Monarch of the Glen Analysis

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of AGE using the following: 

• camera shots, angle, movement and composition

• editing
• sound
• mise-en-scène. 

At the extract’s opening, we see several characters on screen at once with a wide establishing shot, then the camera follows two men walking down a path. All of the characters are men, packing up tools. We can see that all of these characters are clearly older men from the gray hair, as well as the fact their clothing seems to be more for practicality than fashion. After this, the camera cuts to a wide shot of a girl running out of a house where another young boy is standing. The camera pans round to follow the girl’s movement and it shifts to an over the shoulder shot. The camera is forced to angle down slightly. We can take from this that the girl is younger than the boy due to the lower position of the girl in the framing. The girl also is wearing a bright, floral, yellow top with blue jeans, perhaps the most fashionable person on the farm. One could argue that her style indicates her age as she seems to be the only one that puts real effort into their clothing choices thus far. The two exchange a short dialogue, where the boy is identified as Ewan, when they are cut short by another man, who tells Ewan to help him and tells the girl, who we now know is Amy, to drive into town to pick up some things. We can see from the way that the man issues orders that he must be older than both Ewan and Amy. He is also placed much higher up in the framing, often depicted as looking down on other characters, mirroring his age and his authority.

We then get a shot of Amy sitting in the car, trying to remember how to start it. We get a sense that she lied to the man about being able to drive. She manages to start the car and then we get a shot of Ewan watching her to make sure that she sets off safely. From this, we feel an air of suspense as it seems from the look on Ewan’s face that he doesn’t believe that Amy can drive. We get a wide shot of the car as it leaves the premises. We then cut back to a close shot of Ewan going back to work, then shortly after we hear the screeching of tires and a large bang off in the distance. Ewan, the man and another character rush off to see what happened. We then get a wide establishing shot of two cars, one is the car Amy drove off in, and the other is a different car. Amy gets out and runs round to the front of the car to inspect the damage, and a man comes out of the other car and comes to the front of his car. The man recognises the girl just as Ewan and the others catch up to the scene. After a short exchange of dialogue, we discover that the man in the other car is Amy’s headmaster. The headmaster is looked up to through the camera. The camera is lower down and is tilted up to the character to represent his authority and age by forcing the viewer to look up to him. The headmaster identifies the man as Paul. The headmaster talks in a rather refined, posh accent, whereas Paul talks with a typical London-English accent, which we can assume means he is older than Paul.

Amy is the youngest character and is standing with 3 other older characters, and is again placed in the lower third. It is revealed that she is only 16 and should still be in school. She ran away to escape. The headmaster and Paul then go inside to discuss the matters in private. After the headmaster tells us that Amy is yet to sit her exams, Paul rushes out and swiftly takes Amy aside. During the next part of the scene, Amy is scolded and that she is to go back to school. Age is indicated once more by the camera angles as over the shoulder shots are used and the camera has to tilt up over Amy’s shoulder to mimic her looking up to him, and the camera has to tilt down to see Amy from Paul’s shoulder. The tone that Amy uses in her voice is quite childlike and guilty as she continually tries to apologies to Paul for misleading him, which shows how young she is. Amy then storms off to her room to pack her things.

After this, we cut to an extreme long shot of the surrounding scenery to indicate we have moved outside. We then get a series of various medium and wide shots of some people constructing what appears to be a small house. There is rather cheerful, western style music. The old style of the music is perhaps being used to reflect the ages of the people working outside. We then get a medium shot of Amy’s room, and it pans round to show off the whole space. Age is again indicated through the mise-en-scene of her room. The room is decorated with pink and teddy bears, and pictures of who we assume are her and her friends and family surrounding a mirror. The use of these photos and the juvenile colours and objects help reflect Amy’s age. The music has changed to a slow, sombre melody. We then cut to a medium shot through the window of Amy’s room as a woman enters. The camera starts below the window frame and moves up to reveal an empty room, and Amy has ran away. I feel this is a good indicator of Amy’s age, she seems threatened by the thought of going back to school for her exams and chooses to abandon everyone and make her own way. This teenage arrogance reflects her age well and portrays to the viewer that perhaps Amy thinks she is more mature than she actually is.

We cut back to a wide shot of outside where some men are doing more constructive work. Paul’s work is then interrupted when the woman from Amy’s room then runs up to him, tired and out of breath, to inform him that Amy has ran away. The smile on his face changes to concern as the shot fades to black to finish the extract. We can tell from the way the woman is so tired when she finally catches up to Paul that she must be older. She barely is able to catch her breath to string her sentence together when she arrives, however earlier on in the film we see 3 other characters who run out to the scene of the accident and seem fine.