This nineteen minute short, is split into three different sections that individually focus on adolescence by capturing the essence of what is perceived to be hormonal and young.
The first section commences with a close up shot of a young male teenage lying asleep in his bed and this is interrupted by the diegetic sound of footsteps that are in high heeled shoes and a females voice gently calling the sleeping youth ‘honey’ and ‘babe’. An audience is then shown a large mug being placed on the protagonist’s bedside cabinet, by what I can assume is the youth’s mother, as we are only shown her arm and hand, followed by a slight glimpse of a floral skirt. She then draws open the curtains to allow the natural morning sunlight to stream into the bedroom and then she exits the frame. As the diegetic sound of her footsteps fade, we hear a door being closed followed by the sound of a vehicle engine starting up in the background. These elements of sound convey the idea that the youth’s mother is no longer in the house and she has gone out in her car. The mug that contained a hot drink symbolizes a token gesture to encourage the youth to get up.
The wallpaper that is displayed in the mise-en-scene has a retro 1970’s feel and this era is then reinforced by the design of the record player and by the newly purchased vinyl record the youth has chosen to listen to. However, in contrast the youth’s hair does not quite fit the indicated era. Although the 1970’s saw it fashionable for long hair, the early 1980’s depicted a new wave look. This look had a long lock of hair sweeping to one side across the face, whilst the rest of the hair was cut fairly short and this particular hairstyle ties this character to the aforementioned early 1980’s.
As the youth puts on a pair of new tight jeans, the era is then evident again highlighting the 1980’s; as it was more fashionable during the 1970’s to wear the flared look.
The next few editorial cuts, depict the teenager soaking up the loud repetitive instrumental sound of the record as he embarks in a wild form of dance. The music the youth is enjoying is representing his culture identity, a sense of belonging from within a culture group amongst society. The heavy base guitar sound indicates the punk movement. The identity of the punk culture stemmed from the 1970’s and it was also widely popular during the early part of the 1980’s as a major youth cultural phenomenon. The quick editorial cuts along with the slight jerkiness of the hand held coverage contribute by feeding the audience the youth’s energy as he dances briskly around his bedroom. The louder the tone of the fast hard edged music, the more in depth the energy is being portrayed, highlighting the representation of youthful rebellion.
As the teenager turns up the volume of the music he reaches for a camera that takes and produces instance photographs. Quite obsessed with his new found image, he takes two high up tilted photographs of himself, which would almost certainly display his half bare torso. The representation of this is his vanity and a link to sexuality, along with the desire to attract a mate. As he places the photos securely in a book and out of sight, an audience is shown that he has done this before as there is evidence, of other pictures. Subsequently this is conveying his secretive side that indicates there is more secretiveness to follow.
Sexuality is also present as a theme as the youth adjusts his jeans so that the top of his underpants are clearly seen and he delights into a fantasy world by using his belt as a tool. At first we are shown his use of the belt around his neck with his arms tightly folded across his chest indicating slavery – his way of saying he is under his parents rule. Next there is a close up shot of the belt tightly wrapped around his left arm, highlighting the use of drugs and finally a viewing audience would see him imitating the image of suicide by hanging. The drug shot along with the hanging shot are both typical teenage area’s that are widely covered by today’s media and in particular I can remember, back in 2008 fourteen teenagers, from Bridgend in South Wales, took their own lives by hanging themselves. Their deaths were believed to be part of an internet pact.
In the privacy of his own bedroom and with the belt still around his neck, he admiringly approaches a mirror, as if someone else was pulling the belt and leading him there. The image of two punks; one leading another on a lead was quite a typical scene during the punk era. Consequently, the protagonist is experimenting with the idea of becoming a punk which was an image that would have been acceptable amongst the stereotypical teenagers of that time. The brass door handle and in particular the brass light switch seen in the mise-en-scene at this point, strongly indicate that the director has most certainly tried to capture the 1980’s feel.
Once face to face with the mirror the youth dramatically mimics sexual advances towards himself, by kissing the mirror. The series of shots depicting this scene convey his sexual development of how is going through his adolescence stage of boy to man.
This section is clearly bought to an end by the perfect timing of a lingering note on an electric guitar and by the brief appearance of the youth’s father’s reflection in the mirror. The youth’s bubble of privacy bursts as his father stereotypically stares at him emotionlessly. This is a typical British theme which suggests embarrassment and awkwardness. The youth is then left feeling misunderstood and embarrassed as the diegetic sound of his father’s footsteps disappear down stairs. The final shot fades with the boy back in reality and looking directly at the closed door in disbelief because, he probably, initially thought he was alone in the house.
The main themes of representation within this section were culture image, age, gender and sexuality and this was widely represented by the use of props, sound and costume.
The second section of this film commences with a medium tripod shot of two girls chatting away. The girl who has her back to the camera has a deeper more mature voice than that of the girl who is sitting in her swimming costume. Their topic of conversation is about the blond girl’s boyfriend with the younger of the two girls’ inquisitively inquiring about kissing. The younger girl at this point, tells the older girl that the colour of her bikini does not suit her, but the older girl insists she likes the colour pink. I feel this remark was made to make the older girl lose a little confidence in herself, as the young girl was a bit jealous that the older girl had asked her boyfriend to join them for a swim. Maybe she was an attention seeker and liked to be the centre attention and the boy in question has now stolen her lime light. As the two girls approach the swimming lockers, it is clear that the older girl is used to looking after the younger one as she quickly takes the younger girls bag from her and places it in the same locker as her own bag. The costume choice here allows an audience to establish the age difference which is being represented between the two girls, as the older of the two is wearing a revealing bikini, whilst the younger one is fully covered up in a swimming costume. Other items also separate their age difference such as the earrings, necklaces and bracelets that the older of the two chooses to wear, while the younger one implements a more health and safety approach, by just wearing a swimming cap and goggles.
The diegetic sound of swimmers splashing around in the pool in the background give this series of editorial shots a realistic feel. This short then takes a different direction when the older of the two girls spitefully asks the younger one “When’s it due?” She then laughs and walks off. I believe this was her way of getting back at the other girl; for saying the colour of her swimming costume did not suit her, after all she had a boyfriend to impress! This particular shot is then cut to depict a close up shot of the young girls head and shoulders. Her various facial expressions show an audience how this insult has affected her and the director’s choice of shot cleverly conveys the seriousness of the impact. The main theme being represented here is age along with the issue of embarrassment and image.
Following on from the above shot, there is a dissolve transition shot, which is depicting the girl’s emptiness, but yet sympathetically, it has been done to move the storyline on. Immediately after this there is a shot introducing a male character, in which we can assume is the older girl’s boyfriend. As the boy washes his hands an audience is drawn to the fact that he is not what one would class as skinny, as this shot is highlighting and drawing attention to the middle section of his body. This contradicts the older girl’s insult to the younger one.
By the swimming pool edge an audience is shown the older girl sitting and dangling her feet into the pool, looking in anticipation towards the direction, in which she entered the pool area. She was either trying to see where the boy was or where the young girl was. The young male then makes a splashing entrance to the delight of the girl. A shot is then seen with the younger female peeping around a wall in the shower area, looking betrayed, upset and embarrassed to venture further than the spot she is on. Back in the pool the two older youths are happily kissing each other quite passionately. When the diegetic sound of a life guards whistle is heard the camera pans away from the kissing couple to focus downwards, onto the surface of the pool to depict its gentle ripples reflecting the natural sunlight that is streaming across the pool. At this precise moment the diegetic sound is paused to illustrate a movement in time.
The next few editorial cuts are in the shower area and one particular wide shot of the younger girl is highlighting her isolation and loneliness away from the other two characters. This is then followed by a high angled shot showing the older girl and boy lazily floating on their backs in the pool, portraying a carefree attitude. The younger girl is then seen in a series of close up shots, firstly holding and feeling a packet of crisps. Secondly, her head and shoulders are shown displaying body language and facial expressions of anxiety and thirdly the focus is on her stomach area, to indicate the girl is thinking and contemplating there temptation. These shots, along with her diegetic sighs of boredom, summarise up the affect, the critical remark had on her. Through her innocence she longs to eat the crisps, but draws back the temptation. This situation is highlighting a typical media topic of the ever increasing anorexic problem faced by teenagers and it is proportionately experienced by girls in particular. For this reason it has been criticised that size zero models should not be seen in girlie magazines, as they could contribute and encourage anorexic behaviour.
Back in the pool, there are several cuts depicting, that young love never runs smoothly. These are shown as a maturity divide, as the young male fools around at the expense of older girls welfare. An underwater shot effectively conveys this message to an audience as we are shown the facial expression of panic. As a result the young male is left with the consequences of his actions and his social image is destroyed as he, clearly is not on the same wave length as the girl. The scene is then transferred to the changing room, where the young girl is now eating her crisps and drinking a bottle of orange Fanta. For the first time from within this section we can see that the labels on these props are from the present day, so we know the setting was to be established for today’s society. The final shot of the girl eating conveys a positive note of irony to the audience, because she simply does not care.
The main themes for this section related to age and gender, which touched on the issues of maturity and sexuality. Its representation was through the mise-en-scene, sound and camera.
The third section of this short commences with a high angle shot that introduces the three male characters charging up the stairwell of a bus. At the top deck of the bus a male is seen, approaching the stairwell and carrying a small child that is wearing an animal mask. The next shot depicts the three youths at the back of the bus, shouting foul language and offering rude finger gestures to an outside gang that we presume were chasing them. The contrast between both the shots suggests a representation of age. The young child wearing the mask depicts age and innocence and although the youths depict the representation of age, it is the culture identity of the group being identified here with its stereotypical style of violence and rebellion.
All three youths are wearing their school uniform in a manner that is not acceptable by most head teachers. Their top buttons are undone, their ties are very short with large loose knots and the two dark skinned youths both wear a large sparkly earring in their right ear. The youth in the middle chooses to wear his cap with its peak at the back. This costume effect is depicting their image and a sense of belonging to a group. The middle youths cap is defining his status as the more authoritative youth of the three and this is enhanced by the close up editorial sequence that clearly focuses on the youth in question.
The close up shot of the white male holding a knife is showing his strength and also an indication that he has a weakness. Many newspapers within today’s society cover instances where knives have been used to harm innocent victims and most of these stories are associated with inner city gang warfare. The way the media portray certain issues, basically mislead the older, more vulnerable generation to believe that all teenagers are stereotypical and cannot be trusted.
The regional identity of the group is very apparent within this section as an audience would establish the characters speaking with a broad London accent accompanied with various slang words. The middle youth makes references to two 1980’s films ‘Terminator’ and ‘Rambo’, both of which have a violent content. He continually asks the white youth whose name is now established as ‘John’ to give him the knife and loudly repeats “Does he think he is Rambo?” John reluctantly replies “No”. As the three males take a moments silence; three young females, all dressed in the same working uniform sit down and in the next sequence of editorial shots the representation of gender and sexuality is strongly indicated. The three boys gaze silently at the chatting females. The camera focuses on the middle dominant youth with a close up, before it pans to the left to show a youth asking the dominant youth “You like em girls enit man?” The camera then pans quickly to the right, as the white youth then declares “Na, he’s gay, how can he like girls?” An argument and boyish fight then breaks out, because the dominant male has been made to feel small. The hand held coverage here is creating tension as the white youth fights for his breath. The fight is then interrupted by the diegetic sound of a polyphonic ringtone from a mobile phone. This ringtone clarifies the era this section is set in, as modern day and typically from within today’s society.
The two dark youth’s then begin to squabble about answering the phone, while the camera focuses with close up coverage of the white male inhaling an asthma pump. This is showing his weakness, which counter balances his strength. He sees his knife as a different approach to dominance, basically as a way of protection.
The dominant male begins to become more violent and aggressive towards the other dark youth, but this is interrupted by a stare from a male stranger who is disgusted by their behaviour. As the stranger turns around to face the front of the bus, he shakes his head. This body language encodes although he is appalled and astounded by the behaviour, he does not want any trouble and so decides to ignore the situation.
The dominant bully male, then tries to persuade John to stab the stranger, but the stranger exits the bus in disgust after being hit by an empty drinks can that was subsequently thrown by the dominant male. This particular section is highlighting the issues of crime and violence within society from culture gang members.
As John gets up from his seat to view out of the opposite window, he is grabbed by the bully, who places a plastic bag tightly over his head. John tries to struggle and asks the dominant bully to leave him along, but this is to no avail. As John suffers from asthma the theme here is showing his disability. An audience is then drawn to a close up shot of John flicking open his pocket knife and at this point all the background diegetic sounds are ceased. The film concludes with a close up shot and diegetic sound of the empty drinks can, rolling around on the floor of the bus.
The cans significance at the end of the film leaves an enquiring audience to question what will happen next. It is the Directors way of saying something is happening, but we are not going to show you; to leave an audience with an open end of possible outcomes.
All three sections of this short represent age, gender, sexuality and culture image, but the main theme running throughout each section is teen pressure. The first section indicates the young male’s attitude to look good in order to be admired. The second section focuses on an image look to be body beautiful and how pressure can be applied and the third section depicts dominance and the pressure to comply.
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