Storyboard for Raine

Storyboard:

Raine

Roisin: Colouring |  Perpe: Description- writing | Justyn: Drawing. 

Shane Meadows.

Shane Meadows is an English director, who is most renowned for his edgy and gritty style within film, he’s ‘kitchen sink’ representation of England and innovative and unique film techniques.

Shane Meadows journey into film was unorthodox; as he left school with no GCSE’s, fell in a delinquent crowd and became a regular tenant in his local prison station. Meadows reformed character came when he enrolled on a performing arts course at Burton College. He began making films with the approach of ‘kitchen sink realism’. He’s determination to create a film which was true to real life allowed his actors to act freely and even ad lib at times.

Twenty Four Seven, is a motivational film about a young boy, Alan Darcy who decided to give youth a safe haven from the streets and establishes a boxing club. The film is semi- autobiographical and was inspired by Meadows experience growing up. The film gained favourable press in the UK, it was nominated for a 1998 BAFTA award, and At the British Independent Film Awards won the Douglas Hickox Award and the FIPRESCI award.

A Room for Romeo Brass and Dead Man Shoes were all inspired by his youth, showcasing the different sides of growing up in Uttoxeter. Meadows mantra ‘stick to what you know, then you wouldn’t go wrong’ is trust to Meadows style and is a running feature throughout his films.

This Is England, is Meadows most famous film. Set in England 1983, it tackles various issues of racism, trust and friendship. The film cemented Meadows in the industry as a evocative and fearless film maker.

Meadow's lastest venture was the screen- drama adaption of his feature film, This Is England '86. The film is set 5 years after the film story and all the characters are grown up and ready to tackle new issues in their lives. The film captured the essences of This Is England and presented a new realm of realism.

Although the script structure had to be adapt to be including in 4 series segments, the raw emotions and captivating narrative still shocked audience espeically in episode 3- 'Rape Scene'.

The scene was intensfying and controversial for TV, even after water-shed. I felt it contained more emtoion than a soap opera, which is a testiment to Meadows expertise in directing and repore he has built with the fellow actors.

...'[Episode 3] was tough to watch,' tweeted another. 'You can rely on Meadows to deliver those shocking and horrific moments.'
'But seriously, This Is England '86 is a brilliant piece of TV, Shane Meadows is absolutely stupendous making it,' chipped in a fellow microblogger as the inevitable wave of fury at Channel 4's lack of sufficient pre-warning about the rape scene began to hit.

Biblography

1. http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pitaara.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/This-is-England-86.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pitaara.us/%3Fp%3D3724&usg=__LU-i7Z2U4rNCsDhCuRMyJdStIsE=&h=478&w=900&sz=401&hl=en&start=0&sig2=-Zn37RZiqilK7Q2FYXOdrA&zoom=1&tbnid=V1i4ltrCfUlJRM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=190&ei=ANepTMHDD4OHswaV1vzJDA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthis%2Bis%2Bengland%2B86%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D986%26bih%3D591%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=637&vpy=255&dur=764&hovh=163&hovw=308&tx=236&ty=105&oei=ANepTMHDD4OHswaV1vzJDA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0jkv2bRFgQ

3. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8XGRrTOxtHcTdQw4ytfWPEDAtEtl3BCEYgsEy3r_zU6F5JsYLkem-IXIYZ01lD83ap1_B1Dr2fzf_Et6j7UA2KMWpPMXUXlyWis4BIhYxH1ZS5HW-9WnbGdYYk3TLj5ftOTVRurgIgHA/s1600/this_is_england_film_poster.jpg

4. www.metro.co.uk/.../841703-this-is-england-86-viewers-left-stunned-by-sick-rape-scene

Short Film Production Company Case Study

Silver films.

Silver Films were formed in 1996 by Producer Janey de Nordwall with commercial director Richard Oliver joining in 2006. Silver films have produced BAFTA award winning content and have had numerous TV commercial features across the world.

In 2000, Nordwall approached the North West Business Angel Network- Technivest- and sold percentage of her company to raise capital to part finance two shorts- About a Girl and Jump. This led to Nordwall relocating to London.
Due to the success of About A Girl- Nordwall shared a win with director Brian Percival for Best Short at The BAFTA's in 2002. She also nabbed first prize in Turner Classic Movies short film award.

In 2000, Nordwall pitched her business idea to business angels. They backed her idea and she began producing to build the reputation of Silver Films and saw this business venture as route into learning how to make films herself. In 2001, She solely chose to focus her business on film production.

Nordwall was eager to find a script she was passionate about and be able to take it forward. After research and investigating she came across the script- About A Girl written by Julie Rutterford. Nordwall states 'Everyone in the industry told me, you do not want to make that, it'll do you no good... you ought to be making a comedy'. She was forced to question 'would this be a viable decision for the company', however she strongly believed in the project, followed her instinct and pursued.
The success of About A Girl cemented Nordwall into the industry as a fearless and innovative producer, gaining her recognition and credibility.

About A Girl Awards

“this film is strong and meaningful, from the age of 13 I also had ambition and dreams to prove to people that I could do it.. my parents are exactly the same, push you to one side with a bag of chips and a can of coke. It’s [sic] hard when you cant [sic] talk to someone”.


EMMA ROSE (POSTED DECEMBER 2008) posted on BBC FILM NETWORK. 


By 2002, Silver Films strengthen and within it first year it had been funded £100,000. This including £35,000 it costed for About A Girl, Short film Jump which costed £55,000 plus her office move from Manchester to London. 

Sponsorship and product placement came from contractors in the gaming industry. 3DO- a company Nordwall used to work for. 3DO were aware of their gamer's lifestyles and from marketing prospective wanted to sponsor area in which their clients would also enjoy. The sponsorship involved 3DO logo on Jump T- shirts and financing their premier.



Did you always want your own company?I realised early on that I wasn't good at working for someone else and I was quite opinionated - I like to have my opinions (laughs). I found it quite difficult working for other people and also that there were quite a few people I didn't like working for - I wanted a choice of whether or not to work for them and working freelance gave me that choice.


- Interview with Janey de Nordwall.  




Janey de Nordwall and Richard Oliver first business collaboration came in 2008, with short film, Gardens with Red Roses. Oliver directed and co- produced the film which was a supported by AGE CONCERN. The short is begin used proactively by ACTION on ELDER ABUSE to raise awareness.

Dominic and Debbie are hopelessly in love. They live with Grandad
but dream of getting a place of their own. Set amidst New Labour’s
1997 election landslide, this is a film about love, aspiration and morality
in post Thatcher Britain.

Can they find a way out?

Garden With Roses- Awards

Silver films puts their success down to five key factors:

1. Catalyst- they make things happen.
2. Conduit- we make connections
3. Malleable- We're surprisingly flexible
4. Craftsmanship- We are good at what we do
5. Polished- apples look better when they're polished.

Silver films TV commercial clientele range from car manufacture Toyota to gaming company, 3DO.

Silver films latest project, was just being commissioned by Lexus Europe to produce a series of short films showcasing the full Lexus range for initial distribution of Lexus website. The series of shorts will be shot in Barcelona.

Oliver commented on the commissioning:

“In each film the vehicle will be the star and our objective is to really help the consumer to get to know the personality of each car.  Lexus is an aspirational brand and this is reflected in the high production values of the films.  They will also feature a specially commissioned, cutting edge soundtrack which will combine the sounds of the vehicles themselves – the soft closing of the door, the purring of the engine, the opening of a window – along with digitally stylised sounds from nature”.

Bibliography

1. http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/

2.  http://www.how-do.co.uk/north-west-media-news/north-west-broadcasting/silver-films-to-produce-series-of-shorts-for-lexus-europe-200801211706/

3. . http://books.google.com/books?id=z4yWr9LzBeAC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=Janey+de+Nordwall&source=bl&ots=6C2gA72Dnf&sig=2xj0Pshz_oakPn7I0z21yS3p76Q&hl=en&ei=GaGoTNnVIpCTjAfh8qHFDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Janey%20de%20Nordwall&f=false

4. http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/movies/short-films/about-a-girl

5. http://www.netribution.co.uk/features/interviews/2001/janey_de_nordwall/2.html

Sony HD V1 Camera Techniques and Features.

SONY HD V1 CAMERA.

In Thursday 9th September video production lesson, we looked at the camera's we will be using for our short films in more depth by exploring it's many function of the camera. The camera we used is the Sony HD V1.


GAIN: Gain is used when their is not enough light within a location, so the camera can internally provide light. The more light that is required will subsitute the quality of the image.

Gain is meausred in DV- Begining from 0 - 18. It is adviced to not go higher than 12 for quality purposes.

SHUTTER SPEED: Shutter speed allows more frames to be taken a second, this effects how the image moves on the LCD screen. Tv uses 24 frames per second and video uses 50-fps. If you want to achieve a slow down footage you would increase the shutter speed and to speed up footage you would decrease it,


WHITE BALANCE: controls the camera coloring it gives to an image in different settings. It is vital to make sure you have the correct white balance.

Three setting which white balance has: 'Tungsten' for indoor footage.  | 'Outdoor' used for filming outdoors. | Manual Customs for both indoors and outdoor filming.

To test if the white balance is correct for the location, you zoom into something white and change the settings.
                
MENU button: Controls the camera and allows user to change settings. It allows the user to check if they are shooting in the correct format.

STATUS CHECK: This button allows the user to check the current stats the camera is on. This give users an easily way to overlook the camera settings.

EXPANDED FOCUS: It double checks whether the camera is in focus. T

FOCUS: This button automatically changes the focus for the user. To focus you zoom into something with fine detail e g: hair and it shall focus.




- The Microphone. 


The microphone is located at the top of the camera and is plugged in through a jack at the top side of the camera. 


If you are using one mic all switches on the top side of the camera should be up.

If there's more than one mic, then the first switch in-between stereo and mono should be down.

EXPOSURE/ IRIS: The iris defines how mcuh light is let in the camera. When gain is set, exposure cannot be altered.

PUSH AUTO FOCUS: asks the camera to focus quickly. This button is useful to press if the useful if your not completely sure of there judgement or you are filming a live show such as a concert.

AUTO LOCK- all the settings are on auto- unless specified.


MANUAL- all settings are manuel.


HOLD- the camera will remain fully automatic.

Avant Garde

Avant Garde is a film making style which involves experiemental techniques and ideas. It can also include new forms, ideas and ways of expression. The word Avant Garde oringated from the french word "ahead of the crowd" and in contempary english "cutting edge".

Avant Garde films are defined by visual experimentation, challenged convention of narrative and its abstract structure. The movement was birthed from film makers difiance to mainstream cinema through the 1900's.

In 1920's avant garde was originated in Europe through visual artists Dadists and Surrelists expanding their movement to film. Entr'acte (1924) directed by Rene Clair is considered to be the first short film created. It involved various technqiues and debuted camera angles and terms. The film involves people running in slow motion, seeing image from worm eye view and screen titles.

Entr'acte showcases daring styles and presents Clair innovative approach to film. The film was premiered between acts at the Theatre des Champs- Elysees in Paris. The music was composed by Erik Satie- a renowned pianist through 1920's.
The short saw some fundamental elements which was ground breaking for the 20th century technology.

Meshes of the Afternoon, directed by Maya Deren, 1942 is considered to have revolutionized short film and Avant Garde.
The 17 minutes short was the birth of American experimental film making and Maya Deren is considered to be the "Mother of Avant Garde".

The short was a collaboration between Maya and her husband, Alexander Hammid who provided the soundtrack for the film.

The film is abstract, lyrical and dream-like combining reality with innovative camera angle and editing techniques. I feel the film tackles challenging issues such as: suicide, death and grieving in an artistic and intensifying way.

Deren's influence in the 1920's amongst the short film industry was extremely fundamental and controversial. Deren stated "the cost to make one of my short films, is the same Hollywood spend on a tube of lipstick". Her fearless and innovative approach to film was admired by many and inspired many.

Meshes of the Afternoon





"Aside from being Maya Deren's most successful film, I also find Meshes to be the most intriguing for a number of reasons. The ability to tap into the human mind and realms of the unconscious through film art is amazing to me. Meshesis not just a feminist film trying to show a woman's place in a male-dominated society, but is also a  dramatic and intensifying experience for the viewer. Perhaps one of the reasons why this film is so compelling is because it is about her. The legendary Maya Deren came up with her ideas from personal experience, from feelings, emotions, and anxieties of her own. Just as we have many layers of consciousness, some that we are unaware of, Deren 'was always trying to bring out the multiple layers of meaning of everything that went into her films'  


1. Nicole Brady, Brakhage, p.11). 

Short Film Envy Presentation - Textual Analysis.

In today lesson, Wednesday 15th September, I had to analyse a short film which I had choose to the class.

The film I choose was Envy directed by Sam Hendi  found on The BBC Film Network.



Envy is an urban tale about friendship, love, honesty and trust.

Textual Analysis. 


INTRO TITLES: the blurred car lights lets the audience know it will be set in a suburbanised environment possible involving cars.

The blurred lights symbolises hidden identity and strengths the audience mystery in in what the short film will exactly involve.

The 'ENVY' title is strong and a outstand feature on screen. It is visual bigger than the blurred lights to draw the audience attention to the title. The letter 'E' in the title is distorted like it has been cut with a knife. There is suddenly digectic soun which remodels it back into place.

The digectic music adds mood and effect letting the audience know the genre.

2.  The lights fade onto a caucasian girl's face. The camera is a CU of her face in profile position. The camera is visually compositioned on her eyes, it bring mystery to the audience as we do not see her surrounding location or where she is going.

3. The camera changes to a MCU. The girl is breaking the 4th wall as she is talking to the camera address the audience. The light is dim and she is in a car within a dark, empty car park. We learn information about the main protagonist Rebecca, as she is addressing her audience.

As Rebecca is talking, there are scene of the characters in question for example: her boyfriend. The mise en scene is highly saturated to show its a flashback sequence.

The camera does a slow zoom in to the main protagonist face then does a sudden zoom and pause in to create dramatic tension.

The silhouette in the door, adds mystery to the story strengthening its darkening atmosphere. It arises questions in the viewers mind's regarding who's house is it and where is she going. The silhouette creates  tension.

A new character is introduced to the audience, she is sitting in a car and in the same location as Rebecca. The camera does a slow pan across her face. The camera is handheld. There are jump cuts whilst the character is speaking to the saturated life.

There is then a extreme close up of the new character's lips. This creates mystery as we cannot see the characters lips. The digectic music reaches a crescendo and as the camera pace increases.

A tracking shot of a red car which supposedly Rebecca is driving is shown on screen. Red within the movie reflects passion, danger and blood.

In the next shot, the car window is down and Rebecca face is slightly illuminates by the car light. The mise en scene is dark and gritty adding to the tension of film.
There is a sharp forceful zoom- her facial expression tell her there is a climax coming up.

There is focus pull when Rebecca confronts Sohpie and her boyfriend, this is a shot to show they has been a complex to the scene.

When Rebecca slaps Sohpie, there is a slow motion effect. ECU to show emotions and expressions of characters.

The camera zooms to reflect emotions- handheld camera.

It then cuts to a ECU of Rebbeca in the car location, slowly pans in.


I found this short film interesting and engaging. It explains a story through voiceover and documentary style narrations. I feel the short film idea was simplistic and was shot in a captivate and innovative way using various shots and camera angles to communication to the audience. I like the use of colours within the film to represent various different emotions.

Inspirations and Idea Generation.

In todays lesson, we looked at ways to get Inspiration and to generate ideas for our short film. We focused on how film synopsis and idea can be generated from analysis and investigating a piece of art e.g: a picture, song lyrics, objects, etc.

We looked at PostSecrets, These are a series of real- life postcard which the public send in their deepest secrets, anonymously on a homemade postcard to share to the world. The concept was founded by Frank Warren, and between 2005- 2007 he had received over 2,500 original pieces.

I was given a series of 4 postcards and I had to selected 2 postcards and develop a film synopsis from the post card imagery and words. The idea of the task was to see how we can create a simple short film idea from just one source.


My first choice was: 

Film Synopsis

Mary- jane, 16 is overweight for her age. Her mother, Christine is small, frail and boarder-lining anorexic. Mary Jane has dreams of going to fashion school and has a passion to make clothes for plus size woman, however knows the industry is infatuated with her mother's 'healthy' slim-line figure. Mary Jane is trapped in world of self-hate and a society of social oppression. She often makes clothes for her mum, and even after her death to anorexia -  Mary always hopes her mother will finally discover she always wrote her messages in the seams.

My second choice was: 

Film Synopsis


Danny, 42 has been diagnosed with cancer. He is sitting in the hospital waiting for his family to visit. They visit everyday at 6pm, its 5:59 at no sign of them. He them begins to wonder- where could they be. Its Christmas day, they would want to send it with their dad- in hospital, right? It's been years since he was able to show love to his wife- she still loves him- right?






Bibliography.

1. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZDcU4ls0A0_Lv09lGaT_kSaadxXMh815aoadQeDh99gxWphIG2lAGE1Vz3MvuPfC9kajLqWdtZZ2Qe6A6qvzvMmKYwTVu0Au_T-2ZuTc_22xJ8_F0qcmChskeQcQzXGQQ_4WCOwWgWcl/s1600/onback.andidowonderwhethershes+foundanyofthem.jpg

Short Film Presentations

 In today lesson, Wednesday 15th September, each person of the class had to present a short film that they choose,when they liked and inspire them and textual analyse it to the class.

Alex McKenzie.
Sorry, Im Late directed by Tomas Mankovsky




The short film Alex choose was composed by using stop motion. The film tracks a journey of a boy to a place, which he is late for. He pass many obstacles until he finally reaches he distination.

I found the film engaging and innovative in its formation and structure, as it is different of what to expect from a 'short'.The film has a distintive artistic vision which is easily translated in the film. The short is based on a 'everyday' topic, however conveyed in a intriguing way.

http://www.sorry-im-late.com/makingof.html  -Making Of Sorry, Im Late.



Jerome Golding

Skin Deep directed by Yousaf Ali Khan



In Skin Deep it tackles a challenging issue of Race. The narrative is of a young asain boy, Romo being targeted by a National Front gang and explores his trails to be accepted.

In the film, a running theme throughout is the use of mirrors, Romo is mostly seen through a mirror, which constantly reminds the audience he is battling with himself and gradually losing who he is.

The use of POV shots  in the film are mostly used to involve the audience and breaking the4th wall, it allows the audience to sympathise with the protagnist and character's in question, especially during the racially explict scenes.

There are frequent uses of shot reverse shot, between characters .This is used many times when Romo thinks the other character in the story know he is mixed race, so the camera mainly has MCU (Medium Close up's) on character's face. The mise en scene of the film is gritty and dark. There is pathetic falicy as the 'grey' weather represents Romo mood and everyday inner personal struggle.   

Unlike mainstream's films, Skin deep presented an issue and shows a scenerio rather than letting Romo become the hero or overcoming his 'demons'.

The camera  techniques used strengthens it's hard hitting delivery and develops its cutting edge style.

The lighting in the film is dark and harsh, which adds tension and atmosphere to the film. There is pathetic falice thorughout the movie as Romo is often shown with distressed expressions.



Katie Louise
Slap directed by Uriel Emil




Slap is about a battered wife who has a chance to escape, whilst her husband is chocking on food.

I feel the film is a display of emotions the woman is going through during her relationship with her abusive lover. The main protaginist goes on a emotional journey, as each scene of the film represents. I feel the scene of her floating on air down the street symbolises freedom, as thir is mostly natural lighting coming from behind her, which frames her hair making her look 'angelic'. 

The opening title is shown with just the word slap written in then middle of the screen in white, then sharply disappears with the sound of a slap. This is an onomatopoeia and is an effect technique in engaging the audience.

The opening scene is of a woman clutching the side of her, with a distorted expression of her face. She is sitting down at a table as the camera revolves around her. She is situation in a kitchen, of a gritty flat. There is natural light coming from the window that the woman is frame next to. Although there is natural light it is not overpowering and draws shadows within the scene. There is digectic sound of someone opposite her eating, which suggests to the audience he may be her abuser.

Roisin Rooney
Spin directed Jamin Winans



The film is about a man who is a DJ that can control time throguh his DJ turntables. He sees consequences and is able to reverse time and alter various parts of the situation to avoid the end results. However the story esculates into a butterfly effect which always ends up effecting another aspect.

The film opens with a panned MCU shot of an alleyway and an orb of light shining down. A 'mysterious; man drops to the ground followed by a his briefcase. The mise en scene is saturated and gritty, it is clear and simplictic.

The film is stylistic and fast- paced. Their is non- digectic sound throguhout the movie adds to the atmosphere and the film genre of the short. Most of Spin effectiviness is due to the editing process, as it evolves many pause, jump cuts and motion effects.

Spin is 'shot for purpose' as there are multi camera shooting each scene. This is evident as each time the DJ reverses time, the angle of the scene we see the accident happen in orignally changes.

I found the film ground- breaking in its technqiue and its formation. I feel the short had carefully planning and the director knew what he wanted to achieve. I thought the editing was effective and to a high professional standard.

Callum Wood
Sign Lanuage directed by Thomas Hardy





Sign Lanuage directed by a day in the life of a street sign holding.

I feel the film is effective as it is encapulates the sense of the life of the main protaginist (Ben). The camera is hand held, which adds atmosphere of the film. The title is written in the font as if its on a sign- it is yellow and white.The music is very simplistic, smooth and laid back- it is of Indie genre.The camera is as if its POV of a 3rd person interviewing Ben, it makes the audience feel more intimately involved within Ben life. The camera often frames Ben in CU's. The mise en scene is Ben located on Oxford Street, London. The digectic sound is 
heard throughout the short however the non- digectic sound is used to create mood is overpowering.


Perpe Brade
New Boy directed by Roddy Dolye



New Boy is about a young boy first school experience in England. He is reminiscent of his past school experiences in Africa.

The short opens with titles slowily zooming forward in white, with a mixture of lower anc apital case letters. The background is dark and as if set on a chalk board, which suggest it may be set in a school in a old time period. The scene opens with an over the shoulder shot from the main protaginist head. There is depth of field as the boy’s head is in focus and the class is out of focus. This makes him stand out and makes the audience less distracted. This easily distinquish the main characters, an to an extent who character are.  This is a effective technique which can be used if there are a lot of cast members within a short film.  The mise en scene lighting is dim and cast shadows, there a natural light which strengths the atmosphere of a classroom in England. The constract in mise en scene is dramactically constructed through the bright natural light and the change of settings and props. This is pathetic fallace to how the boy is feeling and his experiences. The digectic sound is light and cheerful, reflecting the happiness of the boy’s previous life.The camera is mostly static, however in Africa it is handheld which also is a reflection of the rigitness.

Quentin Tarinto.

Quentin Tarantino is an Americian Film director who made his advancement into the film industry, through short film. Quentin began his career in the early 1990's as an independant film director.

My Best Friend's Birthday, 1979 was the first short film Tarantino directed. The film is black and white and was co- written with Craig Hanman. The film's budget was $5,000 and was orginally a 30-40 page script, which evolved to 80 pages due to the passion for the narrative Quentin developed whilst working on the film.

The film is described by Tarinto as his 'film school' as it was his experiemental ground and through the film. The film displays basic editing techniques such as: shot reverse shot.

The original cut was about 70 minutes long but due to a fire only 36 minutes of the film survived. Although the accident, the film went onto to form the basis of screenplay True Romance, written by Tarintino.

My Best Friend's Birthday Part 1



My Best Friend's Birthday Part 2



My Best Friend's Birthday Part 3



My Best Friend's Birthday Part 4

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.

***

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.

Comparisons between Mainstream films and Short Film