Age is represented differently during Single Father, which has a range of different ages. Whilst watching the first episode of Single Father we meet a hand full of middle aged adults, one grown up daughter form a previous marriage, a teen daughter who is one of the main characters throughout the rest of Single Father, and three young children, all of which who are in Junior school. We know they are in Junior school because we see them being dropped of all together at one school.
The use of camera angles is a large indication of whether a person is old or young. For example the youngest daughter is not tall, as she is around the age of about seven, therefore the camera angles used on her tend to be high angle shots, where the camera is placed above the person looking down at the action. This implies her being small and of a young age. In the first 30 seconds of the first episode we a shown a two shot of her playing with her mother in the doorway, which uses a slight high angle shot and the mother is sitting down whilst the girl is standing up. These camera shots are also used for the two boys who are young as well. An example is when they are both leaving to go to school and another slight high angle shot is used. The reason fro using such a typical high angle shot on the children may be because this would also imply that they aren't import and down below the adults, so instead the director (Sam Miller) uses on slight change in angle because the main focus still needs to be the children as they play an important role throughout the entire series of Single Father. Another type of shot used to help show clearly the difference in age is a two shot which shows two characters in the frame and is usually cut together with close ups. A two shot is used when Lucy, the younger teen goes to wish her mother good luck in her exam. The two shots helps us to see clearly that Lucy is obviously of a younger age to her mother by being in one frame which shows clearly the age difference between two people.
The sounds which are used both in the foreground and background helps to represent different ages in Single Father. Sounds used when the children of young ages are in the background are usual screaming and shouting and generally playing with it each other, or calling at there parents for attention. However the sound used when the older teen is working with her father is the sound of music coming from her iPod, this is different to that of a young child because they would not be listening to an iPod, whereas stereotypically teenagers are always listening to their music and iPods etc. We are also shown the younger teen listening to music at some point throughout Single Father. When the younger children are in the playground the sounds used then are children playing, similar to when the children are in the background when they are in their home. When adults are talking without anyone else there, the background sound is usually more toned down and natural. For example when they are outside you hear the faint sound of traffic and birds singing etc. This gives the effect of adults being older in age and therefore more mature and calm in what they do. Therefore, this shows younger ages to be more excitable and energetic than an older person.
The Mise-en-Scene represents older and younger people in different ways and helps to represent this. The teen daughter is shown to be a teen because she wears a secondary school uniform with a blazer, shirt and tie. The younger children are shown to be young due to there costume of a coat and school trousers and shoes, showing they are still dressed by the parents rather than choosing their own style yet. The young children are shown as a young age when they are getting all excitable around their father asking which DVD they can watch, and whether they are old enough to watch them etc. Also the children being in a school playground is a large representation that they are of a young age.We know the children are young aged because they have to be told to do everything and are responsible to do certain things. An example is when they are misbehaving for their mother, and then the father steps in and tells them to go and tidy their bedrooms, which is usually what you are told when you are young. On the other hand, we know that the fathers daughter, the older teen, form a previous marriage is of a much older age in comparison, because she is working and has a child of her own. The middle aged adult act in a more responsible way, they do all the jobs which children would struggle doing, such as putting up the tent in their back garden and also cooking for everyone. The adults are dressed in a much older way compared to the children, which makes us as the viewer realise that they are much older in age.
The editing used does not particularly help to show any contrast in age between the children and the adults. However the editing which can see has been used during Single Father is continuity editing which shows a sense of reality and shows time changing. Cross Cutting, where the editing technique of alternating, interweaving, or interspersing one narrative action with another. Other editing skills used which we can see are also eye-line match which is when it cuts from one character to whatever they may be looking at, and also linear narrative in some way, because after the event of the mother being run over, it does use a style of story telling which shows the events happening chronologically.
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