Megan Windmill's short film "Bus Stop" tells the story of a teenage girl who leaves her younger sister alone at a bus stop to meet up with her girlfriend in the woods. The younger sister follows them into the woods and gets lost. The performance of the young actress who plays the sister is praised for its ability to convey angst and dismay through facial expressions without dialogue. Overall, the film is well-crafted and thoughtfully produced to highlight themes of neglect, isolation, and corrupt priorities through the story of the two sisters.

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Review
By JacobAshley
Director Megan Windmill’s short ‘Bus Stop’ flourishes in
the established form and shape of shorts films as a
genre. However, this assemblage is mixed with hints of
cliché as the couple hold hands as their relationship
quickly develops on screen. Some of the storyline could
be perceived as overused if they were not balanced with
an intriguing plot with strong themes and issues, as the
vulnerable young girl is abandoned in a spine-chilling
situation, which really highlights the underscoring
interpretation surrounding neglect and isolation.
The poetic framing of the scenery matches that of
Windmill’s previous work in her social realism film
introduction Addiction, however if there is a weakness in
her art it is the relationships in close dynamics. Despite
this her directing of the young girl on her own speaks to
the audience with a wave of empathy and fear. Borrowing
ideas from ‘The Most Beautiful Man In The World’,
Windmill took the settings of a normal mundane place
such 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
contrast to one another as it goes from mundane to an
unusual place of nature. Even though Windmill’s forest is
tense and eerie unlike the tranquil environment in ‘The
Most Beautiful Man In The World’.
Whilst you might expect the acting of the younger girl Lilly
to be slightly lacking in realism due to the young age of
the actor herself. The performance is distinguished and
outstanding. The facial expressions of the close up shots
capture the details of angst and dismay. This capability
seen from the actress's performance demonstrates the
admirable direction from Windmill eliciting a certain level
of performance from the protagonist in a short with such
high stakes. This allows the audience to connect with the
raw situation Lilly is left in and the deep internal conflict
that is portrayed through body language and facial
expressions. Lilly is seen at the bus stop with the
dilemma of whether to follow her sister or stay put. The
lack of dialogue could have caused problems for a lack of
understanding from the audience however the conflict is
emphasised through a lack of dialogue as the struggle is
materialized on the girl’s face. This lack of dialogue
follows the rules of Milgrom’s theory as to have little
dialect to be successful paid off in Windmill’s short film.
Milgrom’s theory appears to be closely followed by
Windmill as she has created a character, a world and a
problem. The predicament and dilemma of the older girl
links to Milgrom’s idea that the main character should
have a want, need and obligation. The older girl wants to
meet up with the love interest, but she has the obligation
to look after her sister and then she needs to find her
sister at the end. This ensures that the characters
problem is 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
the audience to understand the perhaps corrupt priorities.
The person texting her is her girlfriend who clearly is a
factor as to the growth of her questionably pre-eminence.
This character plays a big part in the short, however, has
a lack of screen time, which adds to the mystery of this
character and their intentions.
Overall it is evident that Windmill’s short has had a lot of
thought put into it, and this is demonstrated by the
production as a whole as well as each aspects from mise
en scene to internal emotions of the characters is
portrayed on the screen. If the work of Windmill continues
to flourish then there will be more intriguing film being
produced by this young director.
MAY 2017
SHORTS MONTHLY
BUS STOP
United Kingdom 2017
Director: Megan Windmill
Certificate: PG
63 / Shorts Monthly / 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. She
receives messages from someone pushing to meet up. But she
doesn't want to leave her younger sister alone. Eventually she
decides to walk down the road to the woods, leaving her
younger sister alone. The younger sister stays at the bus stop
for a while before following her sister down the road and into
the woods. Inside the woods the younger girl gets lost and
starts running until she falls over and curls in a ball on the floor.
The older girl meets her girlfriend in the woods and they sit
together until the girlfriend tries to kiss her. But the girl doesn’t
want to be kissed and turns away and starts to look at her
phone. The girlfriend snatches the phone of the girl and
aggressively throws it to the floor. This causes the girl to
scream and run off into the woods to look for her sister. She
searches the woods and hears the sound of her sister upset;
she follows the sound to her sister. When reunited they
embrace and the older girl says sorry.