13163_8318_teenage_dating1
1950s
Clip contains footage of a 1950s dating advice for young boys new to the game. Young Woody’s path to a date is played out while a wise narrator guides and explains. The footage starts with white lettered inter-title over a black background asking “How do you choose a date?” Just before the shot dissolves to a MCU shot of a young girl, a voice over offers “Well one thing you can consider is looks.” The video continues with the voice over talking us through young Woody’s consideration of potential girls. MSs follow the narrator’s descriptions by showing Woody’s interactions with a variety of girls, with one he stands and talks, with another he sits and with the last girl - Ann - he eats candy floss. Ann, the narrator decides “would be fun on a date”. Cuts to a MCU shot of Woody as the narrator offers up the next problem of asking a girl out. Cuts to a MS of Woody’s brother Edward entering through a door, the shot pans to follow the Edward’s movement to the right, through the living room over to the telephone. Here the MS settles neatly centered on the seated Edward, meanwhile from the doorway in the background the boy’s Mom appears, and the shot adjusts slightly to the left to accommodate here. Cuts to a MS of Woody halfway up the stairs as he asks his Mom whether he can go out on a date on the weekend. The shot pans right and zooms out as Woody moves down from the stairs and over to his Mom and brother. A MS frames Woody, Mom and Edward as Mom offers here skepticism of dating while Edward offers supports with “we all have to start sometime” to which Mom concedes.