Representation of Age: Waterloo Road

Representation of age: Waterloo Road

In the BBC series, Waterloo Road, there is a clear representation of age. This is due to the portrayal of both middle-aged teachers and teenage students. The adults are stereotyped as being stern, bossy and respectable with more authority. Whereas, teenagers are presented as being dramatic, judgemental, rebellious and cool yet they are powerless in comparison.

At the beginning of the scene, we are presented with an insert shot of Mr Budgen's feet walking into the room through the chair legs and then a medium shot of two teenage students trying to hide something. This itself, is already a representation of age as it shows the authority the adult teacher has walking into a room and how anxious they can make younger people feel. Also it shows the stereotype of teenagers always being up to no good, as the two boys are clearly scared that they are going to get in trouble. The diegetic sound of the teachers footsteps is used to build up a bit on tension for the audience, indicating a more important character is about to appear in the scene. This is played alongside the diegetic sound of the two teenage boys whispering, obviously doing something they shouldn't be doing. the editing in this segment is continuous, this is so it feels as though we, as the audience, are there and are able to follow the storyline. Also, Mr Budgen's is wearing a smart, pulled-together looking outfit including a blazer, shirt and tie. This contrasts with the two teenagers' scruffy looking uniforms which look as though they have tried to be rebellious by making them their own using hoodies and cardigans.

Further on in the extract, a variety of master shots and over-the-shoulder shots are used. These shots are edited together using the shot-reverse-shot technique to make the audience feel as though they are part of the conversation and to view the characters who represent stereotypical middle aged man in contrast with the two teenage students. It also demonstrates the dialogue exchanged between characters. The two teenagers attempt to cover up their guilty act however the teacher out smarts them with the sarcasm. The director has included the middle aged teacher out-smarting the younger students. Again, this follows the stereotype that, in contrast with the teenagers, adults are often intelligent and smart. In addition - at first glance, the teacher is presented to be smartly dressed. However, throughout the clip the audiences attention is often drawn to the knitted cardigan worn underneath his suit. Typically this item is thought to be unfashionable and presents the middle aged man as though he is going through a mid-life crisis and is very uncool.

In the middle of the extract, a crab left shot is used to introduce the two new characters to the scene. Using mise en scene, the audience can immediately see the difference between the representation of the older character, the teacher, in contrast to the two younger character via their costumes. Cut editing is used to present the student and the teacher engaging in conversation. An establishing shot is then used to introduce a new area of the school and a new scene. This goes along with diegetic sound of voices mumbellig in the background, this makes the audience to feel engaged in the scene. With mise en scene, the three characters are portrayed as being common, chavy teenage stereotypes. Key features such as short skirts, loose ties and hoodies over uniforms are used to represent how rebellious and careless teenagers are. A way the teenagers are presented as being common and less intelligent is through sound. During dialogue, the audience can hear the colloquial expressions and informal language used by the teenagers in contrast with the more formal, well-spoken sounding, adult teachers.