empathy for David. This also shows that disabled people can also be a target for bullying.

Ben is also normally in the middle of the frame, this is shown when he and David are waiting at the bus stop and Ben is in the middle for David and a stranger. This implies that Ben gets the majority of attention and is the most important. Although David is in the middle of the frame frequently as he is the main character. Ben is incapable of being presented as the main character due to his disability, therefore it is mainly about how David copes with Ben. This represents disability as being a burden but also something we should empathise with as David is jealous of the attention Ben needs and gets.

There are many close up shots of Ben showing his deformity which can be seen as offensive as it doesn’t show anything else about him, and is mainly just a shot of his face. We see this shot after the aerial shot of both Ben and David at the beginning. This could symbolise that all we see when we look or think about a disabled person is what they can’t do rather than what they can do. This means we therefore single them out as they are unable to do some activities. This presents disability as being different to everything else and causes people to be unable to do somethings, therefore they stand out.

The actors are all seen to be taller than Ben, therefore they look down on him as if he is a low life. For example at the beginning of ‘coming down the mountain’ there is an aerial shot of Ben asleep showing that he is looked down on………………………

The sound from ‘coming down the mountain’ consists of a large amount of dialogue from David’s perspective of living with Ben, this happens throughout the clip. The dialogue from David is negative and shows his jealously of Ben and his selfish behaviour. The dialogue presents disability as a burden again, which makes us feel sorry for David as he is struggling to cope with the lack of attention he gets. An example of this is when the family are all having breakfast and Ben is greedy with the cereal because of this David gets annoyed as he believes it is unfair that there is one rule for him and different rules for Ben. But no one is sympathetic towards David’s feelings, therefore to David, Ben is just a pain. Just like the section where David is told he must clean up after Ben has been to the toilet because he is his brother and should look after him. This again presents disability as a hard thing to cope with as a career.

The sound is contrapuntal in ‘coming down the mountain’ as there are multiple sounds such as Foley sounds, emotional parallel music and the voice over being presented all at the same time. This presents disabilities as being confusing and hard to understand as a career. This makes us feel empathy for disabled people as they are also confused and lack understating, but careers and other people don’t actually understand them either. An example of this is at the very beginning during the aerial shot of Ben and David, we can hear the background music which is contrapuntal and the voice over from David clashing with each other.

The voice over is used frequently and presented throughout the clip showing us David’s point of view, the speech is aggressive and non-diegetic.

The sound uses depressing music when Ben is getting the bus home by himself, this shows that emotion is very important within the sound of the clip. In this section the main focus is on Ben as he is the main person in the frame and he is the person we feel sorry for. But we can’t relate to Ben as all we see is his behaviour he never presents his views and is overshadowed by David as we can still hear David’s voice over in the background. This shows that it is harder for disabled people to express their views and they can get ignored as other people may be more dominant.

The mise en scene in ‘coming down the mountain’ presents the actors as wearing the costumes you would expect them too, so David is a typical teenage boy, and their parents wear what you would expect them to. But Ben stands out for his costume choice as he may not understand fashion. This is shown when they are at school as we can see the comparison between Ben and the older children. Although I think this is common with disabled people as they just don’t understand how fashion works or how people believe it is correct to dress. I don’t think it faeces disabled people, as they don’t always have the same mind set as everybody else. An example of this would be that they may have jack ups cause they don’t know that it is seen as socially unacceptable.

In ‘coming down the mountain’ a prop used to present the characters is Ben and David’s bedroom. We see this on the first shot as we can see the entire room due to the aerial shot. David’s side represents a mature adult as his bed is black and white. Whereas Ben’s bed is more childish which shows that he has not matured yet and is still interested in colourful objects rather than black and white objects. This shows the difference between a disabled teenager and a non-disabled teenager, implying that Ben is behind David in his level off maturity. This presents disability as almost childish and immature. Therefore a negative and something we should pity, although some people may look down on people who have disabilities. Just like how many people would look down on a child as they are immature and haven’t grown up.

‘Coming down the mountain’ is set in a rundown area and small house. Some scenes are set in the neighbourhood for example the bus stop scene, and some in the school. The setting shows that disabilities can happen to everyone and that it is normal and common.  Ben also goes to the same school as David, this shows the difference between Ben compared to other children. Also that in this case Ben doesn’t go to a different school where he would be in the same situation as everyone else, and that he gets the support and attention that he needs at that school. ‘Coming down the mountain’ therefore shows that people can be disabled people in any social class that go to any school, meaning that disability is a normal thing that anyone can have. The setting is verisimilitude, meaning it is similar to the truth, therefore we can relate to the setting and it makes sense.

In conclusion disability is represented using these four sections that make up a TV drama. Disability can be displayed as a burden, as immature, and as frustrating. But also something we should pity, that is normal and can happen to anyone. We also feel some empathy for the people involved as it must be difficult and complicated to understand and cope with.