'About A Girl' - Mae Webb

About A Girl

2001

Director: Brian Percival

Found: BBC Film Network

Summary: As a girl goes on walking alongside a canal, her stories become more and more underlain by an uncomfortable feeling that the gravity of her experiences does not match her flippant retelling of her everyday life: her descriptions of her pop idols and her favourite ice cream are mixed with hints about family troubles, poverty and domestic violence.
 
Why I chose this: I chose this because I like the idea of having the character telling their story to the audience while showing flashbacks of what she's talking about as it gives the audience her thoughts and feelings about what's happened. I also like this genre of social realism.

Representation

SOCIAL CLASS-

• This film is about the northern English working class, there are many ways in which we know this.
• Setting - the settings show council houses and towers of flats which look cold and dull as they are mostly grey colours, showing that people can't afford to choose where they live. This creates a rough, derelict nature to the film and shows that they do not live in luxury. There is also a lot of rubbish scattered around showing that the people there aren't proud of where they live and don't have anyone to take care of it.



shot showing setting

•  Props - the scratch card that her mum holds, this shows that she does not have a job as perhaps she can't afford childcare, therefore she relies to luck to try and get them money. This also shows that she does not have a constant income. The cigcigarettes also show that they use this as a coping mechanism to deal with their money issues and the stress they are under, it may also be a way to escape their worries.

screenshot showing scratch card

screenshot showing her dancing

• Songs/dances - when she is singing and dancing/talking about being a popstar it shows how people from a working class background have unrealistic aspirations and false dreams as a way to escape their harsh lives, this shows her dreaming about it and shows that music is her escape, as she knows the only way of her being rich and getting out of the life she's in is by chance.

• Dialogue - she says 'thingy' when she speaks showing her limited vocabulary and lack of recieved pronounciation. She also swears which shows that she may be culturally deprived as her parents have not taught her what is right and wrong. She says they went to 'Prestatin' on holiday, this shows that they do not get to have  luxurious holidays and treats as this is not a very popular holiday destination.

AGE- 

• This film uses Jump Cuts (a discontinuity technique when a cut between 2 shots causes the subject to 'jump' in the frame.)
• This use of jump cuts disrupts the image continuity which mirrors the way that she speaks in that younger children will just say whatever comes into their head and their thoughts are very random and all over the place. This highlights her age as she is only a child even though she uses swear words and talks about things such as alcohol, trying to appear older than she is.
  
  GENDER
• Although throughout she is represented as a fairly typical young girl by the way she loves to dance and sing, and aspires to be a popstar, the film also completely goes against the feminine stereotype as killing a baby is probably the most unfeminine thing a woman could do, it goes against our entire maternal role and natural instincts.
• 
  
  Audience
• This film has won five awards, amongst these is a BAFTA award for best short film, this shows that this film has been recognized by some of the top film experts.
• I feel that this film would appeal to working class people more as they would perhaps be able to identify with the characters and their way of life. It may also appeal to young girls as they might share the same ambitions as the girl in the film and may find it easier to understand her.
   

Narrative

-linear but miltistrand
-how they show flashbacks
- lighting 

Genre

• The genre of this film is Social realism. Brian Percival set out to create a film that would show the real life of working class people in Britain to give a message across to the audience that life can be tough for them and so they have unrealistic ambitions and will find anyway to escape their life and dream about a better life.
• Another example of the genre Social Realism is in the film 'Fish Tank'