Film Analysis - About a Girl

The BAFTA award winning 2001 short film directed by Ben Percival dramatizes
the contemporary issue of poverty in Britain. This is a social problem film set in
the area, Miles Platting and Newton Heath in north Manchester. Its an area that
has a lot of problems with poverty, crime and drugs. Because of this the ideology
can suggest that the character of the film is a victim of circumstances, her bad
upbringing from parents and the surroundings around her have a strong effect
on her life choices.


A common trait of a social realism film is documentary style; this film uses a
hand held camera throughout, majority of
the time a medium shot of the actress.
This shot allows the audience to see the
surroundings around, showing the graffiti
walls and the rubbish in the canal-
relating back to the ideology the area
someone lives in can stereotypically
reflect on what sort of person they are.
When the character of the girl is speaking about her mum negatively we get the
impression that there is no strong relationship between the pair. The camera
then switches scenes to a narrow depth of filed shot where the foreground of
where the girl is placed is blurred and the background where the mum is
standing is sharp, this effect was clearly designed so that we focus our attention
onto the mum. She is looking at her daughter with a face of concern however her
appearance and the fact she is holding onto a scratch card reflects that she does
care deep down but she is fixated with other things; gambling, drinking. This
again can link back to the ideology that her surroundings may have driven her to
this.





The films title sequence starts of the film, with a
non-diegetic texting sound when each letter
appears to be typed. This can connote to the
audience that texting is a large part of teenage
life. The characters silhouette is then in shot
singing a Britney Spears song, Stronger. A line
of the lyrics that she sings is- You may think
that I cant take it no more, but now Im stronger
than yesterday. Through out the film the diegetic speech from the main
character says that she is not a child anymore even though she is still thirteen.
Suggesting that she is having to grow up too fast as she is having to adjust to her
circumstances and the environment that she lives in. The character also swears
in part of the speech, this reflects again on the environment that shes brought up
in.
The mise-en-scene of the film helps highlight the poor conditions the girl has to
live with. The effortless hairstyle, gold hoop earrings and the oversized puffer
jacket suggest that no expenses were put towards the outfit choice. The gold
hoop earrings carry along the stereotype of being chavy which reflects the up
brining this character has
experienced. Another reason that
the audience can suggest that the
girl has a poor upbringing is the
environment, in one scene she
walks past the canal and graffiti is
clearly visible on the bridge, this
was deliberate, again to reflect the
sort of people that live in the area.
Another example of this is when the water of the canal is more visible in the shot
and there are trolleys, plastic bags and household rubbish in the water. These
factors show a degree of poverty and give the audience an insight of what the
area might be like.




The character that has the most camera time is the girl, her parents feature in
the film briefly in flashbacks. As this film genre is documentary style this
character is the life story that we are following. This is why she has the most
camera time as we are following her story and we do feel sympathy for her, as
she is a victim of circumstances. The editing uses jump cut from shot to shot,
this happens after every sentence when she is having a medium shot talking
about her life. This can reflect her chaotic lifestyle and how she does doesnt feel
comfortable in her current circumstances.