Denotation/Connotation Reading of Skins Posters

In this first image to begin with I can see that this character is either nude, or on the way to being nude, but the image has been cropped so we cannot fully interpret his clothing. Also there is a piece of something white that seems afloat. There may be either a shadow cast from the item, or a piece of his skin has been casted away from his body. This alone shows us a hefty quantity of information of this character’s occupation. We can see that this character is an adolescent, because of his facial expressions. In this day and time there is a stereotype about teenagers; which is that they are most usually depressed, as the main character in this image represents. It also shows us that this character may not have a job due to his age, and the youthfulness that is shown in his face. It actually may be that this character is a drug user of some sort. Also diving deeper into the world of stereotypes, he may be part of Goth/ skater sub-culture. It’s possible that this character occasionally withdraws his self, due to the facial expressions he has portrayed upon his face, within this image.

The props within this image compliment it and add more detail to the character, hence refining the image. Many items around this character seem to be filthy, for instance the soap, bath tub, sink and the majority of items in the image, apart from the shower head and its tap. Now this is significant because it may indicate many things to us such as; this character is not completely corrupt in his ways, or that there may be a glimpse or glimmer of hope for this person in the dark lonely world he resides in. Another prop in this image that adds more detail to this character is the cracked tiles on the wall behind him, which may indicate to us that slowly his life is possibly getting shattered and broken into pieces, but his will has held it in. Lastly the objects that are yellow and pink which are on what seem to be the window seal may indicate that he has a female in his life that brightens his life. It may also indicate that he is having trouble with his sexuality.

The setting of the image is pretty much obvious, it actually shows us that the character is presently in a bathroom, but we are not completely sure if it is his own or not. The location aids us in comprehending why the character may be completely/partly nude, but it is comparable to the character’s dressing, because the bathroom is fairly empty. The setting of the bathroom shows us that within this programme; the thing that is likely to happen occur is that there will be a huge amount of depression or emotional wars.

The interior design perfectly defines the location of this image as a bathroom because it has many bathroom objects. Some of these bathroom objects/props consist of mouthwash, toothbrush, shower gel, soap, shaver etc.

The colour within this image is quite cold and dull. It uses dark shades of blue, yellow, grey and pink. The dull colours that are used within this image make it so that we get a depressing feel. They use grimy substances to coat most of the objects in the bathroom; this is done to maintain the depressing feel. Although the designer cleverly leaves some of the bathroom sanitary. The designer keeps the shower head as well as its tap as intensely clean, so it’s quite bright and shiny. He also keeps the mouthwash and toothbrush bright colours such as yellow and pink. One of the possible reasons he keeps the mouthwash and toothbrush these bright colours are because its probably done to indicate to us that a majority of this programme will be dull, but there will be glimpses of light and goodness peeking through occasionally.

The lighting within this poster is main attribute in making us develop the feelings that we obtain. The lighting within this image seems to be artificial and the lighting seems to be a high key lighting, for the reason that even though the area looks dull it shows us everything, and does not seem to cast out anything to the darkness. The atmosphere created by this lighting is shock and mystery because it makes us reflect a lot. The high-key lighting is dismissed by the use of location that is not sterile.

The way teenagers are represented in this poster are depressing and dirty. It’s an realistic portrayl for an very little majority, so as a whole it is not really an realistic portrayl because many teenagers are not depressed and pride themselves on their dressing, oudur and hygiene. I consider this image to be a negative representation of teenagers for the reason that it’s based on an stereotype and not reality. I believe this image can be found offensive by some, and may cause contriversy in the near future