Audience Analysis of 'Mixtape' - Zoe Cameron-Waller

 

The main character within this sequence is a young boy possibly aged around 13 or 14 years old, meaning that he’s just become a teenager. This is suggested by the medium close up at the beginning of the sequence of him listening to music through headphones which is a common activity done by teenagers.

The match on action shot that follows confirms that he’s just made a mix tape as he removes the tape from the player and puts it in his pocket, suggesting it’s for someone else. The cut to the boy coming away from his front door in slow motion adds a dramatic touch and comedy as we soon discover that he’s only going next door. The slow motion effect suggests to us that whatever this boy is going to do, will take him a lot of courage as his facial expression looks very stern, and the non-diegetic music adds to the dramatic effect. As he steps away from his house, it’s suggested to us that he in fact lives in a flat, due to the framing fitting in the buzzer next to the door. In terms of social class, people that live in flats don’t tend to be very wealthy at all, so this boy’s family would be categorised under middle working class. It appears that this short film was exhibited in a middle class, clean area, to reflect the flats.

The extreme long shot of the boy walking on the path in the slow motion effect, falsely suggests that he’s going on a long walk, but comically, he’s only going next door. Once again, the flat accommodation is confirmed by the close up of the boy buzzing his neighbour, which is when the non-diegetic music comes to an abrupt stop.

The shot reverse shot that’s used between Ben and the new woman character (probably aged around 30-40 years old), suggests that he’s looking for her daughter as he says: “Is Lily in?” His response to the mother saying no conveys that he has feelings for Lily, due to his disappointed facial expression. Also, Lily is said to be out dancing, which causes a gender stereotype for young girls being utterly feminine and girly by attending dance classes or singing lessons, etc. This also suggests that this family is slightly wealthier than the Ben’s family, despite the mother’s costume looking fairly middle working class, the accent also suggests that she's highly educated.

As the shot reverse shot continues, Ben hands over the mix tape and says it’s for Lily, but quickly says that he was “doing it anyway”, to conceal any attraction to Lily being made obvious. This targets older people possibly 40-50 year olds, as at some point they would of experienced their 'first love' and felt the embarrassment and shyness that Ben feels, which is demonstrated here by Ben’s affectionate gesture by making the mix tape for her, but then concealing his true feelings by attempting to make it out as if he was doing it anyway and hadn’t used any extra part of his own time making it for her.

As Ben walks away from the woman, he asks her to tell Lily that he came round, and due to her saying yes to this, he grins, which confirms that he’s got a crush on her. The woman does the same and flashes a smile, suggesting that she knows that Ben does in fact have a crush on her daughter.

As the sequence progresses, diegetic music begins playing next door, suggesting that Lily has received his mix tape. It’s clear that they share the same passion for music as the sequence shows them dancing around frantically in their bedrooms. Direct address is used as Ben and Lily both sing into the camera, which addresses the target audience and includes them due to the song being from their era which is the 60's, so it applies to the older demographic.

The gender split is shown by their rooms. Ben’s room is fairly low key lighting due to the curtains being closed and the lamp being the main source of light, which causes a stereotypical setting for a teenage lad’s bedroom being gloomy and concealed. His walls are also covered in posters and articles which make the room slightly trashy, but also display his interests. Contrastingly, Lily’s room is high key lit and the walls are white and bright, connoting purity and freshness. In fact, most of the room is white and bright, with a few splashes of pink, which is a stereotypical feminine colour. It’s also clear that Lily is around the same age group.

The last shot of the sequence is a mid-shot of them both sat against their walls, back to back. This suggests they have a crush on each other and creates a happy ending as Ben turns around to face his wall with an overwhelmed facial expression.