Media: How is age demonstrated In One Tree Hill?

Costumes

The young boy “Jamie” wore jeans and a t-shirt, the t-shirt was a bright colour highlighting his youth

The boy’s mother Hayleigh wore similar to her son, jeans but instead of wearing a t-shirt she dressed in a blouse, this showed that she was older and a mother as well as highlighted her profession as she was a teacher and was dressed in smart but casual clothing. She also wore high heels, which gave her height in the scene, as a result of this she was taller than the opposing women so her dominance was shown through how she acted but also that she looked down onto the fellow character.

“Dan” the patient (Granddad and father-in-law of Jamie and Hayleigh) wore a hospital gown, despite not being in an actual hospital ward, the clothes he wore and the equipment around him in the opening shot of the scenes fooled the viewer, as you believed he was somewhere where he wasn’t. Although he is wearing a gown, Dan is the oldest character in the scene therefore the fact that he is the one that is ill represents his age as it is more likely that Dan would become ill rather than the younger characters in the scene as he would be weaker.

The focal character of the whole scene “Kerry” the nanny of Jamie, wears a nurses outfit, therefore her age is unable to be specified.

Camera Angles

When Jamie is talking or in a scene the camera is always looking down on him/focusing down on him. Therefore putting his age at a disadvantage, highlighting that he is the youngest therefore he is spoken down to and patronized throughout the scene.

When Kerry and Hayleigh are in the middle of a dispute the camera uses Reverse shoot, in order to highlight the opposition.

When Kerry and Jamie are running through the fields in the garden the shoot is always of their faces so it creates impact and the audience feels tense as to what will happen next. As well as this it helps us to empathy with Jamie as we feel the fear that he too portrayed in the scene that he was feeling. (He didn’t look back, may have been scared of what he would see, Kerry)

Positions

When Dan is pleading to Kerry to let him go, he is laying but tied up in the “hospital” bed, where as Kerry is standing above her, this shows that she is standing at a greater level as she is looking down on Dan

Despite this Dan the older character manages to regain dominance and power in the scene by manipulating Kerry, the young female, showing he is older and therefore has more control, being able to manipulate her.

As well as this when Hayleigh is talking to Jamie her son, despite being taller than him she crouches down to his level there for not intimidating him when giving instruction. But highlights Jamie’s age as his mum has to warn him and tell him what to do, rather than him knowing already if he was older.

Music

The only music used throughout the whole of the scene was a sound of the rustling of the leaves and branches as Jamie and Kerry ran through the garden and there was a heavy thumping sound in the background which could be seen as Jamie’s heart rate, panicked as he tried to run away from her and escape.

Props

There was not many props’ in the scene except form Hayleigh’s car which was a black Range Rover, which highlighted her power, which had throughout the scene.

And Jamie had a child’s toy, therefore helping to represent his age showing he is still childlike and innocent.