Textual Analysis- She Lost Control

Mise En Scene-

At the start of the film the audience is shown a girl, with very pale skin and blue eyes. This automatically gives off to the audience a sense of purity and innocence for the character. Later on in the film she puts a white shirt on and the colour white is a indexical sign for purity and naivety and completely contrasts the colour of the blood which seeps through the shirt revealing her injuries. It can be argued that this is a metaphor for a wider issue seen in society for girls today who think that their mental illness is completely ignored and not seen, when  truly it is usually spotted in early stages.  Secondly there is a comb used. This prop is used to connote the fact that she is a  young teenage girl who cares for her appearance and this is stereotypical within the modern society. Another element within Mise en Scene could be the colour palette. The colour palate is of the dull shades of colours like grey and white and this is to exemplify unhealthiness and dullness of her life.

Sound-

Right at the beginning of the film, there is complete silence, there are only  a few little quiet  noises that are able to hear. The silence really creates a sense of sadness and shows how alone she is with her mental illness. This can connote the statement of mental illness in today's society is not focused on as much as it should be and in some cases it is seen as common. This then leads to girls within society to think that there is no help for them and that there is no cure, therefore it could give out a bad message. The film then feeds into a voice over of which the girl is talking to a male doctor. This then makes the film feel a little more personal towards the girl suffering as she is answering questions from the doctor about her illness. This could cause sympathy felt for the girl and reinforce the fact that although today's doctors are very well trained and are a massive help within society, as the doctor being a grown male, it would be hard for him to empathize with the girl. This mirrors a lot of wider issues within society as girls today do not feel like they can talk to anyone, even their parents. This point then feeds into the quote taken from the film '' I didn't tell my mum''. This is said by the girl which strengthens the fact that she feels alone.

Editing-

Throughout most of the film there is a lot of slow paced editing, which really lengthens out the struggle of every day life for the girl and connotes her illness as being unchangeable as it feels like her life is all the same routine and cannot change. The feeling of no change could then mirror the fact that  there has been no change in the understanding and education of mental illness within today's society. There is a little change in pace regarding snippets of shots that make up a little montage of her cuts and this is done when the music builds, to compliment the amount of itching she is doing. This is done to make the audience feel uncomfortable and create a sense of stress and tension. This then can be linked to Stan Cohens theory of moral panic as the more the doctor knows about the girl, the more stressed she gets and the more itching she does but she only does it when she is  alone, which shows that she feels like there is no help for her.


Camera Angles -

 Within the film there a number of frequent extreme close ups of her cuts/spots. This is done to reinforce the severeness of her illness and what it is really like to suffer for her. In the short film there is also an over the shoulder shot looking in the mirror. This is done to portray her sadness, loneliness and emptiness. As well as to really make the audience sympathize with her and to convey how it really feels to have a mental illness, being that she is alone and is the only one who knows about her suffering. There is also a close up shot of what looks like to be her sister shouting for her mum. This shows her reaction and emotion of seeing her sister and the blood on her back. As well as this, it can convey how surprised and scared she is which can be linked to the fact that in society today, people who do not know about it are blind to mental illness and struggle to see where it occurs. This is done in this short film to some what tell a story and also give advice, being to seek professional help as short films are frequently based on more unorthodox situations.