The representation of age is apparent throughout this clip from ‘Monarch of the Glen’. We understand that a girl called Amy had lied about her age when in fact she is 16, she gets caught by her headmaster and then runs away.

Immediately we can tell that she is young from the way she appears to be. Her light yellow, long sleeved top has a resemblance to that of what a child would wear. Yellow connotates happiness and joy which contrasts with her character as she does not come across as being happy as she runs away and escapes situations. Also, the simplicity in the way she dresses, the way her hair is styled and by her wearing very little make up reinforces how she is younger than what she says she is.            

We then see Amy get into a car in which we can see just how uncomfortable she looks in that situation: again, reinforcing her age. The dialogue: “accelerator, clutch. Or is it clutch, accelerator?” tells the audience that Amy has not passed her driving test so she either is under age or inexperience with a car. The camera pans around from the front of the car to the window which allows us to see the huge size of the car compared to her tiny frame. It then zooms into a close up shot which shows us all of her facial expressions which are vital as they portray how she is feeling: uncomfortable and out of place.

After Amy crashes the car into her old headmaster, illustrating her young age, we see a complete opposite age group. The headmaster demonstrates a stereotypical headmaster: someone of an older generation, bearded, tweed suit, glasses etc. We see him stood behind the two collided cars which acts as a barrier and almost as a gender divide. His voice is very husky, deep and he is well spoken which gives us the impression he knows what he is talking about and is a sophisticated, well-educated man. The camera shot gradually gets closer to his face as we begin to build a relationship and understand him. The headmasters age is then reinforced later on when he is given a rather large glass of brandy.

In the other direction we see a shot of the father, mother, Amy and the boy. Their positioning illustrates a hierarchy of power, with the adult male at the front, followed by the young adult male, then the adult female and lastly Amy, the young teenager. Amy is closely clasped in the mother’s arms which is expected within of a child when they feel they are in danger. The close-ness between them conveys how she is scared and doesn’t feel she can fight her own battles, demonstrating that she is much younger than she originally said she was. It is this scene that we discover Amy is in fact only 16. Close ups are used to clearly show all of the characters’ reactions to her revealed age.

In the brief scene between Amy and the Paul, the status of each of them and age is clearly shown through the use of camera angles and shots. When we are shown Paul, it is a high angle shot so this gives him a lot of authority and almost all of the power between them. In contrast, when we see Amy it is a low angle shot which almost degrades her. This clearly portrays their age difference, as Paul is much older, he is given a much higher status within the scene and as Amy is much younger, she is presented as being nearly worthless.

 As Amy is speaking, she has a very whiney tone to her voice and is begging Paul to let her stay. This relates to that of a child- if she doesn’t get her own way, she causes a fuss. Furthermore, after not getting her own way, she shouts ‘I hate you’ in an aggressive manner and storms off upstairs. This represents a stereotypical teenager having mood swings and generally grumpy highlighting her real age.