About A Girl- Brian Percival- 2001

Class Costume - The girls costume conveys her class quickly to the audience as she is wearing large hooped earrings which are stereotypically a piece jewellery that is worn by those of a lower social class, matched with a practical coat which is simply worn for the warmth of it not to be stylish and up to date with the fashion. This would suggest a lower class as she can’t afford fashionable clothing.  Setting- The setting of the film is based with the girl walking past the canal throughout, the canal is a mess where people have thrown their rubbish into which would suggest a lack of pride in the environment that they are living in. The graffiti also suggests a lack of respect within the community as people are vandalising property. The houses behind the canal at one point in the film are derelict houses which are boarded up. A lot of the houses are also estate housing or terrace houses, this suggests that there is a lack of income into the community as there is no garden spaces for houses and are simply small houses which provides a shelter for the owners. Dialogue- The mum is believed to have said “do I look like fucking bank” this suggests that she is living off a small about of income and cannot afford to give out money as everything is going back out as soon as it comes in. the daughter also says – “dads looking for work” this again suggests a low social class as her dad is unemployed. The girl has a very strong Manc accent Props- The plastic bag being carried throughout the scenes shows a low social class as that what she is carrying her personal stuff in whereas to many people having a handbag is an important item to have. Lighting- The dark lighting throughout represents a low social class as this emphasises the poor environment it is set in. Editing- The eye line match between the girl and the retail perfume lady shows she is looked down on which could represent her class and judged to be doing something wrong.

Age Dialogue- The girls age was portrayed by her saying “I’m only allowed a coke” when she was at the pub. She also is shown singing Brittany Spears with her friends on the bus which also represents her young age. At the end of the film she goes from a serious adult matter to saying “im gunna get a 99” referring to a 99p ice cream that she was speaking about earlier in the film. The girl also jumps from topic to topic in her speech about fairly random subjects which could represent a teens jumbled thoughts. Prop- The girl listening to Brittany Spears via her headphones also represents her age as Brittany Spears typical audience is young girls which emphasises the girls age. Editing- The use of jump cuts in the film highlights the fast pace being used, this could also represent the fast pace of a young girls life and her thoughts, fast pace, always going and quite chaotic. The girls aspirations are very high and unrealistic which is something a young teen would have such as she wants to be really rich and famous.

Criticism Work - Gemma

Looking back at my opening for my thriller I have noticed that in one scene, the main character (me) had her nails painted when she was unlocking and opening her front door to her house whereas in the rest of the opening her nails are not painted, this is evident mainly in the scene where she is applying her makeup trying to hide her bruises.  If I were film the opening again I would pay more attention to smaller details to improve the continuity of the opening.



 

Below is two screenshots to show the issue with mise en scene and continuity which was not noticed by the group when filming.