About A Girl Deconstruction

Director: Brian Percival and Producer: Janey de Nordwall

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

Diegetic sound of ‘texting’ is heard as the letters appear on screen reading ‘About a Girl’. This instantly connotes youth. A fade brings us to a wide shot of the silhouette of a girl dancing,the low-key lighting obscures the girl in darkness while the rest of the shot is a bright skyline draws focus to her movements. The singing of Britney Spear’s song ‘Stronger’ in sync with the dancing is representative of her being young the dance moves are quite simplistic and childlike. A sound-bridge is used as a transition to a close up of the girl walking whilst talking to someone next to her. The hand-held camera suggests that we are the other person as the jerky movements give a sense that we are there, with her. She has a strong Mancunian accent, insinuating the location as Manchester and her conversation style is incoherent and blunt, giving the impression that she is poorly educated. This is then reiterated as continuity editing prevails a series of shots past an industrial landscape, indicating that she is working class. A cut abruptly brings us to an over the shoulder shot of the girl stopping to text whilst a mum and her daughter talk behind her. The girl is in shallow focus thereby drawing our attention to the mum and daughter relationship. However the use of texting draws us back to the opening credits, affirming that she is the main focus of this narrative. An eye-line match from the shot before she stopped is used as the girl continues her story. Leaving the audience unsure as to what the relevance of the mother and daughter is. However a cut to an establishing shot depicts the girl is walking with them, suggesting that she is also the woman’s daughter. The girl hands her younger sister her bags saying ‘why have I been lumbered with these, hold them.’ Which is very representative of a teenage sense of unfairness, as she defends herself to her mum, by stating that her sister was ‘holding them in the first place’, representative of a bad family dynamic. Eye-line matching is used to bring us back to her walking and continuing her story. The sense of family tension is reiterated as alludes to a dysfunctional relationship between her mum and dad. As she insinuates that her mum has called him a ‘bastard’ and that he has referenced to the fact he doesn’t think that she is a responsible mother. “I’m not having that bastard come round here; saying I can’t take care of you’s lot”. A two-shot framed round the table of a café shows the girl sitting opposite a man we assume is her father. The man is ignoring her and reading a newspaper, yet she continually stares at him before stating “I’m not a kid”. Which suggests that neglect for her needs or even recognition on both sides of her parents. A cut back to her walking describes her dad as looking for work, that reaffirms our preconceptions about her deprived working class background. A long shot of a football match shows her marginalized to the side whilst her dad plays, oblivious to her being there. This is explained as she states that he ‘makes her watch football most Sundays’. The girl walk depicts a new location of a vandalised canal, connoting this theme of a deprived background. The scenery has changed and so has the girls focus in conversation as she begins to talk about ‘dreams’. She begins by saying that her dad ‘could have played for City’, representing his dream. Which she then satires by displaying a memory of him letting a ball in goal, then sarcastically saying to the camera ‘not’. The narrative abruptly stops giving the audience time to wonder what her dreams are and if she thinks she’ll accomplish them. After which she describes her father as ‘taking her to the pub after and getting her a coke and a packet of crisps’. Which cuts to a mid-shot of her sitting, on her phone, outside the pub with a coke can and a packet of crisps whilst we hear them celebrating inside. Conforming to the idea that she is neglected, as her dad would rather spend the quality time with his daughter, drinking with his mates. The shot zooms out as we hear her start singing the same Britney song under breath. A cut brings us directly in front of the girl as she aggressively informs us that “It’s gonna be me: Stacey, Kelly. P, Kelly. C and Meera”. To which a sound bridge of girls singing takes us to a two-shot of some girls singing another Britney Spear’s song. A shot back to her walk informs us that she also has ‘dances worked out and everything’. Suggesting that it is her dream to; one day be a pop star with her friends. Which again seems like a very young aspiration, as it is very simplistic and unimaginative. She continues to talk about ‘stardom’ before a cut to a previous scene of her walking with her mum and sister is reintroduced as her narrative progresses towards her home life. She insinuates that they have money problems, by imitating her mother harshly stating, “do I look like a fucking bank”. The girl appears angry with this as she exclaims, “Yet she always has enough for ciggies”, and a two shot depicts her mum smoking behind her back. This statement and anger connotes the previous unjustness that is typical of teenage characteristics. She continues to talk about ‘when she is rich and famous’ as a mid-shot of her looking out the window of a bus suggests a pun that she is on the ‘road to stardom’. Her non-stop talking is continued as the scene cuts to a long shot of her walking past some lads by the side of the canal throwing rocks, the diegetic splash breaks the narrative and draws our attention to the depravity of the neighbourhood. However the girl is once again walking and talking wryly about trivial issues one would associate with a teenage girl. In which she recounts the story of her dad buying them all ice creams and she very blase, even as she refers to how he assaulted her mother with one. “I couldn’t tell whether the red was blood or strawberry sauce”. Her attitude doesn’t seem to match her descriptions, connoting domestic abuse and its taboo nature. A cut to her sitting high up on the side of the canal draws our focus to a plastic bag she seems to have accumulated along her journey. Her narrative continues, interspersed with scenes we saw previously with her and her dad sitting in the café. She’s asked to move in with him but he describes It as “too much hassle”. We are lead to sympathise with the girl as she has been rejected and that her current situation in unpleasant. The focus is returned to the walk down the canal as she continues discussing ice cream; this again doesn’t seem to match the discussions of her story. Making it feel very surreal and as if not all is right at home. Cuts are now used more quickly, which build up tension and give the narrative a more unsettling feel. She carries on oblivious to the prevailing feelings of tension and starts to recount a sweet story of how she and her brother adopted a puppy. However this is immediately subverted as she gravely looks out of shot down to the canal, foreboding our resounding some sort of danger. A cut takes us back to her blase style, as she tells of how her mum had neighbour ‘put in the canal’. To which she states that its not so ‘lucky now’ suggesting that her blase attitude is just a front for her vulnerability, through satire. The narrative stops and an ariel shots see’s the girl approach the canal. The camera pans across the top of her making her appear vulnerable, which is also present as a mid-shot of her shows no eye contact between her and the camera, but rather looking down like she is upset. She states that she’s “Gotten dead good a hiding things from her since then”. To which the camera goes back to the ariel shot as she drops the plastic bag into the water. A cut to a shot under the water watches the bag sink into the depths, however use of silence gives it a surreal, and disturbing feel. The same ariel shots depicts the girl watching the bag float away, and a sound bridge indicates that she “still gonna have a 99” as she walks off as the bag floats out of sight. A cut to a close up of the bag underwater shows a baby drift out of the bag. The infant is covered in blood bringing back connotations of the ice cream and blood incident, from her previous comment about a ‘99’, which creates a surreal and disturbing image. The baby fully slithers out of the bag into the deep recesses of the canal. Whilst a cut lets us track the, now empty bag down the canal, discarded as mere trash. Then a final long-shot zooms out as the girl walks down the canal singing ‘I’m not that innocent’ bringing forth connotations of her virginity and the infant she gave birth to all along.

I chose to deconstruct this film as it represented many of my own ideas, of the interview techniques and the idea that she has undergone a personal journey. In addition to this I really liked the way she alluded to her dysfunctional home life without over-stating a dramatic sub-plot, as it kept the focus her journey. Which is something I'm trying to capture within my script at the minute. Furthermore I like the ambiguity of the ending, as the audience is left unsure of what the girls future holds and how to feel about her decision and see it from another perspective. As my film holds a controversial issue of 'runways' and I wanted to depict it in a positive and empowering light. Much like how 'About a Girl' takes the sensitive issue of abortion and irresponsible teenagers and lead us to evoke sympathy for her.

Small Moments - Jeremy Raison

‘A Tartan Short’
‘Small moments’ is a short film about morality and the small precious moments a group of people are taking for grated; before the explosion.
After watching the film ‘Small moments’ in class we answered a couple of questions to get us thinking about structure, and how the concept of the film is conveyed through colour and narratives.

Colours

RED – Within the film the colour red is used in the form of a: napkin, nail polish and a balloon, which indicates strong visual connotation of pain, blood and passion. For instance the red napkin in the hotel bar foreshadows the danger that is prevailing. Then after the woman feels a pain in her stomach and goes to the bathroom, the spilt nail polish indicates pain and blood, suggesting that there is a problem with her pregnancy. Furthermore after the little girl goes missing a red balloon can be seen to represent danger and install tension and fear for the little girl. Red is also used to represent the passion and intimacy between the couple, also sitting in the bar.

YELLOW - At the beginning of the film we see the little girl running off, in a yellow dress, amidst a crowd of people. The brightness of the yellow dress and hair band is very visually dynamic and acts as a contrast against all the grey suits and people, so as to keep our focus on her. In addition to this yellow is representative of happiness, which acts as a point of conflict against the resounding tension we feel from the beginning, with the mum’s anxiety and the countdown of the clock.

GREY - Grey is a key colour within the narrative as most of the location shots we are shown are grey, for instance the marble and the statue of the clock are all grey. This suggests that all these places are connected and hold importance to the people connected with them, the mums grey shall and the old couples clothing. Moreover the colour grey creates a bland, drab environment that builds on the tension of the narrative.

Time

The diegetic sound of the clock ticking builds up tension as it feels as though time is passing very slowly, leaving an audience impatient. This is also reiterated through the use of close-ups of the clock face showing every second passing. Furthermore the visual reference of the famous Edinburgh clock ‘tempus fugit’ meaning ‘time flies’, which suggests that time is running out and that they should make the most of it. The coherent shots of the watch faces adds continuity between the separate story lines and suggests that they are somehow connected. The faster ticking towards the end works well with the shot montage to install a sense of dramatic tension that time has run out.

Narratives

Within the film there are three main story lines: the couple who need to catch a flight, the little girl’s birthday and the old couple enjoying some sort of tradition. However within these narratives there seem to be other sub-plots. For instance within the girl’s family dynamic we are made to wonder about the story of the mothers pregnancy and the fathers estrangement. Furthermore with the narrative of the old couple there is also an allusion to tension in their relationship and perhaps an unhappy marriage.

Interesting Shots

1. Visual match of the clock in mouth, as the man yawns the camera zooms into his mouth which takes us to the clock face. This is interesting because it connotes the idea of impatience and how that adds tension to the narrative. The man waiting to eat his sandwich, girl wanting to open her presents and the mum anxiously waiting for dad, and how people are taking these small moments for granted.

2. Crane shot of the girl in the massive chair makes the girl seem very small and vulnerable, as though we are prey looking down on her.

3. 180° degree pan of the girl, from the perspective of a skateboarder. I liked this shot as it gave a perspective of the whole scene in relation to an interesting point of view that made it really stand out in my mind and made it memorable.

4. Nail Polish, the close-up of the spilt nail polish first connotes blood, before the camera pans and we see the broken glass and nail polish bottle. This is clever as it instantly flags a warning sign that installs panic, before completely dismissing the idea as something else, giving the audience a sense of insecurity and foreboding.

Genre

In coming up with a concept for my short film I found influences from the style of Neil Jordan's 'Interview With A Vampire' and Brian Percival's 'About A Girl'. As I liked their stylistic approach to embracing a fictional narrative with interview techniques to give structure and a sense of conclusion to their complex story lines. Both these films were classified as "drama's", despite 'Interview With A Vampires' strong horror references. From which I decided to create a short drama that also incorporates conventions from documentary to create a similar film based on a girls journey as she leaves home.

Codes and conventions of Drama:

• Narrative
• Protagonist
• Mise en Scene
• Cinematic shots
• Catalyst
• Narrator
• Script/ storyline
• Characters, protagonist
• Gritty Realism
• Dialog
  

Based on the grown-up theme of my short film my initial response to a target audience would be around 13-25 year old's. As my protagonist is going to be roughly seventeen years old, which is old enough for the slightly older generation to familiarise with. Whilst the theme will probably appeal to a slightly younger audience and allow them to familiarise with the protagonists situation, of being uncertain about the future and anxiety in home lives, that stereotypically are associated with teenagers. In addition to this most of the films that I've looked at in reference to my own ideas have been aimed at 12 to 15 year old certificates.

Once my short film is completed it will be screened as part of our annual 'Camden School Cinema' along with the other short films produced by my classmates. However throughout the course of production screening opportunities could involve: previews, organized through 'Facebook' to gain audience feedback, as well as uploading "teasers" or "spoilers" on 'Youtube'. As well as this my teacher, Ms. Raison, has also looked into getting our short films into 'short film festivals' at the BFI or for general cinema screenings.

Pitch

This is a first draft of my pitch done in class in order to verbalise my ideas and give me more focus.

Final pitch

Narrative

When writing the script for my film i had to think about the narrative structure and how I was going to use representation and location to unfold the narrative visually, as well as dialogue. The inspiration for my short film; originally came from Neil Jordan's 'Interview With A Vampire'. However as I looked back over my research and planning I also took a great deal of inspiration from the short film 'About A Girl'. Both films contain similarities, as the narrative contains a direct voice from the protagonist, reflecting on their life, and evoke a sense strong sense of past and present that was central for my short film. Therefore I decided to use the interview technique for the ending, whilst adopting 'About A Girls' constant stream of narrative, interspersed with flash backs for the main body for my narrative. However I decided that just having an interview sequence for the resolution scene wasn't enough, as I wanted represent her new found Independence visually, as well as through the dialogue sequence. Therefore I used a scene I found in an old episode of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' after 'Buffy' runs away in the end of the second season. The episode 'Anne' shows Buffy working in a cafe and independently renting a flat. I really liked this idea, as this idea of a 'waitress' is predominantly viewed as a young profession, for people just starting to be independent, which conveyed the relatively new independence I wanted to ascribe her. Therefore I decided to use this idea in the ending of my film, to show her Independence and decision in a positive light.

Synopsis

‘Train Journey’ is a short film based on the life of a girl before she decides to run away from home. The film is a drama all about her journey from her previous life to the new life she has created for herself. I chose the title ‘Train Journey’ for my film, as it represent the physical embodiment for her decision to run away, as well as connoting her own emotion journey. “A journey that would last a life-time” Furthermore it is simple and understated, like the style of my movie. For instance in my film my character is only insinuated to having come from a broken home because I’m only making a short film I couldn’t make the narrative over-complex.

A girl, Alice, sitting against the window of a moving train looking upset,however there is no indication as to why this is. Naturalistic sounds of the train passing along the tracks install a sense of a great deal of time passing along her journey. A disembodied voice begins to tell us the story of the mysterious 'Alice'. After which we see her quit the train, indicating she has reached her destination, as she steps on to the platform before seeming to disappear in a flurry of people and steam. Then a black screen is shown as the words ‘Train Journey’ appear, as an opening credit. A splash is heard, as the black background becomes a surface of a rippling black pond and we see Alice emerge from under the ponds surface, gasping for air. We see again that she is upset by something, yet it is unclear why or why she has recalled us back to this moment for the present. After a passing of time we see Alice floating on the water as a voice calls her name; somewhere in the distance. A boy emerges from the clearing behind the entrance to the ponds. He spots the girl and helps her out of the water, however he seems very off put to finding her their. It then becomes apparent that the boy, Mark, is her boyfriend who she has 'run off' from, as the couple argue and effectively break-up. Alice appears to be hurt by Mark's mean sentiments and shrugs off his request to walk her home. We then see her waiting at a bus stop as she takes the bus home. She reaches home and opens her front door unto an unforeseen argument, heard from somewhere inside the house. As soon as Alice acknowledges the shouting she breaks down into tears against her front door. The next day we see Alice tossing and turning in her bed, appearing to be in some form of agitation. This is made apparent as the same voice is heard to reiterate the events from the previous night and her feelings behind them, giving us some insight into her life and how it’s beginning to fall to pieces. Flashbacks to the previous night are alluded to within the narrative, which install a sense of tension to her life and repeated state of upset. Eventually Alice is seen to gain back some sense of strength as she gets out of bed and goes down stairs. To which we see a woman, who appears to be her mother, slumped over the kitchen table by a bottle of alcohol, giving the impression of a dysfunctional home life. Moreover shots from her school show her boyfriend, Mark, as having moved on to a nothing girl, leaving Alice feeling unwanted and dejected. As the story progresses we see Alice make the decision to leave home and buy a train ticket from a station. However the narrative is cut short as we see her standing underneath the time table with the same distressed look on her face that we saw in the opening sequence. Thereby leaving the audience wondering whether she has made the right decision to run away. Time passes and Alice is sitting by the window of a cafe looking at someone sitting opposite her. This unforeseen company asks Alice as question, about why she had to run away from home. Alice answers them and we can tell that it has been her all along, telling the audience her story, and for the first time we see her smile as she answers the questions. Indicating to the viewer that made the right decision and that she is happy with her life and has moved on from her previous unhappy state. As Alice continues to answer more questions we begin to draw conclusions from her life and her journey to where she is now, being interviewed for a magazine article. Once the journalist is done interviewing a man approaches Alice to tell her that 'table nine needs coffee'. To which we assume that she is working at the cafe and as she clears away plates from her table, has probably been on a lunch break. Alice says goodbye to the journalist and moves behind the counter, presumably to start making the coffee, however we see a young man catch her eye at the bar and they exchange a flirtatious smile. The picture changes and the title 'Train Journey' appears, before 'Train' fades and the word 'journey' is left as dictionary definitions scroll down to reveal the definition 'a transition'.

I was inspired by the short film ‘Strangers’ to use a train location to represent my characters journey, as the naturalistic editing of the train worked really well to deliver the films powerful message. Furthermore it also worked well with my idea of simplicity, as I’m only making a low budget short film. In addition to this it represented the everyday that people never question yet could have a deeper meaning, like my characters journey. I wanted to use the Hampstead heath ponds as my cataclysmic point in the story as I didn’t want to allude to anything to dramatic so as not to loose focus. To which I thought the surface of the water rippling was a good metaphor for her life silently falling to pieces and not being how it seemed on the surface. I chose to include a bus journey as a transition between shots as I want it to mirror the opening sequence on the train, with her looking out of the window like she is looking for something. I will use my own house for the shots representing my characters home life, as I thought it would be easier to create intimacy in a place familiar to myself. The overtones of arguments and the quick succession I thought would lead to a strong sense of a dysfunctional family without the need for a separate storyline. I wanted to end the narrative on a cliffhanger, as I wanted the audience to empathise with my character and question her decision like she has been questioning her life throughout. A window also frames the last scene in the café, however this time she isn’t looking out of it, giving a sense that she has found what she was looking for. The end scene was inspired by the film ‘Interview with a vampire’ as I felt that an interview would be a good way to conclude the girls life and give the answer they wanted. In addition to this as we see that the café is also her work place, they both give her a sense of independence that we wouldn’t expect to end the film on a positive note.