The two films we have studied 'Fish-tank' and 'Eden lake' both contain a negative representation of youths in many aspects. Firstly Fish-tank is a film following a 15 year old girl living in a rural and working class environment. It displays a negative representation through her behavior, language and actions. The way we recognize this is through mise en scene. Her attitude reflects on the location that she lives in, the claustrophobic nature of the flat they live in acts a psychological prison, at her age, (Young teens) more than ever all she wants is privacy however living in such short proximity to her family, this becomes unobtainable and she often leaves only to come back late at night. interestingly however although their flat seems lost in a maze of other homes, they are often seen in the lighter, dreamt of countryside which acts as a halo of what 'Could' be, a way out of their socioeconomic class, in almost every one of the aforementioned scenes Mia is portrayed very innocently and her attitude is almost non existent.
Her clothes are often perceived as a typical lower class convention and allows the viewers to use them as a way understand the situation they are in, the 'tracksuit look' is depicted as the norm on the estate and is a strong reference to the poverty of the families, in addition to this both Mia and her sister have adopted their mothers mannerisms whereby there feelings are forcefully hidden by a layer of resent and anger, probably derived from the lack of a permanent male father figure, you can see this barrier put down when Mia's mum spends time with Cameron and a final convention of mise-en-scene is the use of relevant props, in the case of Fish-tank Mia's, her mum and her sister are often seen drinking cheap super market beer/alcohol as-well as smoking which shows they have , possibly in an attempt of escapism.
We can also tell the negative view upon youth through the diegetic sounds made from Mia and the sister. They tend to naturally use swear words and curse at each other through a way of communicating. This shows the lack of communication skills not only within her but within the community, which allows us to get an insight to why people do not succeed in education and the working world.
Music also plays a big part in developing character plot and relationships, both Connor and Mia share an affinity for the song 'California Dreamin' by Bobby Womack which ties there emotions together from an early point in the film, Also the lyrics in the non diegetic sounds (California Dreaming) relate to her feelings and emotions.
Cinematography is important in both of our case studies, however arguably most prominent in Eden lake
because it is filmed mostly within a woods and therefore a lot of space to get all sorts of angles to display negative representation of youths. Whenever the youths are onscreen they are in the shot together making them somewhat more intimidating and isolated from Steve and Jenny.
Throughout the film you begin to notice to a common theme in the cinematography, which is long camera shots, to force the viewer into watching scenes of harm towards Steve and Jenny and forcing them to relate and almost feel the pain themselves, opposite to this is the methods used in Fishtank wherby shots are short to show the volatile nature of her attitude and she is often shot alone, to force upon a feel of loneliness upon Mia.
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