Sound

An analysis of Skins
Series 1 episode 1



Skins 1x01 part1
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From the clip we can see a clear representation of age being shown. The representation of age shows us that all of the teenagers represented in the clip have taken on the stereotype that most teenagers are lazy and can’t be bothered with anything. However the representation of ethnicity is different as it has a wider range of races from white to Asian making it a more realistic depiction of a group of friends today.
Tony’s character displays such characteristics as any other teenage boy. Waking up to the noise of the alarm, working out, admiring his looks and blaring out his music early hours of the morning. However tony room does not fit in with a normal teenager e.g. being very messy and unorganised as we can see form his t-shirt draw how organised he is by colour co-ordination them and having precise places for them. His cocky attitude works around his parents when tony distracts his father to get his sister in the house trouble free. It is like a ritual every morning for his father to swear at him.
The house is a mix of both genders but they don’t share the same attitudes. The mother is naive towards tony and his sister as she takes pity on her thinking she is ill where us as audience get an incite into her rebellious behaviour and what to expect.
Tony’s father knows that tony is purposely trying to aggravate him whereas his mother is less aware into this behaviour and thinks he’s an angel.
The representation of music is used in all the scenes to show there age and what is happening in the scene. The representation of family is shown by them begin typical nuclear family. There family is typical but unaware of each others own lives. Tony and his sister hide there secrets from there parents not wanting them to find out about the real life makes the audience understand why it is hidden.
In this first scene it opens with the sound of the church bell going this is an example of it makes the audience think that it is in nice area, quiet and peaceful However once tony alarm goes of and the radio comes on it sets a completely different tone.
The sound of Tony’s dad banging on the doors screaming and shouting lets us know what mood he is in and how tony effects his father’s anger. Having the music blaring is to show the representation of age and it fits in with the dialogue. E.g. Tony’s dad telling him `to turn the fucking music off’. The sound of his sisters heels clacking along the street shows us how late she’s been out and it not being normal for a school girl to be out so late on a school day.
The second scene when Tony’s in the bathroom the sounds of the toilet flushing, tap running him brushing his teeth shows us that tony does take care of himself and his appearance. Whereas the sound used for his father is completely different sound him banging and knocking on the door showing his impatient and short temper in the morning..
This is to add to the excitement of the scene as we know that tony is purposely doing this to annoy his dad. When he is outside the sound used is everything on the outside e.g. dog barking, wind, cars in the distance and neighbours. They haven’t added music as it would take away from he realism of the drama.
The third scene round the breakfast table the sounds are all related to breakfast .e.g. tap running sound of the bacon and eggs on the pan, cereal in the bowl, and the crunch of toast being eaten this helps to set the scene and make it related to the time and of the day e.g the early morning . The dad saying `every fucking morning’ shows the audience how tony will do anything to frustrate his dad every morning a lot of parents and teenagers can relate to there relationship and routine that they live by especially int he mornings.
The fourth scene of the conversations shows the starts to show the real side of tony and how he speaks and acknowledges his friends .He refers to his girlfriend as `nips;’ this shows the way he treats girls . Tony and his friends talk about sex openly this shows us how it plays a big part in there everyday life coming first before school and there families. A Syd's character has a similar relationship with his father however Syd's characters fit the stereotype of a teenager. The sound of the mobiles going off and Syd's answer machine shows how lazy he really is by the way and what he says.
The fact that all of the characters have mobiles shows that they are all aware of the technology and are up to date the sounds of the ring tones shows how different each character is .e.g. having Syd's on vibrate, jals very clear and able to be heard, Michelle’s on speaker phones. These all show and represent the characters differently.
The Fifth scene were Tony is on the bus and carries on rings the rest of the characters, the sounds are all from the outside e.g the bus engine , noise of Syd's dad coming in his room swearing, Tony’s friend standing outside the mosque with cars coming past. Maxie’s character uses the sound of his tap shows to show us and introduce his character representing a different edge of he typical teenage life. Finding someone practicing tap dancing in the early hours of the morning or clarinet (jals character) is unusual.
The last scene where Tony’s audition shows us how much of a front he puts onto people he meets. The sound of the piano and him singing is not what you would expect from his character to care about. The sound of the girls whispering and laughing fits into the scene well and shows how he has made them react in a positive way.
Overall all of the sounds are there to add to the verisimilitude of the drama. If there were too many sounds it would take about from the narrative and characters and would not appeal to the audience.