HANNAH MITCHELL - RESEARCH

About a Girl 

•  The first genre I identify in this film is comedy. The way the film has constructed the young girl's character uses a comic effect with her at times in this short film. 

• For example, when she talks about her dad and says "He could have played for city....Not!". The dialect she uses here is used to create humor as she says "Not!" which is very much a teen slang word which creates the humor after her statement before. 

• Also when she refers to her Dad and taking her to pub and says "Bless!" after, we get a sense of comedy from this as she is talking and using the dialect that a person much older than herself would use and makes us see humor in this as we know she is being sarcastic.

• The 2nd genre used in this film was teen drama. I identified this genre because of the characterization we see in this film. In every bit of camerawork we see, the composition always has the teen girl in the shot and so we know the focus of the film is her. 

• Also, the films characterization of this girl shows that she has probably had a lot of drama in her life as she doesn't go into detail on some things and her facial expressions change to hurt when we see her talk about her family. 

• We also know it deals with teen drama as the film only focuses on her character and shows that she is far apart from her parents and their lives in this film as we don't learn much about their lives.

• The 3rd genre used in this film was social realism. The reason I identified this as a genre as the representation of the character raises a serious underlying social problem in society. 

• This problem I feel could be addressed as teenage pregnancies as this is a issue that is being raised all the time in society by the media about teenage girls and underlines a realism to the story in many teenage girls lives. 

• The film uses a teen drama convention in a unique way. The film used a sound convention which reflected the 'teen drama' genre in the film. By using the main character to sing Britney Spear's 'Stronger' in most points, we as the audience associate this song and the singer with a younger audience and teenage girls so we know that this song is an indication and reflection of teenage life and drama.
  
  
• I also think another convention to display that this film is related to teens and youth drama is the opening sequence. The title is displayed in a text font from a phone displaying the letters one by one with the sound of a mobile phone which immediately signafies to the audience that this film probably has something to do with youth culture.

• The film also uses a social realism convention in a unique way. A prop that is used to represent the genre and show it to the audience is the baby at the end. What this prop does to the audience is immediately indicate the genre of social realism and the underlying problem that is teenage pregnancy of this film but also make sense of the narrative we have been hearing and what all the discourse has been leading to.

• The advantages of the short narrative in this film are that for one being kept short, it doesn't get too boring as a film as there is a lot of repetition of camerawork in this film in the way that we have shots of the girl and when she talks about her family we cut to them.

• Another advantage of the short narrative is that we are not given a vast amount of detail of this girl life and it's kept in short sections. This means it creates a lot more interest as we can see and from what she says that she is keeping a lot of things secret from the audience and we are very interested to learn more about this secretive character.

• The narrative is structured in a vignette style that allows us to see short scenes that focus on the moment of the girl walking down by the river and her speech. This style also allows it to gives us an insight into the characters life as we learn that no really looks after or cares for her and no notices her leaving her to look after herself and fend for herself. We see this when we gather that her Mum and Dad didn't know she's pregnant and she's left to deal with it on her own and can hide things from everybody in her life.

• The choice of opening and ending in this film is very interesting. In the opening, it shows the character dancing and singing along to Britney Spears and what this reflects and communicates to the audience is that she is just a normal 13 year old girl who is doing what most teenagers do and dreaming of a life of better and of fame.

• The ending in this film though is a complete contrast to the opening. It shows a contrast to what we were communicated at the start and that she is not a normal 13 year old girl at all as she has had a baby and has thrown in it a river. What this does is communicate a complete change in tone in narrative and genre as well of the film.

• The chronology of this is in chronological order apart from flashbacks which are to go with the vignette style of narrative and give a insight to the girl's life and her family and how we are supposed to think of her life as normal.

• What I find interesting is that the main use of sound in this film is the characters voice and the song she sings. 

• The use of the characters voice throughout reminds us the whole time of her working class background and that she is living in the working class areas of Manchester as it is suggested through the accent she speaks and the dialect she is speaking.

• What I also find interesting is sound is probably the most important area in this film as her voice is telling us the story and her views rather than camerawork displaying her story.

• I also find it interesting when she sings in this film. When she sings, it reminds us as the audience that she is a young 13 year old girl. However, the actual lyrics of the song convey the events that have happened in her life and the end sequence with the a baby as she sings the line "I'm not that innocent" which is a complete contrast to what we thought of the character as a young innocent girl.

• What I feel is interesting about camerawork is the simplicity of the camerawork. In this film there aren't a huge range of shots as most are mid shots on her face as we follow her as she directly talks to the audience in this film as she talks to the camera. I feel the camerawork reflects the simplicity of her life as she lives an everyday life of most people and so it also reflects the realism of this film and how it reflects working class persons life and also a teenagers life.

• An interesting piece of camerawork I find is at the end sequence when the camera slowly cranes upwards when she is looking at the canal and we the camera ends at a bird's eye view shot. This shot may have been out as this deliberately so we get a sense of looking down on her now as opposed to the previous shots of eye line level. The eye line level shots helped us give understanding and sympathy to the girl but at the last shot, I feel it used as a birds eye view shot to look down on the girl and perhaps this is a way of telling the audience we should be looking down on her actions and judging her for it.

• What I feel is interesting about editing is that is very fast paced shots and cuts throughout. This could reflect the characters mood and that she is happy and quite a bubbly fast talking person and so the shots are fast paced to reflect this. However, as we reach the end sequence, the pace of the shots slows down. We see shots of the girl's facial expression looking quite glum as she reaches the canal and the realization hits her on what's she about to do. 

• What I find interesting about mise en scene is the use of lighting in the beginning sequence. We see the girl dancing like teenage girls do but the lighting is made so that we cannot see any features of her, only her silhouette. What I feel is interesting about this is that it could represent that is something perhaps dark about her or that she is hiding something or herself away in the shadows and away from everyone else. 

• What I also ind interesting is the use of the prop of the baby at the end. This prop immediately shocks the audience because we weren't expecting it. What it represents is that this girls life is far from normal. She says "I've gotten dead good at hiding things" which communicates to us that she has hidden this from everyone in her life. 

• The discourse of this communicates that she isn't very cared for her in her life as she has hidden this from everyone and we are made to think she has to look after herself. 

• What is also interesting is that after she has thrown the baby in the water, she says "I'm still gonna have a 99". What this shows is that she is still a young girl and is turning her back on what has happened and going back to being her age. The lighting in this shot is quite dark and dull with the color quite drained in the shot perhaps showing the darkness of her action.

• What this film seems to be about is a 13 year old girl explaining bits of her life to us so that we think she is just a regular teenager. However, the ending proves a complete contrast and shows she is not just a normal teenage girl and shows some social realism about life for a young working class girl perhaps who is pregnant and doesn't have the support she needs in her life and so is made to hide it from her family.

• As I said before, the audience is made to take a view on the subject with the camera angle looking down on her as if to say we should be looking down on her as a person and her actions. However, some people may feel sympathy as she doesn't have much family support and is shown when she says to her dad "I'm not a kid" which shows her may not trust her very much.

• The social group represented in this film is working class people. They are represented in a stereotypical way as we see all the stereotypical traits of a working class person like the think accent and dialect they use as well as things like the mum spending their money on 'cheap knock of lager' and cigarettes and lottery tickets. The setting is also a very stereotypical representation of where working class people live.

• Another social group that is represented is teenage girls. They are represented in ways in which the media and many people now portray modern teenage girls as and that is girls getting pregnant very early on in life. I feel that it is a sympathetic representation though as we understand that like many teenage girls in her situation, they have no support to turn to at all. 

 Love sick:

• The first identifiable genre I found in this is that it is a comedy. The film has used genre conventions of comedy uniquely as it uses a repetition of narrative throughout to add humor to it. I find this inspiring as not many films are able to do this while keep it funny and entertaining but this film does. It keeps repeating the narrative in that he runs after these women and it seems to end in the same way as the last adding humor as we know what to expect and are familiar with the narrative and sequence.

•  There is also a reference to Justin Bieber in this film and the comedy in this is that Justin Bieber is a 16 year old boy and the characters voice over says "Maybe Justin Bieber was right, maybe there was no Juliet for this Romeo" so the comedy is that he is referencing that Justin Bieber knows all about love when he is just a 16 year old boy and the character is a lot older than him. We find humor in this as he seems to be taking wisdom from a 16 year old famous boy and acting like he knows everything.

• There is also the genre of romance in this film. The genre is shown in the repetition of the narrative and is combined in with the comedy aspect as the narrative in this film revolves around the character chasing after women and what he thinks is 'love'.

• The advantage to this film having the short narrative is that in the short amount of time we can see that he has been 'in love' with 3 women and this short amount of time reflects just how desperate he is for love and seems to fall in love with women within in a few seconds of seeing them.

• The film is a vignette as it is short scenes that focus on moments and gives us an insight into this character chasing around after women he doesn't even know.

• This film is also set in chronological order and the reason for this being is that if not it firstly wouldn't make sense and secondly because it wouldn't have the same effect to show how desperate and needy he is for love.

• The opening and ending in this short film are particularly interesting as they both channel each other as they repeat the structure of each one and the same voice over and phrases so the ending immediately brings reference to the beginning.

• I was very inspired by how the repetition of the narrative work is used and works so well in this short film and didn't get boring throughout. Even though it was set in a different location each time with a different female character, we still find humor in it as the narrative itself has humor.

• This film also has a circular narrative which is where certain plot points are repeated so for example, the voice over is repeated with the same dialogue and then the circle of events will happen again after this dialogue.

• In this short film, sound plays an important role as we don't hear what any of the other characters say to the man, but only hear the non-diegetic sound of his voice over at the time when any other character is supposed to be talking so we only see them mouthing their speech as the voice over blocks out their speech. We also hear a soundtrack throughout which has very romantic feel to it and so can be linked in with the romance genre this film has.

• The editing in these sequences I feel may convey and relate to the mood of the main character. At the beginning when the girl has broken up with him, the editing is very slow and has even been put in slow motion when they are having an argument to focus on the facial expressions. However, the speed of shots speeds up when he tries to chase after the girl and there is a use of cross cutting here until they finally meet.

• Another interesting editing effect is the old film effect they have added with sepia colors and grain effect added. They add this when then character is imagining his life with the woman he has just seen which again adds to the comedy of this film. The adding of this effect on the shots maybe refers to a more old or traditional view of love he has as love in today's society is not as viewed as it was traditionally. What this camerawork and editing could also represent is that perhaps the comedy is that he's acting like a women as women stereo-typically always have the goals in life of falling in love, getting married and having children. The modern day representation of men isn't perceived like this so this why we perhaps we find it comical as he is so desperate for love and not many men have the attitudes he does in today's society.

• The use of lighting and color is very bright in this short film throughout and I feel it reflects the bright comic genre of the film and his attitude to love in which he doesn't seem to get too down on when it doesn't work.

• This film is about a man who is desperate for love and will go after any chance he gets to take it and we find a comic view in this because he's not a stereotypical view of a modern man. He acts more like a representation of a women in terms of his attitude to love and romance.

Barry:

• The genres I found in this short film were Drama and social realism.

• We are able to identify the genre of Drama in this short film through the narrative. The drama in this film is that we think she's just an ordinary little girl at the start. The convention to show that this is a drama film is that her friend in this film is her pet rabbit Barry. When she get's home after her day out with Barry, we then see that her Mum is disabled as she is in a wheelchair. We only find this aspect of the story at the end when it is revealed and brings a twist to the story.

• There is also the social realism as this story represents the social reality of many children's lives in the UK as many live with a disabled parent and have to look after them.

• The advantage to the short narrative in this film is that while it's enough time to get an insight of her life, we don't learn too much detail on her home life because of the short narrative which then leaves the audience intrigued and thinking about the story and the ending. 

• This short film is a vignette narrative as it gives us a few scenes of her life to get an insight on her life she leads and how she must feel and go through every single day. The vignette narrative shows us how this young girl copes with her Mum's condition and that she find happiness in having Barry there with her even though her home life is very sad.

• The film is set in chronological order as it wouldn't make as much sense if not and wouldn't give the effect to the audience as it would show the Mum first so we wouldn't get the shock we feel when we see her at the end. It is also put in this way to show us the way of her everyday life and the simplicity of her life.

• The opening is used to make her seem like a happy normal child at the beginning and so the audience think this throughout until the change at the end. The ending is a contrast to the mood and tone of the film at the beginning as we learn that she doesn't lead the ordinary life of a young girl we predicated at the beginning as we see the Mum in a wheelchair changing our view on her and her life.

• One thing I'm inspired by the narrative in this film is the contrast in the stories opening to the ending and using a young child in it makes it more effect as we feel more sympathetic to her character. I'm also inspired that this film brings up an issue that many children have in the UK about living and looking and caring after disabled parents. It could also be perceived in this film that a background narrative to this story could be about children being bullied and not having any friends for them.

• I would like to experiment in our film with the chronological order as sometimes adding a non-chronological narrative can really add effect to a short film and make it more interesting for the audience. However, in some films having a simple chronological narrative can be just as effective as it adds to the simplicity of a film.
•  The sound in this short film does play an important role. The soundtrack in this film is a signifier of the mood and tone of the film and how the young girl feels. At the beginning we hear a happy cheery song which gives off to the audience that she is happy and the tone of the film is as well. As the girl gets home though, the music gradually slows and comes to a complete halt as we see the girls mother. 

• The dialogue at the end is also important as she doesn't speak to her Dad as she gets back and could signify she's sad to be back to reality as she's reminded of her home life and her mum's disability.

• At first, we see an establishing shot of the area and we gather from this that she lives in a lower class area from the location and how the houses are positioned as we that they are semi-detached houses. We also see it is perhaps a lower class area as it looks quite run down with rubbish in front of one house and a skip in front of another with quite dingy colors in the setting. This could tell the audience perhaps another reason she is unhappy as where she lives as she describes when she wants to run away with Barry to go "live in the countryside" which is a complete contrast to where she lives.

• When then see some interesting shots when the girl says "everyone knows you need a best friend" and we see the black and white long shots of what people would perceive to be a best friend. What is interesting is we then cut back to the girl and see she is walking with a buggy. We could assume that perhaps this is her sister or brother who is her best friend as the shots before showed that best friends are perceived as human. However, the camera tilts downwards to reveal in the buggy a rabbit who is the girls best friend. This shows a contrast to the black and white shots which could have been seen as a more 'traditional' look on a best friend and shows perhaps a more modern view on a best friend.

• We then cut to a extreme long shot of a group of girl watching the young girl and her rabbit. We can hear the diegetic sound of the girls laughing in the background and by the composition of them in the shot and their body language, we may interpret this in a way of thinking that maybe she gets bullied for having her best friend be a rabbit and that she may not have any real friends.

• Another interesting shot is when she is telling us of her dream. The post production editing in this scene has made it seem cartoon and what this does to the audience is that it reminds us that she is only a young 7 year old girl so that we can perhaps remember this for the later events and feel sympathy for her.

• At the end, we have a blocking shot of the door and as the camera tracks forward, we see the mum in a wheelchair. This use of camerawork is almost like a secret is being revealed.

• The editing of the shots in this allows the pace of shots to match the music, so from the beginning as the music builds up - the shots become quicker and reflect the character's mood and happiness in this part. When we reach the scene at the end in her house, the shots become more slow paced as the music dies down. This could perhaps show she's now back to the reality of her life and the slow pace of it which is reflected in the pace of shots.

•  This film is about a 7 year old girl with a best friend called Barry who is a rabbit. The issue in the film is that this young girl’s friend is a rabbit and also that her Mum has a disability. 

• The young girl is represented in a strong way as she says when she’s with Barry “I don’t care what people think” but that could also be about her Mum and she is represented as strong when she arrives home, she goes in with a good attitude and sounds happy to her Mum showing the strength this girl holds even with all the things in her life. She’s also shown as strong as when she talks about running away and dreaming of living in the country and perhaps trapped in her life but says “Dad will miss, he doesn't have a best friend” so she’s shown as strong as she’s helping support her family even know she doesn't want to be there. 

• Another issue here is that she doesn't seem to have any best friends and uses the rabbit as substitute. However, it could be seen as maybe a substitute for her Mum as she can’t talk to her Mum so she talks to Barry instead as he is the only one who will listen “He’s a good listener”. 

• Another issue that could be raised in this is bullying. Although it is not a noticeable issue and not suggested, when we see the girls laughing at her, we get the impression of bullying and we feel sympathetic for the character. She is also shown as strong again though as she doesn't care about what people say about her and Barry, just as long as she’s happy.

• The genre of this film is Drama. We can tell this by the content and of the narrative structure as we see the passing of different lives and events that happen at this same location. Characterization is also used to convey the drama genre of the film as we see the variation of different people and age groups and show the different drama in different people's lives. I find it inspiring that the passing of the story onto each is done so seamlessly.  It looks very professional as the camera changes and editing allows us to see the different people.

• The advantages of having the short narrative in this is that we don't linger too long on each characters story and events and makes it more interesting to see who the next people are and what their story is going to be.

• I think the narrative is structured as a slice of life as we see some cut out sequence of events of characters lives all into one narrative in this film. We get to see a series of events of different characters and the slice of life narrative is used so we don't delve too much into these character's lives but rather concentrate in where they are and how the location leads to these events.

• The time order is not able to tell easily in what order the events are happening - we can't tell if it's a passing of hours, days or months which is very effective and interesting as the audience can't tell.

• The opening is of the bench on it's own and what this does is show the significance of it to the audience and the importance of it in this short film. The ending we have the camera tilt upwards so we can see the people on the bench looking at the sea. What this could show is that the bench is a symbol for something or that this bench and location can bring people together.

• I'm inspired by the chronological narrative of this as we can't tell what timing it is and the passing of time which I feel is very effective for this short film.

• There is voice over continually throughout and the voice over relates to the series of events unfolding which I find is very moving to have a poem read throughout these events. The poem also carries the narrative through but is almost like the location is talking and saying this poem and speaking to the audience.

• There is a soundtrack throughout which is orchestra music and sounds very traditional which relates to the location as the coast has been there for probably hundreds of years so it adds to the age of the location.

• The camerawork in this film is very effective. They have an interesting use for the depth of field and make this one of the main features of the film when the narrative is changing onto the character. The character before will be out of focus with the new character in focus and then the old character will disappear when the camera shot changes. This could be used to show the passing if time in this location.

• In post-production editing, they have made the shot slightly slowed down which adds more effect and emphasis to the events.

• All of the shots are quite long takes and there is not need for a fast pace in shots as there is no action happening and it would be contrapuntal to the music.

• The main mise en scene areas used in this film are location and props. These are the main part of the film as it where all the events of these characters unfold and is interesting that they have such an emphasis on them in this film.

• The issue in this film is the issue of ordinary people's lives that we all experience so the audience can relate to the narratives in this film. It's also about how this location has seen them all unfold. 

• There are many social groups represented in this. The old people are represented as happy in love as the man proposes - shows that love can happen at any age. We then see the young people with a stereotypical representation as the boy is drinking which many people associate with young teenagers in this day and age and is breaking up with the girl. When then also have the stereotype of an adult man as he wakes up with stag scrawled across him and can't remember how he got to this place showing that he probably got drunk which is a modern representation of men today.

• I really like the way the voice over tells the narrative to the audience in this story and think it's a very effective way of telling a narrative.