Skins Representation

Tony:



In the first scene in Skins episode 1 season 1 were introduced to the character Tony as they use a zoom shot coming away from his face, The shot  is of him in his bed awake lying in bed perfectly in the middle with not a crease in the bed sheet, also he is awake before his alarm goes of. This makes Tony come across as a very controlling and has a very constructed and organised life style which is unusual for someone his age. Tony is also represented as very narcissistic, as soon as the alarm goes of he then jumps out of bed and starts working which means he cares about the way he looks and after he has worked out he looks at himself in the mirror and starts flexing his muscles pouting and sticking his tongue out at himself which again shows that he is narcissistic. He also has a watch with an alarm which tells him when the women across the road is getting dressed this again shows that he is very controlling, obsessive and has a pacific routine, he then gazes at her lustfully as she gets dressed and she knowing that she could turn around at anytime but he doesn't care, showing that he is full of himself and arrogant. 

Tony is also represented as your stereo typical rebellious teenager, not doing what his dad tells him to do, his dad is shouting and swearing at him to turn the music down but he pretends to not hear/understand what he is saying. As his also rebellious sister Effy comes home from a night out she can sneak back into the house to get dressed at school and does not snitch on her, this shows that him and his sister have a close relationship and help each other out as he probably does the same as her. Another way that Tony is shown as a rebellious teenager is when his dad is shouting at him to hurry up and get out the bath room. He purposely climbs out the window and slides down the drain pipe so his Dad still thinks his he is in there, he then comes down stairs to find out he's not. This makes his Dad even more angry and annoyed at him and also now has to open the door with the drill as is is locked form the inside. This shows that Tonys has a passive aggressive nature as he makes his Dad angry in a calm way, also it makes it seem that his Dad has lost control of the family and Tony has took his role, showing that he has a controlling personality.

The mise en scene in Tony's room is very unusual for someone his age it has for one his room is spectacular neat and tidy with no mess in site and is very stylish. Also he has poster on his wall which is quite normal for a teenager his age, but the posters are of vintage Italian films which aren't made for a typical teenager aft his age to watch. This makes the character of Tony seem very intelligent and sophisticated for his age. Also when Tony on the toilet tony is reading the book Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre which is not the type of book an average teenager would read and also an average teenager would not be reading a book on the toilet in the first place. This also makes him  come across very intelligent for his age. Another part of the miss en scene which is unusual is the way Tony has his clothes set out in his room. He has clothes hanging up on a rail with plenty of space between them like you would see at a high end shop and also he has a draw with his t-shirts in which are perfectly folded and placed neatly on top of each other.

This makes Tony seem that he has an obsessive nature and that he has some sort of OCD. 

Another part of Tony that makes that him unusual to the common stereo type of a teenager is his costume. Most people expect a teenager to be poorly dressed in a hooded jumper and tracksuit bottoms but Tony is different. He is dressed in a classic smart look. He is wearing a plain red top with a black v neck jumper over the top, Bage coloured chinos and white sneakers. He does not seem to be wearing the latest brands and fashion but a very smart stylish look that is a very classic look which does not go out of date. This makes tony seem different to most teenagers and that he cares about what his appearance and the clothes he is wearing. 

When introduced to all of Tonys friends in the clip we find out that they are nothing like him intact they are binary opposites to him. There is Sid who is a nerdy, lazy, messy teenager boy trying to get laid, Anwar who is a muslim, Maxi who is gay and Chris who is in bed with a girl. These are all completely different people to tony which  is unusual because you normally find that in a friendship group the people have similarities int the way they act. I think that the show has purposely done this to show representations of different types of teenagers. Tony also comes across as very sexsist and manipulative towards his girlfriend Michelle calling her nips because he thinks that she has funny nipples he says 'Ive seen a few nipples nips and believe me yours are fucking hilarious' which also shows that he has slept with a few other girl. Also he makes Michelle help out with Sid losing his vinginty as if he has control over her. He comes across a very patronising person especially toward sid and tells him that he is embarrassed because he hasn't lost his virginity by the age of 16 and constantly insults him but he does it in a passive agrees way which makes it seem like he is just messing around. Also Tony comes across as the ring leader of the group calling everyone up to get them to help Sid lose his virginity, Organising the whole thing. Again this shows that he is  very controlling person and he also excepts every one to do what he says almost like everything revolves around him. 

Textual Analysis and Representation

Textual Analysis and Representation (The 4 key areas of textual analysis)

Camera Shots, Angle, Movement, Composition

• Shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial shot, point of view shot, over the shoulder shot, and variations of these.
• Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle.
• Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom.
• Composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus pulls.

Editing

Includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems.

• Cutting: shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway; insert.
• Other transitions, dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects.

　Sound

• Soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound.
• Diegetic and non-diegetic sound; synchronous/asynchronous sound; sound effects; sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound mixing, sound perspective.

Mise-en-Scène

• Production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties.
• Lighting; colour design.

Representation of Lester Burnham

Lester Burnham is  a main character in the film american beauty which was released in 1999.

My first impressions of him from the film is that he has no content with his life, i get this impression from the way he acts. He has no  confidence in him self and doughty him self also he has a poor posture and sloughs which shows he is lazy and not proud of himself. Another thing is that he seems to dislike his wife and talks about her in a negative way, it gives the impression that he is in a loveless relationship with no sex life either as there is a seen of him jerking himself of in the shower which most middle aged men would not do if they have a wife. He does not seem to be respected by his family as they seem to be embarrassed and moan at him, there is a scene where he drops his stuff on the floor and his wife is moaning at him in a manly posture, this seems that theres been a role switch and his wife is more the husband and Lester is the wife, also his wife drives the car in the family when normally it would be the man. His daughter seems to be embarrassed by him as there is a scene were he is asleep in the back of the car and he's daughter seems disgraced about him and he is not a good farther figure for her to look up to.

 Lester's life is very boring and dull and he says that the best part of the day is jerking of in the shower. There is music in a scene talking about Lester and the music is boring and repetitive which represents his life. Also the camera work shows that Lester is looked down on as every time he is in the shot the camera is really far away from him showing that he his distant with his life. There are a few scenes in the film were he looks trapped theres one where he is peeking through the curtains spying on his wife, another is where he is looking at the computer screen and the numbers are in lines on the screen and you can see his reflection making him look like he is behind bars and finally when he is in the shower this shows that Lester is trapped in his boring repetitive life. Finally the mise en scene is very dull his bedroom is bage and  so is most of the clothes are wearing, also his work place has no colour to it and all the workers are dressed in dull clothes.