Still Frame Analysis

About A Girl

‘About A Girl’ is a short film directed by Brian Percival and written by Julie Rutterford. The genre is a drama and it is a short film because it is under 40 minutes and has a ‘shock’ element that leaves an impact on the audience, which is what classic short films are supposed to do.

The opening denotes the title ‘about a girl’ in an old school text style, with the letters changing, denoting the texting system on old phones – the non-diegetic sound of typing on a phone can be heard which confirms it is a phone. This connotes that a message will be communicated over the course of the film. Additionally, This connotes a youthful atmosphere for me, as it is nostalgic for me when I was younger.

The opening shot is a long shot and denotes a young girl dancing and singing in a field, the lighting is low key and no non diegetic sound is used at all throughout the film which connotes a sense of realism and adds to continuity editing for a realistic feel. This connotes a serious tone and that this film is a serious drama and not, for example, a dark comedy. The low-key lighting shows the mise en scene of a girl and her surrounding as a silhouette which connotes she is hiding something. The diegetic sound of her singing and the muffled sound of her music playing from her earphones connotes a sense of youth and innocence and the fact she is singing and dancing so seriously connotes that she is young and aspires for typical things young girls do such as being a singer and dancer. The mise en scene of the location denotes long grass/plants and a natural ambience. This connotes that she is defying her youth/ innocence and the silhouette further confirms my interpretation that she is hiding from her youth and purity and what she did is something not ‘natural’ or acceptable in her society

The lyrics she is singing is ‘Stronger then yesterday’ by Britney spears connotes that she feels stronger or more mature for something she has done and the previous serious tones signifies that it is something serious and sinister. Additionally, Britney Spears has had a troubled past and was in the media a lot for doing ‘bad’ things which is ironic as her other lyrics that the girl later sings are ‘I’m not that innocent’ – this again foreshadows she is not as innocent as her voice and first impressions may portray.

A jump cut is used to suddenly rake the audience away from the ‘innocent’ sense of the previous scenes. The sudden jump cuts connote her personality being quite crazy, wild and rebellious, also it connotes that she is developing/maturing very quickly for her age and that something is on her mind that is making her constantly change topics. Another thing I noticed during some of these scenes is that she uses direct address, which is quite rare as it takes away from realism and continuity. The fact that she uses direct address connotes that it is actually a documentary and someone is filming her. This makes me question who is filming her. The mise en scene of her environment looks very gritty which connotes that she lives in a poor and deprived area of Manchester (due to her accent). In the third still, the mise en scene denotes graffiti and what looks like council estate houses. This adds to the ambience of the short film and signifies on a deeper level that she is in a poor area.

This scene denotes a long shot of the girl sitting on her own whilst her dad goes to the pub. This already connotes that she isn’t well looked after by her parent and is often left aside which could be the reason why she is maturing so quickly, as she is alone a lot and has taught herself how to ‘grow up’. The editing in this scene is slow paced and the camera actually zooms out to an extreme long shot, connoting her completely isolated from any other people, this connotes how lonely she is and how she has no adults to confide in. There is diegetic sound of men cheering and being loud which denotes her dad in the pub getting drunk with his football friends. This connotes that he doesn’t care about her as he is choosing alcohol and his friends over his daughter. The sound is muffled and sounds like it is coming from far away. This connotes how far away he is to her emotionally and how he is never there to look after her. The lighting is naturalistic and a pathetic fallacy is used when as weather adds a grey, gritty atmosphere which could foreshadow something bad will happen.

This next shot is a longshot which is interesting as it is underwater. It came as a complete shock to me as she threw something into the water; this is the next scene that you see. The editing is slower and allows the audience to see the disturbing imagery for a long period of time. This really shocked me and affected me emotionally as I did not expect it even though there were subtle references to it in the diegetic dialogue throughout the short film. The sound is muffled and sounds like its underwater, this puts the audience in the baby’s position of helplessly being put underwater and makes the audience emotionally engaged with the scene as we are immersed in the scene with the sound as well as the image itself.

Love Hate

The first scene opens with a black screen and the diegetic crescendo of a group of people cheering. There is then a fade into a worms eye shot which denotes many people huddled together with their hands touching, in a ritual type way. This foreshadows that the film will be about a person’s relationship, as the crescendo reaches its climax, the hands come apart – this connotes that a relationship will be torn apart. The lighting is low key and we can’t make out any faces, this adds an element of mystery and connotes that the short film will have serious/dark themes.

The next scene is an extreme longshot and shows a man alone. The extreme long shot exaggerates and emphasises his isolation from everyone. The lighting is high key but has a gritty/grey feel which is also a pathetic fallacy; with the weather foreshadowing something bad will happen. The mise en scene of the character is of a stereotypical ‘nerdy’ character, with the mise en scene of his hair being long and messy, his skinny body type etc. this connotes that he doesn’t feel as though he fits into society.

Editing is faster when showing his colleagues talking to people on the street but when it shows him, the camera again, uses a longshot/extreme long shot – connoting his isolation. This and the slow editing when he is on screen connotes how boring his life is and again emphasises how isolated he is.

The first time we are introduced to ‘Hate’, a medium shot is used and the mise en scene of their proximity is closer to any other character that has been seen so far. Depth of field can be seen with only him and hate in focus, the depth of field here connotes how far away he is from society, that he can’t even see it clearly anymore. The mise en scene of Hate’s clothing and props is black which has connotations for evil, bad and impure things. This contrasts his personality completely from what we have seen

Hate can be seen be seen several times smoking a cigarette around Tom (the main character) this connotes how her presence (second hand smoke) is effecting him in a negative way. A close up is used to emphasise her bad behaviour and the lighting is low key, foreshadowing something bad.

In this scene, a two shot is used to show the symmetry between Tom and Hate as she is actually a part of him. Although, Tom’s friend notices Hate as a human being therefore ‘Hate’ is not a figment of his imagination but a real living person. This is a classic convention of short film, to confuse and surprise audiences as throughout the film we are lead to believe that she is his imagination and it causes the audience to think deeply and interpret this in different individual ways. Two shots in a medium/medium close up are used frequently to show the two characters becoming closer and connotes how she is influencing him as the mise en scene of his appearance starts to change and he starts to look very tired and scary.

In the scene where Tom tries to fight his friend, when Tom is on the floor, there is a moment where he talks to Hate. A low angle is used which denotes Hate as being significantly above him. This connotes that she is slowly taking control of him and she is growing stronger each time he gives in to her temptations. Additionally, the rule of thirds is used here, with hate being in a medium shot to the last third of the shot. This makes the audience attention go all on her and since it is a POV shot from Tom. It connotes how she is all he focuses on all day every day, which is giving her power to influence him more.

In the final scene, Hate is revealed to the audience as being pregnant. The mise en scene of her costume is all black, similar to when Tom first encountered her at the train station. This connotes a full cycle of events as before this, Tom had said that he got back with his ex, called Joy (who name and referenced behaviour is the opposite of hate – connoting that hate came into his life because Joy left, a literal and emotional portrayal of how Tom felt when Joy broke up with him). This connotes that although Joy came back into his life, he still carried hate around with him and he makes a reference to this in dialogue when he says Joy was ‘too trusting’ – this connotes that Tom was hiding his hate from her and not showing her his real personality. The pregnant ‘Hate’ connotes tom’s emotional hate growing inside of him and it also signifies being reborn with both traits of Joy and hate.
The fact that hate is smoking when she is pregnant connotes that she is still a bad influence and maybe that she is messing up tom even more as in real life, smoking when pregnant can lead to complications with the baby, so the fact she is smoking can represent complications in the future when it his hateful side is born.
A faint diegetic sound of a heartbeat can be heard as non-diegetic sound of a baby’s rhyme plays – this connotes the two conflicting emotions of joy and hate confusing Tom. The diegetic and non-diegetic sounds turn into a cacophony when a sudden thud can be heard and the screen fades to black – this cacophony signifies hate finally taking over at the end and the fade to black also supports this as black has connotations for evil, hatred etc.