Practise Answer

Strict Teacher

This extract consists of representations of age groups.

At the very beginning of the extract a representation of middle-age is constructed through the character of the strict teacher. This representation is that of middle-age as possessing authority and power, with the character having control over other characters who are both teenaged and young adult.

A sense of enigma is created on this character's first appearance as we see a tracking shot of feet walking through tables from a low level. The absence of non-diegetic sound allows us to focus clearly on the noise of the character's footsteps. A cut to two teenage boys clearly shows them as behaving in a suspicious manner before we cut back to the feet steadily approaching. This juxtaposition constructs meaning for the audience as it becomes clear that the boys are keen to hide from the approaching adult, suggesting that he has authority over them. 

A series of quick cuts adds pace to the scene before we see the middle aged teacher's face for the first time in close-up. The use of a close-up allows us to see an expression that has connotations of enjoyment as he passes judgement over the boys. He puts the boys under pressure by asking where they were as everyone else was 'suffering the screening'. This dialogue, an aspect of diegetic sound, helps to further construct his character as being a somewhat disillusioned and cynical representation of middle age. The composition of the shot where he questions the boys gives him power as he is anchored in the centre of the shot with the boys either side of him. 

His character is developed through his use of sarcasm in the delivery of lines of dialogue such as when he finishes the first boy's sentence by saying 'holding his hair..' The actor's tone of voice, an element of mise en scene, is patronising and this character is developing into a very negative representation of his age group. His use of non-verbal commands, such as the clicking of fingers, and commands using the imperative tense, 'Give it!', ensure that the audience are aware of his authority, a fact supported through the character's costume with his suit, shirt and tie having connotations of power. Further interactions between the character and a young adult teacher reinforce his representation as middle aged authority

Maths Teacher

A different representation of middle age can be seen at the end of the extract through the character of the maths teacher. When we first see him, there is non-diegetic hip hop music playing. The hip hop music indicates that he is trying to look "cooler" or even look younger. He says "are they meant to be like that" to the woman who is trying to help him. This shows that he doesnt know anything about fashion and that he cares of what others think of him. The woman replies to him saying "yeah!, its fashion innit?" showing that he cares of what others think of him. 2 students which are girls come along and start to laugh at him and saying "nice threads sir, i bet you robbed them of a year 10 didnt you?" this tells the audience that he may be dressing like a year 10 to look a bit more like a teenager. He then replies by saying "wonderful" this shows us that he is a laughing stock already and that he doesnt like the way he is dressed but it is possibly the best he is going to do.

At the start of the scene, the camera is at a low angle and then a tilt shot gets used revealing what character is actually dressed  in this particular manner.The use of non-diegetic sound manipulates the audience into thinking that the person is young but when they find out it is a middle aged maths teacher, the audience may possibly laugh because it was unexpected. Then the audience find out that he is trying to impress a woman because as soon as he sees the woman he starts to pace off and says "Eleanor, Eleanor is everything alright?" to try and get her attention and this shows he cares about others. He does a weird looking walk beside her to try and get her to notice him and see what he is wearing and she says to him and says "You look ridiculous". The caretaker then comes along and then looks at the maths teacher and says " Woah!, you cant go into a class looking like that" the maths teacher even admits to saying that he looks ridiculous and that he has made a total fool of him self and the caretaker is trying to help him and can be seen as a helping hand by telling him to "bin that lot and focus what you are good at,maths".

The maths teacher can be seen as a soft and caring character because his tone of voice is very gentle unlike the strict teacher whose tone was very deep. He can also been seen as a character who cares about what others say about him in terms of  what people say to him because when the 2 students start to laugh at him for what he is wearing, then he looks uncomfortable and a bit upset because they are not being nice to him. Whereas the strict teacher doesn't really care of what others think of him. Also when Eleanor says that he looks ridiculous, he looks even more upset and possibly annoyed because when the caretaker comes along, he says he has made a fool of himself and that he has possibly blew his chance. The caretaker can be seen as being a caring character as well because he advises the maths teacher to just be himself and to get rid of the ridiculous clothes he is wearing.