Sound in TV and Film

https://youtu.be/3x5cA1flrx8

Waterloo road:age

The first that thing that i noticed is the way sound is used throughout the sequence. At the very beginning of the clip, we hear a dialogue between two adolescent characters (assumably friends). Immediately we can hear uses of colloquialisms, sociolect and informal register in the way that they are speaking, for example 'chill out man'. This tells us that the boys appear to be typical teenagers, that speak how they would stereotypically be thought to. After this, the boys appear to be hesitant when they are making excuses to the teacher. For example "well, i was err.. sick, sir." This connotes to us that the boys have been in trouble which they are trying to avoid, going along with the typical received idea that teenagers are always naughty or mischievous. However, the use of words such as "sir" and "miss" show us that they know they are below the teacher in terms of authority, and this acts as a sign of respect - possibly opposing the assumption made earlier that they are 'naughty teenagers'. In contrast, the students later on in tahe scene tend to speak with much less respect when they are talking to each other (some of the time) - for example there are many interruptions and shouting when they are talking about the girl's parents splitting up. Also, the teachers appear to speak much more forcefully and formally than the students, and sometimes almost in a belittling sarcastic tone, some example are "what do i owe this pleasure?", "give it!" and "dear oh dear". Generally, the older the character in the scene, the more authority they appear to possess over the students. The older teacher even appears to be speaking down to the younger (female) teacher also.
 After the dialogue, we notice that as the students are walking around the school, there is lots of loud background noise (diegetic sound). This helps to set the scene of the school environment as well as connoting that teenagers/school children are generally very loud. Accompanying this, we hear an upbeat electronic-style soundtrack being played. Later on, there is a rap-style piece played when the teacher dresses up 'young'. These types of music is the type that we would associate with a younger audience - helping put the viewer into the characters' shoes.

Next, the miss-en-scene tells us a lot about the representation of age in the clip. Firstly, the entire scene is set in a school building with high-key lighting used throughout. This immediately, gives us an idea of the age groups that are likely to be present in the scene. We can also tell by looking at the general appearance of the students' and their costumes that they are teenagers. Their scruffy school uniforms with loose ties, unbuttoned and untucked t-shirts, help them conform to the general stereotype that all teenagers don't care about their appearance and that they don't have an interest in dressing smart. In contrast, the majority of the teachers tend to be dressed smartly (with the exception of one). One of the teachers has obviously tried hard to look young and has dressed like a youth, wearing baggy jeans, a t-shirt and chain. I would say that this teacher is representative of the type of adult that is trying to be seen as young and modern because they feel deprived of childhood or because the opinions of youth are important to them. Next, near the start of the scene one of the boys retrieves a broken video camera from his pocket. Firstly, the fact that the video camera is broken connotes to us that the teenager has probably broke it; conforming with the stereotype that young people are often violent and destructive. Secondly, the fact that he gets it from his pocket gives us the idea that it is stolen. This also conforms to the stereotype that young people (males in particular) have generally poor morals and are anti-social.

The use of camera work can also tell us about the representation of age in the scene. Near the start, a close up shot is used to show the reaction of one of the students. This is when the teacher instructs him to hand the camera over. This shot is followed by close ups of the camera being handed over and the broken camera itself. The use of these shots emphasise the emotion that the character is feeling, and shows us that he is either regretful or annoyed with himself. This connotes to us that teenagers often make rash decisions that they can regret soon after, whilst still that they are destructive. Next, at appox. 1:05, a pan is used. This is when there is a student stood outside the site managers office. The use of the pan emphasises this, so we focus exactly on the location of the student, and implies to us that the student has misbehaved (hence being outside a senior staff member's office), this once again follows on from the stereotype that all teenagers misbehave. Another example of where an effective camera movement is used is when the teacher is first shown wearing the 'youthful clothes'. The camera slowly tilts up as it would do traditionally to show an attractive female character. This is ironic and gives the viewer a sense of shock but also humour. This exaggerates that the man wearing the clothes is old, as you don't expect him to be as the camera is tilting.