About a girl

• ‘About a girl’ explores a number of different issues such as parental neglect, teenage pregnancy, poverty, as well as ethical issues for example abortion.

The film highlights these issues by the use of clever camera shots and angles. For example the long shot of the girl and her father on the football pitch. Is effective because it allows the audience to view both the characters from head to toe, making sense of their relationship with each other and their environment.

A graphic extreme close up is also used to highlight the ethical issue of abortion. The sudden change from the high angle shot to the extreme close up of the baby is effective because it catches the audience off guard and the shock of what’s happened hits hearts. This highlights the hard hitting, emotional, issue of abortion. Leaving the audience with something to think about.

• Representational areas that were included in the short film consists of age, class and regional identity. The technical areas of mise en sence reflected these representations in ways which either conformed or rebelled against their common stereotypes.Costume for example was used to reflect both age and class. The protagonist wears an of white puffer jacket through the entire monologue and the majority of her flash backs. This suggests that she doesn’t own many clothes and instead wears the same gritty jacket all the time, which that of a working class person is stereotypically known to do.

The gold hoop earrings that is worn by the young girl reflects a specific representation of young people, one which implies that young people wish to appear older than they actually are. This conforms to the inaccurate stereotype that young people try to appear older, and communicates to the audience that she is just a typical young girl who is still quite immature but believes, in her own mind, that she’s not.

The dialogue and the setting of the short film also represents regional identity. The girl speaks in a strong Mancunian accent, and when estates and graphite walls create the setting of the film, north England/Manchester is represented as a cold grotty place.

• The film opens with a long shot of the girl’s silhouette on top of a hill, dancing and singing to a Britney spears song. The director’s choice to use a long shot is effective because it allows the audience to gain awareness and understanding of the setting and the characters relationship with their environment. In this case the girl is using the top of the hill as her performance space, with the light shining above her. This reflects a dreamlike/fantasy scenario that the girl seems to be playing out. It suggests the character has many hope and dreams which a typical working class teenager would have.

As well as dreams and fantasies, the beams of light shinning in the background can also bring to mind the sense of new beginnings. This foreshadows the ending of the film where the girl throws away her past by disposing of her child, and begins a future ahead when walking off and deciding to get a ‘99’. This suggests that much like the beginning where a childlike fantasy is portrayed, the girl is ready to have a fresh start at being a child, her own age, again. It emphasises to the audience the issues with children growing up too fast and teenage pregnancy further.