Representation
We have learnt about how different social groups are represented in television (see 'Hovis' advert analysis - how different times are represented to tell the story of time and sell the bread as a classic part of British life and progression). Skins represents the British youth (mainly teenagers of 17-18 years old). I will analyse how teenagers are represented in this short clip from episode 2.
LOCATION: An urban-looking subway suggests the characters are out in the city. The lights are on so it must be night time. The subway walls are covered in grafiti-art, which typifies youthful energy and mischief. There is bits of litter suggesting the area is badly looked after. It could be a bad, crime-filled part of the city. The grafiti suggests groups of teenagers hang out here a lot, whilst the fact it is night time could mean trouble for the gang. The subway seems like a hideout for the kids or somewhere to do forbidden acts such as drug-taking and smoking. The audience sense trouble-making amongst the characters, which immediately paints a bad image on behalf of teenagers. The fact the grafiti is not colourful suggests the teenagers hear do not bring vibrance and colour to the already dull/grey concrete-filled area of the city but mere inconvenience. Some of the audience (such as the teenagers themselves) would thrive upon this sense of trouble as they want to unleash their rebellious side.
COSTUME: Trendy, youthful clothing with lots of colour again suggesting energy and charisma. Despite the night cold they are not wearing many layers (t-shirts and short skirts) suggesting either they do not care about the cold (irresponcible) or have just come out of a hostile, humid environment such as a party or nightclub. The latter seems true shown by messy collars, undone buttons and general make up. The girls are wearing lots of make up and jewlerry, as well as smart-casual dresses. The boys are wearing jeans and t-shirts, but boys generally may not care as much about dressing up for a night out. Some of the character's hairs are messy and out of place and some appear to be sweating slightly, suggesting quite a mad night out. The clothing can be seen as stereotypical of an indie-rave culture amongst British youths, many of which make up the core target audience of Skins. Therefore, they can relate more to the characters.
PROPS: The only real prop of significance in the clip is the cigarette and lighter of Cook. He lights a cigarette suggesting he is stressed and wants to chill-out. To the youth, this is a sign of power and acting like an adult. It paints a cool image of the character and they want to be like Cook because he smokes and looks cool with it. However, this also paints another bad image of British youth who may carefree smoke. It is the sense of the forbidden that is provoked in the scene, especially in such a closed, hidden environment. The fact that the characters can almost get away with doing anythign they want creates an adventurous side to the episode - they have freedom. The trarget audience want this.
MUSIC/SOUND: None - the scene is in real-time and the lack of music has a realistic effect. No detail or focus on what is going on is lost. Instead we can hear some faint echoes but that is it. The characters are alone and can do whatever they want. The audience pick up a sense of fear, vulnerability and realism of the situation.
DIALOGUE: The main part of the dialogue is taken up by Cook, who is trying to have sex with any one of the girls - "I needed to get laid, man" and "any of you girls fancy it?". You can notice how little teeange quirks are found in the relevant slang here (e.g. "man"). The teenage audience will relate to this more than any other audience, making the drama personal to them. There are modern references such as "c'mon Amy Winehouse" said by Effy to her drunk friend, Pandora. People who know Amy Winehouse in the music industry would know that this is funny because it highlights how 'smashed' Pandora is - teenagers would get the reference instantly. The rebellious, explicit theme continues away from the sex talk, with at least one swear word in nearly every sentence. The scene seems to bring what is forbidden to the youth watching, and could portray how they act in real-life away from parents. It is generally an extreme bad image of teenagers, again.
ACTION: The characters enter the subway sprinting away from somewhere. They are out of breath so may have been chased. We assume they got into trouble somewhere either with a rival gang or with local authority. This gives the scene meaning in that they are hiding and taking a quick break from the lively going-ons of the evening. A sense of trouble arises. The action does provide us with some responcibility as all three girls refuse sex from Cook and set off home (it is late at night). Effy looks to take Pandora home becuase she is too drunk and drugged to look after herself, and this moment unites the characters. For the first time we get a sense of tightness and friendliness between 2 of the characters, showing how in real-life groups of friends can support each other. They do have a responcible grown-up side away from the smoking, grafiti, parties and sex. However, after this there is some hostility between two of the male characters when they are left alone, with Freddy wanting to go home. He is fed up of Cook's sex antics but Cook does not react kindly to this. It seems Cook is the trouble-maker and ring-leader, but each other individual character has some sense of responcibility. This represents teenagers who often give into pier pressure and act foolishly in big groups, when usually it comes down to the bad impressions one or two have on the whole group.
CAMERA WORK: We start with an establishing LS of the location and characters running in. This sets the scene and gives the audience a sense of the above (see location, costume etc). We then have some MCU's of the characters individually or in two's to get a better look at them. The camera is quite shaky - a handheld affect - to create the affect of running. The cutoff points are not always spot on but are quite spontaneous and random, giving the impression this is what teenagers are like. There is no sense of organisation or stillness - they are always on the move, as is the camera, which does not linger on one character too long. The camera never stays still and generally follows the movement of the characters in a stop-start kind of way. It provides an alternative style and the British youth generally like alternative styles (e.g. indie). They like to think they are different and this is sometimes their rebellious attitude to life, which Skins depicts well with the camera work.
EDITING: Generally, the shots alternate between a shot of Cook and a shot of another character, as Cook is the centre of attention. The editing usually picks out who is speaking (mostly Cook) and then gets a reaction shot such as Effy's. Other than this, like the camera work, there is no real sense of order or plan but is more random, but this random approach seems to summarise the scene well and depicts the weariness and tiredness of late night antics.
Overall, just in this one scene we can get a sense of what Skins is all about, painting an image of a sector of the youth where the main culture is indie-rave. Everything is very much underground, hidden and forbidden, and they seem to live a secret life of their own away from their parents ever knowing. They party through the night, get drunk, get stoned, have sex and generally have a good time and noone is going to stop them. This carefree, rebellious attitude is given by how the scene is constructed through the different sections I mentioned above, to paint an overall image and give it meaning. This is what representation does, and this social group of teenagers represents teenagers and general, giving them a bad image, but a "bad" image that the core audience of teenagers aspire to and want to unleash themselves.
