short film extract ‘about a girl’

4
‘About a girl’ (Brian Percival 2001)– Millie Price In the short film extract ‘About a Girl’ it uses a range of camera angles. Firstly at the start of the film the young girl’s black silhouette outline of her dancing and singing to Britney Spears ‘Stronger’ is seen standing amongst a grass field alone. The shot is distanced away from the girl whilst she stands to the right of the frame. The space to the left of her I think interprets a feeling of her loneliness and it appears from the start that the girl feels secluded from society and everyone around her. As the girl walks through her neighbourhood of a dirty canal in begins with a medium shot of the girl. This is effective because it shows detail of the scene and the action. It shows the scene and background detail of where she lives. In this case we can see surrounding the girl the derelict buildings and poverty and graffiti suggesting deviant behaviour is happening around her and where she is living and growing up in.

Upload: millieprice1

Post on 19-Jul-2016

98 views

Category:

Documents


2 download

DESCRIPTION

My analysis of 'About a girl' for research.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Short Film Extract ‘About a Girl’

‘About a girl’ (Brian Percival 2001)– Millie Price

In the short film extract ‘About a Girl’ it uses a range of camera angles. Firstly at the start of the film the young girl’s black silhouette outline of her dancing and singing to Britney Spears ‘Stronger’ is seen standing amongst a grass field alone. The shot is distanced away from the girl whilst she stands to the right of the frame. The space to the left of her I think interprets a feeling of her loneliness and it appears from the start that the girl feels secluded from society and everyone around her.

As the girl walks through her neighbourhood of a dirty canal in begins with a medium shot of the girl. This is effective because it shows detail of the scene and the action. It shows the scene and background detail of where she lives. In this case we can see surrounding the girl the derelict buildings and poverty and graffiti suggesting deviant behaviour is happening around her and where she is living and growing up in.

Moreover, in this short film it enforces the social realist characteristics of a documentary style. This is effective because it makes the audience connect with the girl’s story and get an idea of how she lives her personal life day to day. The use of a handheld camera which is unsteady is used to suggest her perhaps unsteady and chaotic life. The girl also looks directly at the camera while she speaks, making the audience feel as if she is talking to them personally, therefore making the audience feel more engaged to her story. Also her casual attire and dress sense brings a sense of realism to her story.

Page 2: Short Film Extract ‘About a Girl’

The mise-en-scene of the short film helps portray the poor and dirty conditions she lives in and makes the audience perhaps understand her story and reasoning for what she does. Firstly the young girl is seen wearing big hoop earrings, a puffer jacket jeans and trainers. The fact she’s 13 and wearing big earrings perhaps suggests she is grown up for her age and doesn’t have the life of a normal 13-year-old child, they also suggest a negative ‘chav’ interpretation of her. Also the clothing she wears seems old and ordinary and not expensive, suggesting she can’t afford other clothing. Also the setting they have chosen is a scene of poverty and poor surroundings. This suggests she is from a lower class family that perhaps struggles with day-to-day life. The place she is walking is full of litter, graffiti and dirt adding to the depressing aspects of her life. Furthermore, it is clear people around the village have no desire to keep the area clean or cared for reflecting their class and norms and values. This reflects the aspects of the people in the village thinking it is ‘ok’ to get rid of unwanted possessions by throwing them in the canal, which she then copies her mothers actions when she dumps her baby into the river.

In

addition, sound is also a big part of the film. Throughout the film and from the start she has a fixation on Brittany spears and sings her songs. I think the lyrics she sings such as ‘ Baby, you might think that I cant take it, no more. But now I’m stronger than yesterday…my loneliness aint killing me no more’ anchors her mood. Also later on in the film when the baby incident happens, the ‘Baby’ lyrics she sings somewhat reflect the underlying issue she is facing in reality. Also at the beginning opening part, the text of ‘about a girl’ is displayed with a text sound tone perhaps reflecting the short film being about a teenager or young person as you relate phones and technology to a younger generation. Lastly, at the end of the film when she chucks the baby in the river, we see the baby sink into the water, while this is happening we hear the diegetic sound of rumbling and gushing of water which is foregrounded to show the impact of what is happening so it comes as more as a shock to the audience.

Page 3: Short Film Extract ‘About a Girl’

Lastly, the editing uses a jump cut from scene to scene, this is used to show the abrupt switch from one scene to another which I think is used to make a dramatic point and to perhaps show her chaotic and fast paced life. Moreover, use of camera time is shown mainly by the girl, she takes up most if not all the camera time with the story line basing around her life, and her mum, dad, friends and siblings taking up minimal camera time.