The document discusses how age is represented in the British TV series Skins through the use of camerawork, sound, editing, and mise-en-scene. It provides several examples of how these technical elements portray differences in age and status between teenage characters and adult teacher characters. Camera angles and shot types make the teachers appear more dominant and important compared to the students. The language used by students and teachers also reflects stereotypical age differences. Costumes, expressions, and props help establish the personas associated with teenagers versus authority figures.

1. Skins – Sequence Evaluation.
Discuss the representation of age within the sequence of Skins.
Make reference to:
• Camerawork.
• Sound.
• Editing.
• Mise-en-scene.
Within the sequence of Skins, age is certainly represented in various ways through
the use of Camerawork, Sound, Editing, and Mise-en-scene. Age is also represented
in a general fashion, evidently through ‘normal’ stereotyping being present within
the program, such as Teachers being ‘mental’ and totally not ‘down to Earth’, while
the Students are completely ‘down to Earth’ with no sense of care at all, and think of
the Teachers as being almost ‘mentally deluded’. On the technical side of things
though, the use of Camerawork within the particular sequence contributes towards
this representation of age. Within the first minute or so just after Jal and her Teacher
have finished playing music, and when the male Teacher comes for Jal, a long shot is
used to allow us to see all of the characters in the shot. However, the way that the
scene is set out makes it so that Jal is placed in the further right hand side of the
shot, while the teachers are more towards the center of the frame and are focused
on more, this perhaps give connotations of Jal being less important due to her
Student status and of course lower age, while the Teachers are more dominant due
to their higher status of a Teacher, and higher age - a general stereotype that is given
to Schooling, definitely representing the difference that age tends to make. Further
on within the sequence, when the setting changes to the Head-Teacher’s Office, a
mid shot is used as Jal is walking through the door, showing nothing other than Jal’s
seemingly uncomfortable emotion, whereas an establishing shot is used for framing
the Head-Teacher, showing her whole office and everything contained within it. This
potentially gives connotations of feelings of intimidation felt by Jal, and certainly
says something about status and age yet again, stating that Jal has a lower status,
and is less important due to her young Student persona, whilst the Head-Teacher
detains a high status due to her adult-age, Head-Teacher persona. Also while within
the Head-Teachers Office when conversation is taking place, an uncomfortable and
claustrophobic sense of feeling is created through the use of many tight close-ups
and nothing but close-ups, to give connotations of these feelings of
uncomfortableness, claustrophobia and awkwardness, reinforcing the earlier
statement of Jal feeling intimidated by the Head-Teacher, and to also show that
feelings of tenseness and uncomfortableness occur between Students and Teachers,
as Students don’t tend to like talking to Teachers, and often feel uncomfortable
when doing so. On the other side of things, while Jal and her friend are in the
bedroom, the total opposite of this happens, as uses of camera framing appear a lot
more open and comfortable, and also give connotations of feelings of freedom felt
by Jal now that she is out of the Head-Teacher’s Office and perhaps School in
general. This yet again evidently represents age within the sequence.

2. The use of Sound within the sequence also helps to represent age, such as the
evident differences between the language of the Students and that of the Teachers.
The Students, well at least Jal’s friend, tends to use bad and inappropriate language,
such as the word “f*cking” and the phrase “I look shaggable…”, definitely a general
cliché of teenagers attitudes, whereas the Teachers never use inappropriately
deemed language, and even more so the Head-Teacher speaks very ‘poshly’ and
formally, and detains a sense of her being stuck up very much so, a common cliché of
Teachers/adults and their attitudes. While in the Head-Teacher’s Office the sound of
her pen scribbling when writing is enhanced greatly, adding more and more to her
persona, and making her seem like she’s very important and is doing very important
work, reinforcing the seemingly more important and higher status of Teachers over
Students, due to their differences in age and status.
I couldn’t pick out much Editing being present within the sequence, but the Editing
that I did pick out does most certainly add more to this representation of age.
Although focus pulls are a very simple Editing technique, this particular one evident
within the sequence is still very important to this whole representation of age; when
conversation is taking place in the Head-Teacher’s Office, the male Teacher talks, but
as soon as he finishes talking he is immediately and very apparently taken out of
focus through the use of a focus pull, this gives connotations of him cringingly ‘not
belonging’ there, a general stereotype that some Teachers retain, and shows that Jal
has the same thoughts on him, yet again a common stereotypical opinion that
Students tend to have on Teachers.
The use of Mise-en-scene throughout the entirety of the sequence contributes
towards this representation of age, and contributes very much so. Perhaps the most
obvious thing that shows age and the variation of it between the evident characters
is the costume that they are wearing; Students are freely wearing typical teenage
fashioned clothing such as Hoodies, T-Shirts, Jeans etc., whereas Teachers are
wearing smarter and more formal clothing, such as Dresses and Suits etc. This is very
important to note. Another element of Mise-en-scene that contributes towards this
representation of age is the persona’s that the different characters and cults of
characters retain; the Teachers within the sequence are either a bit ‘mentally
deluded’, or quite horrible, which are general opinions that Students tend to have
upon Teachers, whereas the Students all seem to be totally normal and completely
‘down to Earth’, typical opinions that teenagers tend to have upon themselves. The
expression that the characters show within the sequence are rather important to
notice when looking at the representation of age, an example of this being that
during conversation within the Head-Teacher’s Office, the Head-Teacher puts her
head down but looks at Jal over the top of her glasses quite a bit, a very patronising
act to carry out, this certainly says something about the status of the Head-Teacher
due to her position and age, and the relationship that Jal and her have, and
reinforces the general patronising attitude that Teachers apparently tend to have
towards Students. The props that are presently used within the sequence are very
important to contributing towards the representation of age, two scenes that
effectively use props are number one, the Head-Teacher’s Office scene; which shows
off everything within the Head-Teacher’s Office and the fact that it is organised

3. greatly, such as a neatly organised desk with lots of office equipment on it, neatly
framed certificates on the wall, and so on so forth, enhancing the Head-Teacher’s
status as being very important and high up, more specifically higher up than Jal’s,
due to her age and position, and number two, the Bedroom scene; in which general
props such as a T.V, a teddy-bear, disorganised hair and beauty products, and
clothes are evident, all of these being general things that Teenagers tend to own and
have within their bedrooms – both of these use of apparent props reinforce the
representation of age.
Ryan Ward.