Review draft 2 bus stop

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Review
By JacobAshley
Director Megan Windmill’sshort BusStop supports and
adheres to conventions of a short,whilsther story lacks
imagination. Itis a clichéplotof an innocentyoung child
being abandoned with the overused issues of neglect,
isolation and relationships.Whilstthe narrativemay be
unoriginal thetechnical elements make itstand out as the
camera work and framinghold their own unique style.
The high quality of framingand camera work matches that of
Windmill’sprevious work in her social realismfilm
introduction Addiction, however this pieceof work also lacked
a narrative,which suggest that this is notWindmill’s strength.
Borrowing ideas from The Most Beautiful Man In The World,
Windmill took the settings of a normal mundane placesuch as
a bus stop, similar to the house of The Most Beautiful Man In
The World, to then move on to a natural setting of the forest,
similar to The Most Beautiful Man In The World with its field of
nature and beauty. This creates binary opposition between
the settings as they contrastto one another, as itgoes from
mundane to an unusual placeof nature. Even though
Windmill’sforestis scary unlikethe tranquil environment in
The Most Beautiful Man In The World.
Whilstthe actingof the younger girl Lilly is slightly lackingin
realismdueto the young age of the actor herself. The
performance of the older girl Kate holds the realisticraw
emotion that one would seek for when castingfor a short with
such high stakes. This allows theaudienceto really feel the
deep internal conflictthatis beingportrayed through body
languageand facial expressions.Thelack of dialoguecould
have impaired the understandingof this conflictbutas the
actingwas such a high standard fromthis older character.It
meant that by followingthe rules of Milgrom’s theory as to
have littledialectto be successful paid off in Windmill’sshort
film.
Milgrom’s theory appears to be closely followed by Windmill
as she has created a character,world and problem. The
predicament and dilemma of the older character links to
Milgrom’s idea that the main character should havea want,
need and obligation.The older girl wants to meet up with the
person texting her, but has an obligation to look after her
sister,and then she needs to find her sister atthe end. This
ensures that the characters problemis the heart of the film.
With the representation of age being a factor in this as the
older girl neglects to show any nurture towards the younger
girl,which allows theaudience to understand the corrupt
priorities.Theperson texting her is assumingly a boyfriend
who clearly isa factor as to the growth of her wrongly
assigned priorities.This character playsa bigpartin the short
however doesn’t play a part on the screen, instead only
through the text messages and the older girls actions.This
leaves the audience in suspenseas to who this mysterious
person is.
Overall Windmill’s shortis technically well produced,if lacking
in originality.Itis evident that there has been a lotof thought
into the characterisation and howeach aspect from the mise
en scene to the internal emotions of the characters is
portrayed on the screen. If the work of Windmill continues to
flourish then there will bemore excellent quality filmbeing
produced by this young director.
MAY 2017
SHORTS WEEKLY
BUS STOP
United Kingdom 2017
Director: Megan Windmill
Certificate: PG
63 / Shorts Weekly / May 2017
Credits & Synopsis
Producer Production Companies
Megan Windmill Windmill Studio with 123 Production
Written by in association with Beacon Studio
Megan Windmill Cast
Photography by Emily Townsend
Megan Windmill Erin Windmill
Edited by Louise Brown
Megan Windmill Distributed by
Music by Windmill Media UK
Megan Windmill
A girl in her late teens is leaning against a bus stop.Her phone
buzzes with the message to meet her at the bench.She replies she
can't. Her phone buzzes again telling her to meet at the bench if
she still wants this. She responds that she can't she is with her
sister. The next message states that it is her choice. Shuffling next
to the older girl is a youngergirl. The older girl starts pacing back
and forth and stops in her tracks at youngergirl tapping her arm.
She shoots a glare at the youngergirl and tells her not to move,
then turns and walks away down the road. The youngergirl looks
around and scurries after her. The older girl approaches the
woods and walks in, followed by the child. The older girl hurries
in the woods at a pace the young girl cannot match, causing the
youngergirl to fall further and further away. The younger girl
looks around in circles, her fast walking pace turns into a run
until she trips on a root and falls. In another section of the woods
the older girl approaches the bench and meets her girlfriend. They
sit down and the girlfriend hugs tries to kiss her but she protests
and looks back down at her phone.Her girlfriend takes her phone
out her hands and stomps on it. The girl screams and runs away
into the woods.The sweat starts to appear on her forehead and
she stops as the tears start to pour and she holds her head in her
hands.She spots the young girl runs up and tightly hugs her.