Jens semiotic analysis of 'About A Girl'.

About a Girl by Brian Percival, is a social realist text that was made in 2001. The Protagonist is a young 13 year old girl whom is also the narrator of the script which uses a linear narrative.
The film begins on a hill from a field or park with the girl dancing and singing in silhouette, at this stage of the film the plot of the film is quite mysterious and unknown.
The film is set in Manchester in a stereotypical working class area with stereotypical working class values of life. Her accent, use of language and clothes imply she is a working class background. The girl is in a silhouette while singing Britney Spears’; ‘Not that innocent’. This song deceives the audience at the beginning, protesting her innocence, showing it as being her teenage dream. The shot then switches to alongside the canal. The girl, Toni, is walking along while the camera follows slightly in front of her. I think the wobbliness of the camera is used to make it more casual as if it’s a friend she is speaking to. The lighting of the short film is natural. It is set on quite a dull day which could portray a casual or depressed meaning to fit in with the surroundings. As she walks along the canal background sound is very quiet, perhaps to keep focus on what the girl is talking about.
Through out the film the shots jump to past scenes showing what she is talking about, for example her mum and dad. In these scenes we see how weak her relationship is with her and her parents as well as the weakness in her mother and fathers relationship.
The girl jumps from subject to subject, telling the audience bits of information about her family such as her parents bad relationship as well as her own with both the mother and father. This shows her loneliness and isolation. She also tells the audience about her and her friends dreams of being singers which is the topic she always comes back to after floating onto another. As it comes to the end of the film, she tells the audience how she’s good at keeping things from her mother, again showing isolation and weak relationships. The camera switches to a high crane shot to show the surroundings. She throws a bag in the river and we learn that she had an abortion. A low underwater angled shot shows the fully formed baby falling out of the bag still with umbilical cord and blood seeping around, which is the only strong colour that is used in the film. The way she throws the baby into the river and walks off emotionless as she again sings ‘stronger’, is very cold and disturbing. This again shows her dreams of being a singer, which is another theme of the film. The open ended narrative shocks the audience which is a technique often used in short films.