'I've gotten dead good at hiding things...'

Title comes up like how someone would write a text message. We as the audience can hear the buttons being pushed and monophonic tones being heard. This could be directed at young people, more specifically females, it also has a modern feel, as it uses the phone to convey the title.

We are introduced to the main character by her silhouette and we hear her singing ‘Britney Spears- stronger’ this creates a mystery as to who she is and the song choice could be an indication to the narrative or the character’s personality. After watching the film we as the audience learn that by singing this it’s an escape for her; the escape from the gritty reality of her life and environment and into the dream world of her one day being famous.  This is when we also see her softer side; the hard shell we usually see is replaced with vulnerability.  

The audience are abruptly introduced to the main character ‘girl’ in a documentary style, the camera tracks her as she talks about her family life and relationships, her dreams of being something better than the people around her and about the picture of herself she paints to other people. She repeatedly tries to convince the audience she is old enough to handle things, in probably attempts to try and convince herself she’s old enough. The fast pace in which she talks makes her seem on edge and this is reflected onto the audience who now feel on edge with her. The pace in which she talks seems to be her way of hiding true feelings, because when you talk at a fast pace listeners aren’t able to grasp feelings, or understand quick enough so as a listener your trying to keep up with everything she says and not necessarily listening to what she actually trying to tell you. This idea of her hiding things is clarified before she throws the bag into the canal, when she says ‘I’ve gotten dead good at hiding things from her since then’. 

Throughout the film it goes back and forth between ‘girl’ talking to the camera and cutaways of her reality. A lot of times when she talks directly to the camera she gives the perception that she has a wonderful relationship with her dad and she seems to make excuses for the lack of his involvement and stability within her life. When it shows the clips we see the reality of her and her father’s relationship and how he isn’t as great as the girl makes him out to be. The standout example is when she tells the camera that after her dad plays football he takes her for a packet of crisps and a coke, so we as the audience assume that they are spending time quality time together, so when the film cut to the clip of her alone outside the pub, and male shouting in the background we realise the reality of the girl being left out in the cold and her dad enjoying himself with his friends totally forgetting about her. 

Throughout the film the lighting is a dull, grey colour this helps reflect the working class environment, the general struggle and hardship and possibly the girl’s underlying feelings underneath her perceived bubbly personality. The difference in light is at the end of the film when she throws the bag in the canal, at this point the sunlight peers through the dull clouds, as if the girl’s world has now become a bit brighter, like she has found an escape in reality.

In addition the plastic bag is a symbolism of her. The plastic bag is thrown into the canal in the hopes that better will come from it, but as it travels down the canal it gets trapped in fencing. Which relates to her in the sense that she will become a product of her environment and become trapped in her surroundings with the very unlikely chance of her becoming famous.


These notes of mine from the lesson: