About a Girl

Director- Bryan Percival
Bryan Percival wanted to escape from the usual commercial adverts he had previously done and decided to get a really gritty script for his first short film he was to direct. Him and fellow cinematographer found it really hard to create a really gritty urban style as they were so used to having perfect lighting and everything being so squeaky clean and actually admitted that it was quit a struggle for them.
The film won several awards including:
•2001 BAFTA for Best Short Film;
•Edinburgh Film Festival Prize for best Short Film;
•City Light Award for Best Short Film;
•Granada TV Short film Award;
•Best Short at Raindance
•Turner Classic Movie Shorts top prize.

Writer- Julie Rutterford
Julie Rutterford is a British film and television screenwriter and has scripted episodes for many TV series, one of which is Shamless. Shamless has a very gritty and realist style which is similar to About a Girl. Making it clear about Julie's interests and ideas when coming to writing and how she is inspired by the working class.

Budget- 33,000

Analysis
About a Girl is about social realism and is a drama documentary/video diary which incorporates comedy and has allot of discontinuity and encourages the audience to laugh despite the narrative having a serious ending. The colours used through out are very dark and grainy creating a gritty style. It asks the audience to think rather then for them to get the meaning of the narrative straight away, it wants you to notice the little things. The opening shot builds up suspense about who she is and gives the impression that the short film is about youth culture, fandom and the main character trying to achieve stardom. The low angle shots makes her look superior and the dark clouds on a summers day gives the impression that something bad is going to happen. The song she is singing is about innocence as Britney spears represents innocence, purity and virginity. The lyrics "Stronger" and "I'm not a kid" connotes this is the way she feels When shes dancing it allows the audience to relate to her, as us one day too used to dance and sing along to our favourite songs it makes her character seem young and naive.

We then get the impression that this character is a chav living in an urban state. There are lot of walls and gates connoting she feels trapped by her surroundings as well as her social status. She is wearing hooped earrings which gives the impression that she's a teenager. It also gives the impression that she perhaps growing up to fast and that her being brought up into a broken family has lead her to dream a dream that is very unlikely for her to achieve and is indenial of whats actually happening in reality.

The relationship she has with her mum isn't really there. She stands in front of her mum and what looks like her siblings rather then with them. You can hear sirens, dogs, barking and a playground which helps build up the picture of her living in this typical council estate. In total there are 19 flashbacks whilst the others are of her just walking. The handheld camera when she is walking is quit aggressive and implies that her feelings are all over the place. Not only does she have a bad relationship with her mum she also doesn't have a good relationship with her dad either. We understand that her dad is on the doll and is to busy to even pay attention to her and doesn't even provide for her. She then says something about him which makes the audience seem as though she looks up to him but then says "oh bless" connoting there is false hope and almost as though she pity's him and is patronising him. He makes her watch football and does what he would be doing any way whether or not she was there or not connoting he doesn't really want to build on their relationship or spend time with her which leaves the audience to think she is isolated. In this scene the camera then panes away from her making her look small and reminding the audience that she is still and child.

Her friends share the same interests as her and when shes with them she looks confident and enjoys being the leader and the one who takes control . We then see a shot of her caring about the way she looks connoting she wants to grow up and become an adult. She compares her mum to Madonna and is very much fascinated by celebrity culture. Through out this short film we see she is assertive, she has allot to say, she knows what she wants and because we are constantly reminded of her being a child we start to think she is naive. There are allot of shots where she is by herself whether that's when shes on the bus or when she's on the bench connoting she feels alone and shes the only one who understands herself and she is her own company.We then see she wants to live with er dad but realises that she's not good enough which allows us as the audience to see why there is so much resentment.

Despite all of this she has learnt allot from her mum such as how to solve problems which is to dispose of them and get rid of them. When she stands on the the canal we see the lighting starting to change and the colours. She sings the song again which ensures her that everything is going to be OK and it can only get better from this point. We realise that all this time she has been carrying the carrier bag making the audience feel bad about laughing. The carrier bag is disposable and is it goes into the river the bag looks like it's giving birth to the baby. This short story was inspired by teenage pregnancy and that she felt know one was taking interest in it connoting that things like what happened in the film do happen and that we need to take notice and pay a little more attention.

Referencing

• BFI. (Wednesday, 06). About a Girl . Available: http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/teaching/movingshorts/films/film9.html. Last accessed 4 February 2010.
• Wikapedia. (7 December 2008 at 21:08). Julie Rutterford. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Rutterford. Last accessed 4 February 2010.