The opening title of the film uses a text type font that audiences associate with teenagers and their dependence on modern technology – text messaging. The non-diegetic sound of buttons being pressed on a mobile phone reinforces this and suggests the teenage target audience, along with the age of the characters involved within the film.

Continuity editing, which is used throughout the film brings us to the first scene with an establishing shot of a girl in a field. The use of the silhouette instantly conveys the genre of the short film, drama, as it creates a sense of mystery. It is clear to the audience that the person is a girl as the silhouette is dancing and singing with her long hair swinging back and forth. The use of diegetic dialogue represents the career path of a typical teenage girl – being a celebrity with fame and fortune. The additional use of rule of thirds where the subject is off centre draws in the audience’s attention as to why the young girl is alone in a field; she wants to practice her singing and dancing by herself because she isn’t confident enough to do it in front of her family or friends? The fact that she sings “my loneliness ain’t killing me no more” suggests that no one in her life is supportive of her dream so she must pursue it by herself.

The mise en scene of the location involves low-key lighting, which emphasises her loneliness, due to the lack of colour. However, the gloomy atmosphere creates a contrast to the audience’s assumption of a young girl’s happiness as she finds peace in singing and dancing. The grey sky could foreshadow that her dream career as a singer in the future is dull and grey, indicating there’s no hope for her achieving her dream.

The short film then jump cuts to a medium close-up and tracking shot of which we assume is the same girl from the silhouette. The use of diegetic dialogue displays her strong Northern accent to indicate to the audience the region she’s from – Manchester and her colloquial language demonstrates her age (13). She talks fast, which mirrors the fast editing in terms of the jump cuts, while also conveying the stereotype of young teenagers swallowing their words and not speaking properly. It further demonstrates the young generation as hyper and over-excited. In addition to this, the girl is often shown looking and talking to the camera as if she’s talking to the audience. This, along with the use of a handheld camera portrays a sense of realism and allows the audience to feel an emotional attachment to her. The boarded up buildings in the background represent the ‘estate’ life and presents Manchester as a run-down deprived area.

‘About A Girl’ constantly uses jump cuts, as she jumps to topics and areas in her life. The use of flashbacks throughout is effective as it reinforces what is being said by the girl and provides the audience with imagery of her life.

The use of the girls dialogue, “That bastards me dad”, is followed by a two shot with her and her father. The fact that she swears here emphasises her poor upbringing and social class, since this is uncommon for a girl of her age. The mise en scene of facial expressions on the girl’s face shows that she is bored and is clearly not enjoying the time she is spending with her father. This demonstrates the distance between her and her father and that she isn’t apart of the cliché phrase known as being a ‘daddy’s girl’. The use of red in this scene (chairs, coca cola can and lighting) has connotations of love, which juxtaposes with the lack of love shown. Red could also suggest anger and frustration that the girl feels because her father is paying no attention to her. 

The rule of thirds technique is then used again as the camera zooms out to a long shot of the girl sitting on a bench outside the pub. This represents her loneliness because she only has her music for company – shown through the prop of her CD player. This emphasises that music is her only real friend as it helps her escape from a life she doesn’t particularly like to her dream world as a singer. Along with this, the mise en scene of her costume reveals her simple and out-dated clothes and shoes, portraying her parents’ low income.

As the use of continuity editing goes on, the jump cuts become more frequent and the handheld camera begins to shake more, linking to her unsteady relationship with her father. Fast pace editing is also used as the narrative builds up to a climax of the short film.   

The use of the Britney Spear’s song ‘Oops I did it again’ when the girl is on the bus with her friends and lyrics such as ‘I’m not that innocent’ aids in hinting the true nature of the girl, suggesting to the audience that she’s hiding something.  As the camera pans to show her with her friends, the mise en scene of the girl’s body language shows her open gestures. This clearly indicates that she is happier around her friends, yet more closed and timid around her father.

Continuity editing brings us to a point in the film, which again demonstrates her poor background. The girl is positioned in front of her mother, while the use of a focus pull shows her mother scratching a scratch card. This displays the idea that they hope to win some money in order to escape the cycle of poverty they live in. Hope is a motif in the short film as both the mother and the girl wish to escape their real lives and aspire for something bigger. The fact that she is in far front of her mother also conveys their distant relationship; she is depicted as insignificant to both her mother and father.

A close-up of the girl is used with the ambient sound of the bus engine in background to display her facial expressions, which suggests that she is in deep thought about her life. This deep emotional state is unusual for a 13 year old girl as at such an age there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. She should have a carefree life but the use of her concentrated and down in the dumps expressions shows she has something big on her mind that’s upsetting her.

The long shot of the girl sitting on a bridge above the river from the canal creates a powerful image for the audience as it illustrates her isolation and could suggest the girl’s suicidal thoughts because she isn’t particularly happy with her life. Her parents ignore her and as she looks at her reflection in the water, she see’s a blurred and distorted image of her, mirroring her also distorted life.

Towards the end of the short film, we are shown a bird’s eye view of the girl and a crane shot is used to pull out from the canal. The use of the diegetic dialogue here is key as she says “Gotten dead good at hiding things”, in which the climax of the short film has finally been reached. The bird’s eye view shows the girl throwing a white plastic bag into the canal and the colour white connotes purity and innocence, yet the ambient sound of the bag splashing into the water creates a rumbling crescendo, leaving a tense atmosphere. At this point, the camera has an underwater angle and focuses on the floating baby from the plastic bag, adding to the disturbing nature of the scene. The common issue of teenage pregnancy instantly springs to the audience’s mind as the red blood in the water emphasizes the dangers of having a baby at such a young age. The fact that the girl used a plastic bag to carry the baby around displays her lack of care.

Furthermore, the fact that the girl’s coat is always zipped up could relate to her teenage pregnancy as she physically kept her pregnancy a secret from everyone by wearing an oversized jacket.