Short Drama Film Analysis - About a Girl

In order to provide some further inspiration and ideas for our project, I have decided to analyse a short film that I found to be interning. Namely, the film is "About a Girl" (Brian Percival, 2001). I noticed multiple similarities between this film and the film that we are planning to make for our drama project: making it a valuable point of research.

Similarly to our own, the film is largely character-driven. The film follows an unnamed 13-year-old girl as she talks about stardom and singers; alongside descriptions of her life, her relationship with her father, her frustrations with her mother, her desire to become a famous singer, as well as the band she has formed with her friends. Her rants, shot via a shaky tracking shot resembling the pattern of walking, initially seem like fairly ordinary things for young girl to complain about. The way in which her rants are delivered break the fourth-wall; they are designed to seem as though we are walking alongside her. In doing so, the film creates an almost humorous tone through which its narrative is delivered; despite the dreary grittiness of the setting.

The main themes of the film I would argue are relationships and escapism. However, the film opts not to present these themes via any particular narrative, but rather through the exploration of a single character. The film explores the way in which the girl's shaky relationship with her family coincides with her fantasies of becoming a pop-star; a hopeful escapism of the life of poverty and emotional aloofness.

The film employs a particularly distinctive style of delivery towards providing exposition on its central character. Its structure seems rather fragmented; particularly during the scenes of direct character address. These monologue sequences deploy a rather fractured, uneasy style as a result of the scenes being broken up by flashbacks and jump-cuts; alternating between sequences of direct address and more conventional scenes that observe and adhere to the fourth wall; the two being unified by the unnamed protagonist. Her rants make up a majority of the film; these sequences being particularly fast-paced and energised as a result of its frequent use of jump-cuts, flashback sequences, the protagonist's rapid and vibrant style of delivery, and indeed the deliberately shaky shooting style. This shooting style is in fact noticeably different from the shooting style of the other sequences of the film. For example, the flashbacks showing the girl spending time with her uninterested father are shot much more smoothly and emotionally; creating what almost seems like two levels of reality. It seems likely that this intends to represent the contrast between the girl's external and internal lives, the former being represented through gentle flashbacks, and the latter being represented by a more abrupt, gritty direct address with a much duller colour palette.
 

Also interesting is the relationship between the first and final shots of the film (seen below). The very first shot of the film depicts the silhouette of the unnamed protagonist, confidently singing and dancing atop a grassy hill. The shot's low-angle creates a rather dramatic shot, perhaps suggesting a bold spirit behind the girl's seemingly cold exterior. The film's final shot however (following the twist in which she drops a plastic bag into the canal, the bag having a dead, unborn baby inside), depicts a wide high-angle crane shot of the girl as she walks away from the camera; her singing much more subtle and inhibited. While the two shots vary deeply in terms of style, it is interesting to note that the song sung by the girl is the same in both scenes (the song in question being "Stronger" by Britney Spears). Furthermore, a particular lyric from the song that she seems to frequently sing is "But now I'm stronger than yesterday. Now it's nothing but my way. My loneliness ain't killing me no more." These lyric provide a sense of empowerment to the girl in the film's first scene, and yet (following the twist), seem painfully ironic in the film's final scene.

The first shot (left) is rather triumphant and bold, while the final shot (right) is rather lonely and subtle.

Personally, I find the variety of styles that the film employs to be rather interesting approach. It works rather effectively given the film's nature as a character-driven story, as it provides multiple perspectives of a single character. It could be argued that the fourth-wall-breaking monologues act as the girl's perspective on reality, while the smoother, more emotional flashbacks and cutaways provide the lonely reality; the two converging in the final scene for the rather bittersweet ending.

"The film presents a richly detailed, yet elusive, portrait of a character that neither changes nor triumphs during the course of the brief and lonely journey that leads to an intense twist ending."

                                                              - Felando, C. (2015). Discovering Short Films. 1st ed.

This is an effect that, I think, would be a good idea to attempt to emulate in our project. Similarly to this film, our film is a character-driven story; providing multiple plains of reality that provide multiple perspectives on a single character; the two meeting to form a dramatic twist ending. Considering the already existing similarities between the two films, it may perhaps be a good idea to adopt a similar style within our film; such as utilising a variety of shooting styles and colours between the different layers of reality, as well as perhaps having an ending that links to the start in some way.