TCJ Productions 

The film begins with the title being typed onto a simple black background in a text like font, which the audience automatically associates with the younger generation and modern technology of text messaging. Whiles the non-digetic sounds of buttons being pressed on a phone is also heard which reinforces this idea, suggesting the theme of youth to the audience and representing the age of the character we are about to see. this gives a clear indication of the films target audience, as well as who the protagonist is, who we quickly find out is the youg girl.

 

The opening shot is not only simple but effctive also. It uses rule of thirds composition technique, which is known for putting a subject off-centre, as this is more appealing for the viewer and therefore draws there attention. It becomes immediatley clear that the silhouette is a young girl, due to the fact she is singing and dancing, as her long hair flicks back and forth.

We are intoduced to this character with a very child-like representation, which conveys her innocence.

The wide shot of a silhouetted girl dancing and singing to 'Stronger' by Britney Spears in a large field shows the girls isolation as she is alone with nothing but her music and surroundings. The fact that she is alone suggests she is only able to practice her singing and dancing away from her family and friends, perhaps for self confidence and self conscious issues. 

The fact that the youg girl is presented withing a silhouette format portrays the idea that she has no place of belonging, and no one cares for her, the silhouette used may connote everyone being blind to her existance and her being there,  reflecting her lonliness and how she may feel sperated and alone which is why she is in a field by her self, its almost as is she is just a figure there to fill in the gaps of society.

The song lyrics she sings begins to foreshadow significant and precise situations that have occured throughout her upbringing, as she has had to become stronger due to these situations. "My loneliness aint killing me no more", which connotes no one in her life is activley supportive of her dream(s), so she must perue them by herself, hence the reason she is alone.

This setting comes across as aesthetically pleasing for thr audience, despite its lack of colours. The dim lighting creates a gloomt atmosphere and junxstaposes the assumptions held by the films audience members, of a happy-go-lucky, carefree life as we imagine girls like this a blossoms, running and laughing in parks and gardens. Instead we are given the impression that the little girls dreams to become a pop-star are wishful imaginations. This is shown through the dull grey skies and natural low lighting, which connotes the young girls future may be dull and grey, suggesting there is no hope in achieving her dreams. However, the light streaks of through the clouds signifgy hope and dreams trying to break through, as the sun is often asscociated with happiness, joy and optiminsm. The lighing of the opening scene could forshadow later situations that the girl may face or grey arears in which she manages to be=reak through but is still isolated. the fact that the light is hidden and almost taken away this could represent the young girls innocence being taken away from her at young so she is stuck in a doomy place, but hanging onto hope to fulfil her dreams, hense the light trying to fight its way through the dark, dull, grey skies.

The weather reinforces the depressing, closed and dull mood through the use of pathetic fallacy, as she sings "...But now I'm Stronger than yesterday" in a weakend, vulnerable vioce, as if she doesnt believe in the lyrics.

However the camera uses a canted or tilted low angle looking up to the girl, which conveys the idea that the viewer(s) is looking up her, givingh her power to become who she wants to be because she is "stronger than yesterday", its almost as though we are her audience whiles she is on stage. 

 

The film then cuts to a series of hand-held close-ups of a girl who we assume to be the grl from the opening scene with a stong Manchurian accent, talking directly to the camera.

Her accent represents her regional identitity  while the mise-en-scene of the scene signifies her working class background through the grim lighting and dilapidated (broken-down) estate. Through this the issues of reigonal poverty and social deprivation are brought to the audiences attention, causing them to question if the young girl has been pre-exposed to situations to young. The mis-en-scene of costume this gives the audience hints toward her calss and status, with her gold hoops, scraped back hair and sporty puffa jacket all holding stereotypical thmes which connotes a 'chav' like litte girl suggesting she is of a lower class in her soiety.

The fact that her white coat is always zipped uo could be a denotation of th cold and harsh day to day weather, it could also foreshadow, how she physically kept her pregnancy a sercret from her mum- by wearing the oversized jacket. The white jacket appears dirty ad almost cream, white generally represents , innocence, purity and somethig sacred the fact that her whit coat is now dirty suggests that her innocence has been taken away from her so she is no longer pure or seen as sacred, could be shown through her isolation as something that is sacred is generally worshipped but the fact she is lone and has no one suggests she is not sacred anymore.

Her fast talking, frantic mode of adress mirrors the fast pace editing (jump cuts). The use of jump cuts work well as they present evidence for discontinuity. This film tells the story of a young girls life experienes and the jump cuts are precise ways of communicating to the audience that the girls life may appear jumpy as she has no solid foundation or events occuring in her life. This can be used to foreshadow later events such as her pregenacy, which tends to get in the way of her dreams, holding her back from achieving. Her erratic speech could also be a sign of her stress and anxiety over her lost baby and what she’s about to do. The use of jump cuts and the quick editorial pace also helps to add to the girl’s erratic behaviour, conveying the complicated, messy life that she is leading.

The girl is often seen looking and talking into the camera in a medium tracking shot. This dennotes a sense of realism, as if she is talking directly to the viewer and as if they are actually walking side-by-side with her. This establishes a connection between the character and the viewer, causing the audience to feel an emotional attachment to the character and reinforce her relatable experiences.

These handheld shots contrast the controlled shots used when the girl is not speaking to the camera, which may give the impression that she does not wish the audience/viewers to see these parts of her life.

 

We are then presented with a extreme long shot with the little girls siter and mother in the backgroud of the shot the fact that the girl is alone in the corner within the forground of picture may suggest that she is alwyas alon as her mum has other worried to deal with. Her mother tells her littlesister to 'ssh a minute' whiles scratching out a scratch card, this is very iconic as the scratch card no only suggests the mother has not got much patients with her children but it also signifies the mothers dream to get out of their financial situation. However it also raises the issue of gambling and how children are being ignored as a result of it, raising the Christian ideology that gambling in any form and for whatever reason is wrong.

The girl then begins to talk about her 'bastard' father and it is obvious from what she says that her mother and father are separated and do not have a good relationship. We then see the girl and who we assume to be her dad having lunch; this appears to be their daddy daughter quality time, however her father is more interested in reading his newspaper than talking to his daughter. She then goes on to say how she watches her dad play football on a Sunday and then he takes her to the pub for a coke and a packet of crisps which gives the audience a sense of her belonging and togetherness with her father although the girl appears alone withing the football fields and then we see her outside the pub on her own, eating her crisps and singing along to ‘Stronger’, while we hear the diegetic sound of cheers from inside the establishment(pub). This shows where the father’s priorities are and raises the issue of child neglect as some would say that even as a young teenager the girl shouldn’t be left outside on her own. This may also portray the fact that the 13 year old girl has had to grow up quicker as she has been isolated most of her life this is supported from when she says 'im not a little girl'. The lyrics she sings at this point from Britney Spears 'stronger' is very iconic as this can connate what she has had to do within the hard times of her life, being alone and having to grow up could not have been easy but she has grown up stronger. She also quotes 'I've had enough' this could represent the struggle of her having to grow up so quick and having no one to turn to for help. this is a key signification of a youngs girls innocence being taken away from her.

 

The girl is then pictured on the bus with her friends singing the Britney Spears song ‘Oops, I Did It Again’; it is at this point in the film that we see her for the first time as a child, laughing and mucking around with her mates. However, the song has the line “I’m not that innocent” which foreshadows the girl’s own loss of innocence which we later see in the film.

 

The perfume scene is then presented and this is one of the key signifiers within the film where we see they girl has completely been stripped of her innocence. As the employee approaches her for help she says 'we use these to test on, would you like one' and the girl them goes on to say 'No thanks, im actually taking it home so my my mum can smell it off my hand, she's blind you see'- this indirect talk towards preganacy tells the audience that the girl has completley been stripped of her innocnece, with the perfume strips acting as a pregnancy test and her mother being blind suggesting that she did not realise that her little girl was pregnant, this goes back to the idea of the little girl having to grown up and be strong, it also shows neglect as such a young girl had to go through such trauma with no one to support her.

Those fast paste jump cuts are then presented, where thr girl appears to be talking abouit her hopes of becoming a pop star and her band not having a name but in actual fact is indirectly talking about her baby, they fact he or she has no identity or name yet, this shows that she is still so innocent in a way she does not know what to do or a name to give her child. She goes on to say how she writes the music for her band, but not on a piano as her mum says they can’t afford one. It is here we notice the girl’s resentment towards her mother, with the girl blaming her mum for everything they do not have. This highlights the girl’s immaturity as she doesn’t understand the financial situation her and her family are in, however it also highlights the mothers neglect with the girl saying her mum always has enough money for burgers, cigarettes and lager.

 

Within the last scen of the film as the girl continues her walk by the canal, she begins to tell the story of how her and her brother bought a puppy and hiding it in her brother’s room until their mum found it. The girl then reveals that her mother asked the neighbours to dispose of it in the canal. The girl then says 'gotten dead good at hidding things from her since then'- this connotes the idea that she manage to hide her pregnancy for 9 moths without her mother noticing a thing, her silver ouffy coat can be a representation of this ideas as throughout the film she is constantly wearing this coat zipped up right to the top. We then see the girl overlooking the canal from a high-angle as she throws a plastic bag in and walks away. 'I'm still gonna geta 99', again we are shown that she is still in actual fact still a little girl, who has had to grow up way too fast. It is here that the shocking discovery that the girl’s still born baby was in the bag, this is revealed as the bag unravels and the baby sinks into the depths of the water.  The audience are now fully aware of the girl’s naivety and lack of emotional maturity as she dumps her baby in the canal without any emotion whatsoever. Although it can also demonstrate her childlike mind and the fact her mum threw the dog in the canal she may feel anything you dont want goes in there.

The film then ends with her singing 'stronger'- this shows despite what has happened she is just going to look forward and not really take notice of her past, it almost as though the song tells her story. although she is stronger she is still infact a little girl.