The introductory scene of the TV drama Skins establishes several stereotypical representations of teenagers. Shots show teenagers kissing at a party and engaging in other typical behaviors. The scene then focuses on the main character Tony, showing him exercising in his tidy bedroom. His neighbor sees him watching her change clothes but does not seem to mind. Various shots are used to represent different characters - a close-up of Tony's father yelling aggressively, a long shot of Tony's messy friend still in bed. Through its camerawork, editing, sound, and mise-en-scene, this opening scene both plays with and subverts common stereotypes of teenagers and families to introduce the characters.

1. -1Analysing TV Drama
The Intro of Skins is music video like with scenes of Teenagers kissing, having a party and many
other things that stereotypical teenagers do. The non-diegetic sound in the intro is a soundtrack
that represents teenagers you would not hear it in a TV Drama that represents elder people. At
the start of the series Tony is laying in his bed as soon as his alarm rings he gets up and starts
exercising in his room and gets ready for school. When his wrist watch rings he looks out the
window and sees his female neighbour changing her clothes. She notices his looks and does not
mind, he does not mind that she sees him in his underwear either. Then we see his sister in typical
party clothes, she gazes up at Tony and waits for him to let her in. When he sees her he turns on
rock music so loud that his dad runs into the room yelling, Tony gives his sister a hand sign. This is
when we are introduced to Tony father in a comedic way. His Father is also in his underwear and
swears and yells at him by the things he says we notice that this happens everyday. His sister
manages to get into her room and change her clothes without her father noticing. Afterwards
Tony is in the bathroom reading a book and again his dad interferes and argues with him. After
breakfasting Tony gets out of the house he starts calling his friends, which introduces us to them.
We are shown who they are, how they are and were they live. He seems to be organising a party.
Use of camera
The series starts with a XCU in a high angle of Tony (the main character) laying in his bed to show
us his facial expression/emotions and to give us a closer look at the characters make up, hair and
other details of his face. The next relevant shot is a MCU of Tony in front of the mirror at the
latest now we have noticed that he is the main character and we have also learned that he is
probably obsessed with his looks. This goes along with the stereotype that teenagers really care
about their appearance. Another shot which is also shows us a “typical” age representation is the
LS shot of his friends messy room who is too lazy to get up for school. There are two other shots
which are relevant in representing adults. Firstly there is the CU of Tony father yelling and
swearing which we connote with aggressive behaviour somehow this is against the way how parents
are usually stereotyped. Secondly there is a LS of a Lady (Tonys neighbour) standing naked in
front of her closet not minding that a teenager is watching her, no she even starts flirting with
him this is a “typical” desire of most teenage boys and also tells us that she maybe desperate. We
can see a low angle shot in the kitchen of the father looking “down” at Tony we can tell that he
feels like he is taken for granted. The first camera movement that we see is a zoom out from an
XCU where Tony lays in his bed, this reveals the mis-en-scene. A characteristic camera movement
is the tracking shot of Tony walking to school and talking at the phone to his friends. We can
notice that he is walking quickly and it makes us feel like we are following him.
Editing
We see an eyeline-match where Tony stands in front of his window and admires his female
neighbour. So first we see him looking at something and then we can see it to with a cut to an over

2. the shoulder shot. This scene is very typical for teenage TV-Dramas, there is always the under
aged boy flirts with older lady and both enjoy it. At the start there is a Ellipsis of Tony exercising
which can also be called a “Jump cut scene” it gives the part a music video like atmosphere and
gives it more speed. It underlines his activeness and shows how athletic he is.
Sound
The first thing we hear when we see Tonys eyes is church bells ringing we can not really tell
whether it is diegetic or non-diegetic, it almost seems like he is dead. Then his alarm rings (off-
screen sound) and he jumps out of the bed what we usually don’t expect from a teenage boy. As he
starts doing his exercise energetic youngsters music starts(non-diegetic sound). Later on we hear
loud rock music and his dead comes into the room and yells which makes you feel like he is trying
to fight the music he obviously doesn’t like it.
Mise-en-scene
The opening scene starts in Tonys room we can clearly see how neatly his bed is and how clean and
tidy the entire room is. This is actually not what we expect it shows him as being organised, clean
athletic and even intellectual we can assume this from the scene where we see him sitting in the
bathroom reading the philosophical novel nausea. From the greatness of his room, the wooden
floor, his clothes, the house that he lives in we can suggest that his family is middle class. Another
prop used is his phone with which he stays connected to his friends as usually all teenagers do.
Looking at all this we can assume that this 4 minute long aspect from the drama plays with
stereotypes and also shows us something which are against some of our everyday stereotypes for
teenagers and or adults/their parents.