Waterloo Road- IR

In this shot we see Christine Mulgrew, who is a teacher suffering with an alcohol addiction.Prior to this scene, we see Christine attack a pupil and see the alcohol truly take over her.This close up, high angle shot threw the railings comes across as though she is in prisonbecause of the cameras positioning. This relates to the character herself because of whatshe does e.g.- drinks in school and assaults pupils; in a way it is saying that she should be inprison. The high angle shot conveys that she still has authority and is of a high position inthe school however, the fact that she is sat down on the stairs contrasts with the idea of her authority and in fact pushes her back down be

cause of her state of mind and how she’s going against school rules. The following wide shot shows her sat on stairs that go up,straight then down- again relating to her life as it could be described as a sort of rollercoaster. The wide shot allows us to see the whole scenery but also makes her look verysmall and almost as if everything is over crowding her making her look very intimidated andout of control. We then see a hand move into the close up shot and knock a bottle of vodkaout of her hand, emphasising how out of control she is. The close up of the broken bottle on the floor could symbolise almost Christine’s broken heart because of the broken bottle as she is so attached and addicted to the alcohol she feels she cannot deal without it.

 

Her son, Connor, then comes into shot and he seems to be towering over her taking all of the control as she is helpless. This is exaggerated through the contrasting camera angles.Eye line shots are used for Connor but high angle shots are used for Christine. Despite thefact, the high angle shots are used for Christine, which usually indicate the power within ascene, it is in fact Connor with all of the power and a higher status in one way or another because his mother is sat down looking up at him- almost like a parent and child exceptreversed.

 

The majority of the shots used in this scene are all close ups which really allow us to see allof their facial expressions as it is an emotional scene between the two of them. This alsoallows us to feel more of a part of the action and really transfer their feelings to your own.

 

The main representational issue in this scene is age but it is not the stereotypical age issue.Stereotypically, the older the person, the wiser, powerful and more in control they are,however this conveys the opposite. As Christine cannot look after herself, her son has to doit for her in contrast to the norm of a mother looking after her son.