Theories of Youth

Stanley Hall 1904

Camera
Sound
Mise en scene
Lighting


medium long shot, low angle, looks slutty, out all night, stanley hall,

over the shoulder, POV, hand held and shaky, diegetic loud music,  shot reverse shot, one two shot, fits stereotypes,

 cut away, tidy/organised, medium close up of a classic book, disrupts stereotypes, eyeliner match, shows what he was looking at, stanley hall stereotype, fits stereotypes, lots of swearing

opening scene, 2-3 parts in between, ending scene

I

At the beginning of the clip, we are greeted with an extreme close up, which slowly zooms out over the matter of around 20 seconds. This scene both follows and breaks stereotypes that have been gathered over the years around the theme of youth. 

The mise-en-scene within the shot certainly does follow stereotypes of younger people, and this stereotype involves the use of the bed sheets. The duvet in particular; as it is covered in imagery of naked people. This is linked with the theories induced by Stanley hall in 1904. In one case, he argues that young people generally need a form of excitement, and quoted; "Youth must have excitement and if this is not at hand in the form of moral intellectual enthusiasms it is more prone to be sought in; sex, drink or drugs."

However, on the contrary, there is one part of the scene which typically breaks the stereotype of teenagers being generally lazy beings; and this break of conventions is shown as the alarm clock goes off. Tony, the main protagonist, is in fact awake before the alarm has sounded, and therefore he is breaking the stereotype. A claim made by Bill Osgerby is definitely somewhat linked toward this convention of the scene, being that; "The portrayal of youth is not entirely pessimistic.'

Now, one thing I found interesting is another claim towards the mise-en-scene, is that once the shot has zoomed out entirely to a medium long shot, we see the surroundings of the room. This simple factor breaks stereotypes, as typically, the stereotype for youths involves them being untidy and uncaring, generally having messy rooms, and this is especially associated with teenagers. 

This implies a heavy choice made my the crew of Skins, as they could have gone full pelt with the stereotypes for teenagers and youths; but instead have made the clear decision to have somewhat more realistic characters, therefore breaking some stereotypes, though following others. 

Moving onto the lighting in this scene, the lighting only on one half of his face could very well allude to the idea of a typical angsty teen, or depressed teen, even if this choice isn't one of the more significant ones. Though this does link back to the arguments made my Stanley Hall, where he states that, "The common mood of teenagers is a state of depression."Also, this scene could go a lot deeper in meaning, and the choice is certainly a fairly important one. Since half of his face is in the shadows, yet the other half is brighter, and with the fact that he both follows and breaks fair amount of stereotypes, therefore, one could come to the conclusion that he is on his way out of the youthful stage, and is beginning to grow up some.

Once this protagonist has stopped the alarm, all other sound is cut out with the sound of diegetic hip-hop music. Now, this sound is important to following the stereotypes, especially as this music eludes to a somewhat sexual concept. Therefore, this is back to the previously mentioned claims from Stanley Hall, talking of teenagers and youths seeking enjoyment in things such as sex, drink or drugs. 

The final thing within this scene, would be the consecutive shots throughout the rest of the scene. However, instead of going through them shot by shot, I'll instead analyse these as a whole. These shots, involving mise-en-scene especially, show the protagonist working out, as it were. This breaks the stereotypes made by Hall, but at the same time, follows stereotypes made about youths as a whole. This makes us think of Tony as a jock kind of character, as this is a typical convention of this idea.

II

In the next scene I have decided to analyse, we as viewers are put on the same street, however focused on an alternative character, who is outside. Now, this is certainly important, as she definitely follows many of the stereotypes created by Stanley Hall. 

Even though our previous protagonist both broke and followed stereotypes, this character follows more conventions than anything. I feel that they have tried to draw a clear line between what is stereotypical behaviour and what is not; which if a fairly important decision for the makers to have decided upon. 

Immediately, mise-en-scene is an important factor, 

III

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