Section A - Representation of age

Waterloo Road

• Camera - older generation is always above younger generations (final scene - older, at the top of the stairs, 20-30s women just at the bottom - teenagers furthest away. Clear hierarchy) Binary opposition, the eldest generation man is trying to dress younger - teenagers are laughing at him, mocking (reinforcing stereotypes).
• Performance & dialogue - contrast with the last scene (the young couple getting engaged) she is clearly not interested through the hesitation.
• Beginning of the first ever scene - camera on the older generations feet, enigmatic - showing power (empathising). Quick editing, time is compressed - teenagers are trying to cover the broken camera therefore using editing to generate this. "Give it" tutting, posture - hands in his pocket, full suit --- older clearly portrayed. 
• Site manager direct eye-contact with the younger generation (pencil in his ear - stereotypical) "You can help on one condition, go finish that essay you're meant to be doing" binary opposites. Reinforced stereotype.
• "Heads down, mouths shut" - teacher (older generation). Girl making eye contact with the other boy repeatedly not happy about the next step on his/her relationship with the other boy (trying to grow up too fast).
• Younger boy getting beat up/shouted out by older girl - defeating stereotypes on gender but following them for age - you can tell his younger by his timidness. Older teacher steps in to save him, loss of his inhaler - older generation more mature, always seen to be in the right - "saving the day".

Answer

In this clip, age is presented throughout using: camera, miss-en-scene, sound and editing which expresses overall differences in generations within the scenes.

Camera is one of the main conventions in which presents age within the clip. One of the dominant scenes in which this stood out, for me, was within the final scene. The eldest in the scene stood to the top of the stairs, with the camera looking up at him to present a clear ideology of hierarchy, where the women in her 20-30's stood to the bottom with the camera at direct level with her and then the teenagers were the furthest away and the camera was slightly stooping downwards. The positioning is very important here and the camera acts upon this for justification in which then puts the audience in the place where they will gain this image most effectively. Within this scene, the eldest generation (the older man) is trying to dress younger under the influence of the "ditsy" 20-30 year old women which challenges the original stereotypes of the older generation being set in stone to their own ways - this then forces me as a reader of the text to reject this because it is seen as being unusual. The teenagers in the scene are mocking him, laughing therefore reinforcing the "bullying" stereotype of a teenager which is preferred from the reader as they are then used to this outcome. The challenging stereotype could also generate escapism for the audience through the 1974 Bulmer & Katz uses and gratification theory.  


- need more timing :(