Analysis of Age

White Girl

The opening shot used for the extract is an established shot, which shows the audience where the setting and mise-en-scene. We can see that the grass (which is a bright green) and two buildings is the centre of attention indicating that families and children live here. The use of the non-digetic music indicates that the figure in the background will be a young character as the tone of the music is quite friendly and childish. The very bright green mise-en-scene exaggerates the young character Leah, as the environment looks child friendly and a place which holds happiness.
The extract the cuts to a close up shot of the girl pedalling on here bike in where the camera tilts side making an obscured effect. The camera focuses on her trainers suggesting how young she is and looks to be a playful child so far, the close-up also focuses on the little pink bike that Leah is riding, once again demonstrating how young she is. A high-angle shot is then used to show the clear blue sky and sun shining suggesting that this is how the child should be and that maybe she is naïve, innocent and is openly prone to vulnerability by how open and simple the sky looks.
As Leah places her bike against the wall, a close up is used to focus on the pink bike however, you can not see the whole bike as it is blocked off by a grey fence which could suggest that there are problems in her life that do not allow her to be a happy child that she should be.
A medium shot is then used to show Leah collecting ‘skunk’ off another male character showing that her life is not as normal as it could be and foreshadowing the upcoming events and showing how open she is to vulnerability, as she has been manipulated to buy drugs. Furthermore, this shows that her lifestyle is not normal and is missing the basic needs as a child.

(To be continued...)