Gasman (1997):
Gasman suggests themes of dysfunctional families involving infidelity. The plot was simple; the father of two children taking them to a communal Christmas party where, on the walk there, he meets a woman with her two children. These are also his, and he takes them to the party also. This is all in the perspective of the innocence of children’s eyes, as the film starts with you barely being able to see faces, Lynne (the young girl) quoting Wizard of Oz, “there’s no place like home”, and her brother Steven crashing a
toy car in the sugar. However, the fact that Steven is representing a morbid occurrence of everyday life suggests that he’s lost some innocence; having knowledge of the adult world, and his other family. By the end of the film, Lynne has lost a sense of innocence by knowing the secret ‘other family’. This is presented through the walk and from the party. First the two girls are holding hands happily, whereas on the way back Lynne is crushing her half sister’s hand.Within the film, the director used primarily dark and shadowy shots, which could connote anything from the time era of poverty in Scotland to the theme of dysfunctional families. Along with the shadowed effect over the film, there were also shots that were slowed down. These were shown for emphasis, also being from a child’s perspective, that the children are picking up on the actions that adults may not pay attention to: for example, when the dad runs his hands through the hair of the ‘other woman’. The director also decided on capturing the party as an improvised scene, this was to try and present the hyperactivity of the youth in comparison with the tiredness of the elders.
Gasman was produced with the help of four companies, BBC, the Scottish Arts Council, the Scottish Film Production Fund and ‘Holy Cows Films’. ‘Holy Cow films’ is an American based company that also produced the director, Lynne Ramsay’s, first feature film Ratcatcher. Along with Ratcatcher, Gasman was distributed by Criterion Collection, on one of a series of DVDs which includes both important classic and contemporary films. The Criterion Collection has had work from directors such as Hitchcock and Kubrick.
Throughout its journey as a short film, Gasman has also won four awards: The Prix Du Jury in 1998, after being shown at Cannes film festival, ‘Leopards of Tomorrow’ at Locarno International film festival, best international short film at Atlantic film festival and a Scottish Bafta for best short film. Winning these awards gave Lynne Ramsay more recognition and funding, leading to her now have releasing two feature length films, Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar.
About a Girl (2001):
About a Girl is a 9 minute short film, with a short plot: a girl walking down a canal documenting times in her life. At the end of the film, the girl throws a bag in the canal, which contains a dead baby. Themes throughout included dysfunctional families, the seclusion of child pregnancy contrasted with the innocence of youth. The lack of normality within the girl’s family is presented in a number of ways. One example is a cut scene where she is sitting with her dad. Her parents are separated and she asks to live with her dad; he says no, leading to her questioning whether he loves her: his response “Stop being silly”. The fact that he can’t assure her that he does love her suggests that there is a lack of concern for his daughter. It is also presented with the girl’s mother, who is documented not to have noticed the girl’s puppy dying and being thrown out. Along with this, the mother also failed to notice her daughter growing gradually more pregnant again connotes a lack of care for her child.
The second theme, of child pregnancy contrasted with the innocence of youth is also presented in a multiple amount of ways. One of the main models throughout the film was the use of Britney Spears. The girl would be singing Britney Spears songs of her early era, which suggested a sense of irony, as Britney Spears was known as a ‘famous virgin’ compared with the child’s pregnancy. Another illustration of this theme is shown through the whole style of the film, where the girl is talking about her life. The topics the girl is discussing are quite dark subjects; yet she still talks about them in a light-hearted tone, as if she does not understand the seriousness or the morbidity of it all.
About a Girl was the director, Brian Percival’s, first short film. Before making About a Girl he learnt his way with directing television commercials: wanting to divert from this style, Percival worked with a plot and script that would give him freedom to create a gritty feel; promoting, what he hoped, to be a bigger reaction, also giving himself more of a challenge. One of the ways he tried to make the film seem more gritty was by through his gradual filtering of his images, making them increase in coldness, the closer the girl reached to her destination. Another example of where the director worked towards his style, was through his documentary style, with fast cuts, setting realism with a prominent pace.
After being entered and viewed at film festivals, About a Girl came away with many awards within 2001 and 2002. These include the Jury prize at both Manchester International short film festival and Radiance film festival, TMC prize at London film festival, best British short at Edinburgh International film festival, and a BAFTA award for best short film. Throughout his recognition from these awards and About a Girl, Brian Percival went on to direct a number of episodes for TV shows and a film called ‘A Boy Called Dad’, which is out this year.
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