About a Girl: Brian Percival 2001
Short Analysis:
About a Girl is a short film directed by Brian Percival in 2001. Within this film, we are introduced to the main character standing in a silhouette dancing to Britney Spears. This short film is her talking about her life and the things she does. We can see that she doesn't have a very stable family as her parents are divorced and by the looks of things, are quite poor. At the end of the film, we find out that she, in fact, had an abortion due to her getting the idea that it was ok not to speak to anyone about her issue. This is a big thing that is happening to a lot of young girls in Britain and teenage pregnancy is on the rise. This is a typical example of a British social realism film.
The opening sequence features her dancing and singing to Spears song 'Stronger'. After watching the film we can see how relevant this song was to the clip. She said that she is 'stronger than yesterday'. Through the background and establishing shot we can deduce that when we speak to her next it's the same day, so we know that she has already had the abortion. Through this, we can make the connotation that she feels stronger that she has made her own decision to abort the baby. As well as this, she exclaims that she is no longer lonely which means she has obviously found something that cures her family neglecting her. As well as this the first verse states 'There is nothing you can do or say, baby I've had enough, I'm not your property as from today, baby you might think that I won't make it on my own but mow I'm...'. This may show that she is taking control of her own self and that due to her carrying the baby it is her duty to whether or not she keeps it and due to her being pregnant people may have said it will put an end to her teenage life. This is one way she fights back on this as she gets rid of the baby and now she is exclaiming that it was her choice to do so not theirs.
The other song of Britney Spears that she sings is 'Oops!... I Did It Again'. Within this song we can see that the lyrics state 'I made you believe that we were more than just friends, oh baby it might seem like a crush but it doesn't mean that I'm serious cause to lose all my senses that is just so typically me' This could be her explaining how she became pregnant in the first place. All of her family are very much ignoring her and making her feel alone therefore she wanted to find love elsewhere. She found this with another boy. This then leads to her believing she had feelings for him but it turned out he just cured the loneliness within her making her 'loose her senses'. This then leads onto the curious which backs up my previous statement 'you think I'm in love that I'm sent from above, I'm not that innocent'. This again shows that she is trying to find something that will stop her from being lonely and this was found by having sexual intercourse with another man. As well as this, her parents still class her as a little girl by the way they treat her when they are with her therefore the last lyric helps to emphasise that she isn't that innocent due to her getting pregnant and having an abortion at such a young age.
Festival Screening:
About a Girl was filmed in various places on various dates, these dates included:
· UK:
o 25th August 2001 (Edinburgh Film Festival) (Premier)
o October 2001 (Raindance Film Festival)
· Netherlands
o January 2002 (International Film Festival Rotterdam)
· USA
o January 2002 (Sundance Film Festival)
o April 2002 (Brooklyn international Film Festival)
o 6th August 2002 (Palm Springs International Short Film Festival)
· Canada
o 3rd June 2003 (Worldwide Short Film Festival)
Awards:
About a Girl also won a range of awards such as:
· 2002 BAFTA for best short film
· The Edinburgh Film Festival Prize for Best Short Film
· the City Light Award for Best Short Film
· Granada TV Short Film Award
· Two awards at the Kino Film Festival, Manchester
· Best Short at Raindance
· Turner Classic Move Shorts top prize at the London International Film Festival.
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