'About A Girl' By Brain Percival

 

  

'About A Girl' By Brain Percival - Lesson Notes 

-At the beginning of this short film, the title comes up as a text message, as the keypad tone is heard. This show this film could be quite modern and maybe directed at a young audience.

-The audience then see the silhouette of a young girl singing and dancing it is quite eery, the lighting is quite dark which seemed quite unusual for a girl like her to be out on her own so late. The girl seems very innocent singing Britney spears 'stronger' her identity is being kept from the audience, it builds some mystery and intrigue about her.

-When the girl is finally revealed it is a total shock to the audience as she is totally not what is expected. She is a very confident 'chavy' girl this comes across in the way she is speaking and the was she is dressed. she is quite a 'hard' girl who doesn't really seem to take any rubbish from anyone. We can tell she is very working class typical Mancunian girl this comes across through her accent also she doesn't seem to be very well educated and a bit naive. 

-The way the girl is talking straight in to the Camera gives the film a documentary style 

-When  the audience see her mum all there questions an feeling about her are confirmed about what kind of girl she is as we see her mum is a single mum living on a council estate. 

- As the girl continues to talk the audience feeling change slightly as she doesn't seem as innocent as thought in the beginning because of the bad language she repeated uses. 

-The way she talks about her dad portrays the kind of relationship she has with him, she talks about it making the audience think it is quite a good daughter and father relationship although the clips shown of her with her father shows the girl being left alone and her father not really caring for her at all even though this is the case she still seems to talk quite highly of him and acts like she doesn't care about being neglected by her father. 

-The girl seems  a lot older the 13 or at least she seems to think so, this is quite sweet, it something the audience quite like about her. Another reason this girl will be liked by the audience is the fact she seems to be normal 'what you see is what you get' she is someone a young audience can relate to. 

-When the girl is left alone outside the pub she starts to sing. Singing seems to be her escape as she seems to go in to her own little world when she sings it quite sad.

-When the girl is seen on the bus with her friends the audience are reminded that although the girl is quite mouthy se still is just a young girls that still has childish dreams of becoming a singer.

- There is not continuity with in the shots this was maybe done on purpose as it is maybe a reflection of her life showing that nothing is ever the same for her it is always changing whether she likes it or not showing insecurity.

-When the girl talks to the lady in the shop she is quite cheeky although she is clever about it as she noticed the shop assistant was looking down on her and she turned the situation round and mad the shop assistant look stupid.- in this scene we are reminded she is still quite immature in the was she smells the perfume. 

-Through the way she talking about her mum and the language she uses, we sense she has some very bad feelings towards her mother although she is more in common with her mum then she thinks as her mum also seems like she wants to escape this cold life on a estate in manchester as she is scratching out her scratch card.

-When the girl talks to her dad we see she isn't as hard faced as she portrays we see her vunerablity.

-As the girl is walking she seems to be getting more and more isolated from the main town. Its a pathetic fallacy as the whether is dull and grey and it looks quite cold which is a reflection of her life and the way she is feeling inside.

-The carries on talking and we hear quite a shocking story about how her own mother killed her dog of which she loved. This just proves the kind  of person her mum is to do something like that to a poor animal furthermore it show just how much she loves her children to do that to them. 

-When it is finally revealed to the audience where the girl was going and what she had in the bag it is a total shock.

-It shows the girls is a product of her environment and she doesn't really known any different, its a vicious circle and she hasn't really been taught right from wrong. 

-The audience also feel very deceived as the girl totally isn't as innocent as we thought she was. 

-The silence at the end is crucial as it is a silence of realization it make you really focus on what exactly has just happened as it happened all so fast, although the message is still very powerful.

-The way she throws the baby mimics the way in which she was thrown in to the world.

-The plastic bag represents her it flows away and is free for a bit but then get trapped again i.e. she is not going to be able to get out of this life she is in especially after what she has done. 

-Throughout this film the girl wasn't given a name, this was most likely done on purpose as it shows her insignificance in the world she's in.