How Youth is represented in the opening of Skins? How is film language used in this?

How Youth is represented in the opening of Skins? How is film language used in this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9lg5S1CwYE

The opening of this episode of Skins, revolves around Tony; who the audience presume is the main protagonist due to the fact that he is the main focus point at the very beginning of the scene featuring his morning routine consisting of exercising his youthful but reasonable physique, lustingly voyaging the his neighbor- who seems to enjoy the attention, and showing a clear perspective on his relationships with his sister and his father. One of the clearest representatives of youth that is exposed from the very beginning is the mis en scene the surrounds the characters which create a greater understanding for the particular character being portrayed. For example, Tony’s bedroom conjures a clear image of youth with his sexually explicit duvet cover and the poster above his bed.

Skins is clearly presented from the beginning as a youth orientated drama due to the fact that Tony- clearly a teenager, is the first character featured  in the scene. He is placed in the foreground of the shot with an extreme close-up of his face which attaches importance to the character as the audience’s attention is being directly appointed to Tony. It then tracks outwards from the close-up into a bird’s eye view of his bedroom and features him performing his morning routine; morning exercises, his rebellious party going sister and his positive effect that he seems to have on women in particular his neighbor who seems to appreciatingly acknowledge the attention she gets by responding flirtatiously when they catch a glimpse of each other outside. This evokes a particularly memorable and powerful first impression of Tony as it enables the audience to get a clearer insight on his lifestyle and personality.

The mis en scene manipulates the audience by building the expectation that it is orientated around youths with several indications; Tony’s bedroom conforms to the typical stereotype of a youth’s bedroom- with the sexually explicit duvet, the modern yet minimalistic in-expensive looking furniture and the various posters placed on his wall. The non-diegetic background music played is typically associated with youth with its’ modern upcoming beat which also features rap. Effie’s arrival in the morning from what has clearly been a night out partying reflects youth not only by this, but also by how she is dressed provocatively, it is unusual to see someone of an older age dressed like this and her tousled hair and smudged make up. It also conforms to the typical stereotype of youths, with the fact that they are renowned for partying long hours and returning in the early morning. Also judging by how she slyly attempts to make her way back into the house, without being seen, as she is still under the age of parental consent.

The relationship between Tony and his father strongly signifies typical youth references by how he purposely irate’s his father by rebelling and annoying him; taking pleasure whilst doing so. The diagonal lines portrayed by the camera while Tony’s Dad is yelling about the loudness of the music, shows imbalance and creates discomfort to the audience about what is occurring; yet with a humorous edge. The space between them, with the both of them being placed on the outside edges of the frame reflects the emotional distance between them at that particular point and sets the mood to how they are associated with each other from then on.