1. A girl being persuaded
into an action that she
does not want to do. This
statement rings true with
most people who have been
pressurised in life. Alice
Hancock’s Raise your voice
illustrates these pressures
and trails of being a teenag-
er in modern day.
Jane staring aimlessly
at the outside world as her
‘friend’ Molly walks across
the room to confront her
in the problems of society.
As the narrative unfolds
they both have to make a
dramatic stand whether to
protest for their rights.
DIRECTED BY
Alice Hancock
STARRING
Harriet Coles, Lauren Best
RELEASED
January 28
However this short film
fails in its attempts to jux-
tapose the serious reality
of students fighting for their
rights for a respectable ed-
ucation, with the tedium of
a girl losing her best friend.
Thus turning a political film
into a dire chick flick. Fur-
thermore Raise Your Voice
lacks a steady plot, which
leaves the audience with
many unanswered ques-
tions.
Jane played by Harriet
Coles, is a shy and intelli-
gent student. She is pas-
sionate about politics but is
wary of taking action. Her
character reminds the au-
dience of Richard Ayoade’s
Oliver Tate in Submarine,
who is played by Craig Rob-
erts. Both of these charac-
ters are outcasts of society
and look at this society in
an alternative way, leaving
them with little friends.
In contrast Molly played
Lauren Best, is outgoing
and adventurous. However
these attributes have been
portrayed in a way that
makes the audience ques-
tion Molly’s motives to take
part in this political protest.
This role as a protagonist
is used in many short films
106 THE THIS IS ENGLAND ISSUE

2. including Frazier Bailey’s
Glenn Owen Dodds. Not
unlike Raise Your Voice the
two main characters are both
similar and different. The
inexperienced actors portray
these characters the best
they could, but unfortunately
with little success. Imagery
is a major part of short films
as they do not have enough
time to let the characters
have a back story, howev-
er this did not happen with
Raise your Voice as the ac-
tors looked nothing like the
characters they were trying
to portray. This links to the
ideology of Jane being an
Anticipation. unknown director, student
film. Two
Enjoyment. artistic, slick, freeflowing.
Three
In Retrospect. keeps you thinking way
way after watching.
Three.
107
isolated student with no one
in the world to turn to. Yet
with the lack of acting skills
by Coles, Jane looked more
constipated then isolated.
Molly has a similar story as
Best looks less bitchy and
more like she is the one who
has been isolated her whole
life
In contrast Raise Your
Voice does highlight a nar-
rative that has happened
to most people in society;
having an argument with
a friend, which leaves you
feeling powerless and
speechless. But what is
different about this short film
is that it has a political twist
running throughout making
the short more current and
individual. In many ways
it reminds me of Obey the
Giant, which is about the
iconic street artist Shepard
Fairey, who is behind the
Obey campaign and the Ba-
rack Obama Hope posters.
Though Raise your voice
has many pitfalls, I believe is
a new postmodern political
film that will stand out in the
coming short film festivals.