About A Girl- Directed by Brian Percival

About A Girl- Directed by Brian Percival

About A Girl, is a striking story of a young girl's experience's and life growing up in Manchester. The short film follow's the girl as she makes shocking 'personal' revalation, in lead up to a trecheous conclusion.

The 9 minute short film directed by Brian Percival. In 2001 it won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film. It also won an award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival for Best British Short, the TCM Classic Shorts Award prize at the London Film Festival, and the Jury Prize at the Raindance Film Festival.

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I found the short film powerful and emotive, as it drew upon a very simple idea and developed into a compelling story. The use of lanuage was fitting to the film, and gave the me information about the character, which the protagnist didn't have to say anything.

I feel the film shows the character in all her complexities as the audience build a deeper understanding of who she is through the experiences she draws upon in her life.  

ABOUT A GIRL TITLES.

The title screen is a black backgroundand the titles appear as if typed on a mobile phone, it is accompanied by a mobile phone typing sound. This suggests to the reader it is going to be possibly technology based and modern. As the titles are on the black background it brings a darken effect to the story and the expectation of a 'girl's' story. The short film title is similar to popular mainstream film 'About a Boy' directed by Chris Weitz- this could tell the audience the film could be around a similar challenging issue matters. 'About A Girl' generilises the film, not making it specific to a particular character.


MISE EN SCENE.

The opening scene is set in anbadom field. The sun is setting and we see a silhouetted young girl dancing and singing to a Britney Spears song, 'Stronger'. This suggests the girl is alone and may enjoy her own company. 'Stronger' is a 'controversial' motivational which she may have a personal connection to. Her character in this scene, is shown very venerable and innocent as their is a low camera angle.

The next scene, the character begins her first speech,  "If Jesus were alive today - right, he'd probably be a singer ." She is walking along various gritty backgrounds, such as: a fence, a brick wall and under graffiti bridges. She has a strong Mancunianaccent, which suggests she grew up and lives in Machester. She is shown walking down a pathway surrounded by coucil houses and high rise flatblocks, which suggests she is from a working class background. The lighting is very dim and grey, which draws upon the dramactic darken atmoshpere the story may have. 

The young girl is often shown by herself throughout the film in various locations, a football pitch, sitting outside a pub, walking along a canal. The weather is grey and clody, which at point is pathetic fallacy to the girl's character.

CAMERA

The camera throughout the scenes where the girl is talk is handheld. This adds to the atmosphere of the film and an extent shows the franticness of protaginist. The handheld camera was 'shoot for purpose' as the editing is dis-continuitious and reflects on the character's personality. There is a high angle shot at the end of the film where the girl throws the plastic bag into the water, this shot was used for effect as the audience do not know what she threw into the water and the shot shows the scene where she is.


As soon as the plastic bag hits the water, the camera change to a shot underwater. The camera ranges from a MCU to ECU to frame the baby in the shot. The shot then reverse back to a high angle shot to show the character walking down the path from the canal, this is only the time sunlight is shown in film.