OCR G322 Monarch of the Glen Extract - Representation of Age

In this analysis, i will be looking at the Monarch of the Glen extract and commenting on how age is presented in the extract through four different sectors of creating a film, these are listed below:


Camera shots, angles and movements 

At 2:31 the Amy Character faces up at Paul when she is talking to him to show to show that Paul has the power in the house and it is highly unlikely for the younger person to have more power than the older people within a family in a home.

At 1:30, Amy looks scared, while the younger boy and Paul are sort of surrounding her to make sure that she is okay after the car crash and they are sort of like protecting her, which shows that she is younger as a mature female or male wouldn't start panicking if they involved in a similar minor crash. In this scene the camera angle represents age because it is a high angle shot and the angle makes Amy looks the smallest out of all three characters also making her look the youngest as she is the only one that seems to be scared in the scene.

Also at 0:34, when Paul throws the keys at Amy she reacts quickly to catch them and her movement is sort of quick which shows that she is young as you wouldn't expect an elderly woman to be able to move that quick and the movement of her body is also quite flexible as she stretches out to get the keys which is quite rare with elderly people as their bodies would be quite stiff, therefore slower movements/reactions would be expected of them.

The scene between 2:54 - 2:58 could also be used to represent age because an mature female wouldn't react that way and they would have a more mature attitude. Also the way Amy runs off shows that she is quite immature as young girls normally run off crying when they feel that their point is being ignored and the way she run off shows a high level of fitness which shows that she is young as i said before that elderly people's movements are normally quite slow.

Lastly the scene between 4:01 to 4:15 shows that the female character is elderly as her movements are quite slow and the close up shot to her face shows that she is quite worried, and she wouldn't be if Amy was old enough to look after herself.

Editing

At 0:29 - 0:31Amy speaks faster, which is good editing as it shows that she is hiding something, as she quickly answers the question without even taking some breathing space. This then represents age because the way she reacts and the way the editor made her voice fast paced makes her look younger as young people tend to quickly answer the question when they don't want their secret unveiled.

Also the editor has used good continuity skills, when the woman is running from 4:15to 4:53, as the woman is already tired from running just outside to the field, which shows that she is elderly and she lacks fitness.

Sound 

Sound is also used to represent age in this extract. For example at 0:44 - 0:49, Amy is sort of questioning herself in a low tone, which shows sort of confusion of lack of knowledge as she is trying to figure out how to drive a car.

Also at 2:55 when Amy shouts 'I hate you!'  she uses a brittle voice which shows that she is about to cry and there's nothing to cry about when you're being told to go back to school unless your still young as she wants to enjoy her childhood and wants to be treated as an elderly female.

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is clearly described in this extract as the younger female (Amy is wearing) modern clothing which is more revealing such as tight jeans, top and trainers, where as the two older females are wearing baggy trousers, coats and scarfs, boots which is what most elderly people would wear to cover up from the cold and to avoid revealing their bodies to males as they are quite old.

Not only the females clothing describes age in this film but also the way the old man (headmaster) is dressing up compared to the younger male, the young male is wearing jeans a t-shirt and a jacket where as the older man is wearing a full suit, tie and shoes which is quite common with older people as they prefer to dress formal at most times.

Also the teddy bear at 3:43 could suggest that Amy is still a young girl because it is very rare to find an elderly woman with a teddy bear, where as you could find thousands if not millions of teenage girls with teddy bears.

The bedroom decorations are pink which for example the mirror at 3:49 which is a colour that  is quite common with younger females as they are interested in bright colours.  To back this up, Amy has also left a card shown at 3:39 which is also written in pink, where as a mature female would probably go for a more formal colour such as black.

Monsters Film Commentary

I think the way Gareth Edwards  and his team done an amazing job by managing to pull off a Hollywood style film with a tight budget of only $500,000. the equipment they used to film monsters is said be at the boundary of $15,000 which shows how cheap their budget was and the way the actual film came out makes the audience think that the crew has invested lots more money in the film that what they have actually did.

The film actually had only 2 actors originally but Gareth  thought it would keep them within their budget if they got extras from the public to feature in the film.  The two actors happen to be amateurs and they are actually a real life couple and i think Gareth did this so that he can give the film that romantic emotion and because they are already close it would make the film more realistic as the actors would feel more close too each other, which could also relate to the comfort of making contact and showing real emotions. Although the actors are said to be amateurs, i think they did a good job and done their role well as they had some difficult scenes to pull off, for example ' when they were looking at the sky and they weren't anything up there, but they had to show that emotion of being scared, and sort off amazed/shocked which i think is quite difficult if you cant even imagine what the creature will look like at the end of the film.

The editing of the film also made it look more realistic, considering that the film was shot in several countries. However the most incredible bit of the film production is the way the visual effects were added on. All the jets, helicopters, signs, creatures and other features of the film were added on by Gareth when he was doing the visual effects of the film and they all came our realistic and beautiful. The monsters were all drawn up on paper and then again drawn on the computer using some sort of 3D software which allowed Gareth to shape and create the monster and its movements. all this show how much technology has changed the film industry and is changing