Reality television has become a staple of our society, and yet the debate continues over how “realistic” it actually is.
Enter the documentary Small Town Girl.
From 2001 to 2005, director Jill Daniels followed three small-town girls – Joanne who lives in Northwest England with a foster family, Charlotte who lives in Nelson with her mom and dad, and Sian who lives in Frome with her family.
In 2001, the girls are twelve years old, and by 2005 they are preparing for college, breaking away from parental structure, and going crazy over boys. It’s an interesting look at small town life, and three real-life girls who live it.
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The idea of following the progression of three girls’ lives for four years is certainly a novel one. The difficulty is, of course, working without a script, as the film is basically shot in documentary-style, with the director only jumping in on occasion to respond to or ask questions of the girls.
While a less structured format is the better route, this film seems to suffer from not enough structure. The girls aren’t introduced very well, except for a few brief captions, and this is complicated by the fact that both Joanne and Charlotte look similar, which makes it difficult to know which is which. On occasion, each girl’s segment is introduced by a long shot of them simply standing in front of the camera, which is both a simple and interesting way of introducing them. It’s also nice to hear their voiceovers through these shots, as they are held for quite a long time.
However, the girl’s families aren’t introduced at all, except for a few brief captions. It would be best to have the whole family standing in the shot, including captions as they speak, or having each girl talk about their family in detail, while cutting to pictures or images of each person. The latter is probably the best idea, as one would also get the benefit of the girls’ view of each of their family members, which might not always be complementary. This film’s shooting format, a type of voyeuristic, part-of-the-family approach, is one of its strengths, but that makes it even more important to properly introduce all the characters.
In keeping with the lack of structure, I found it very difficult to tell when it was switching back and forth between each girl. While a more haphazard structure makes the film more artistic, it also makes it very difficult for the viewer, especially us Yanks who are trying to get used to these girls’ accents! The best way to structure this film, I think, is to keep the yearly division – which was good – but keep each girl in her own section, and divide each with captions and/or the full-body shots of the girl. This will help keep an audience focused on what is being said as opposed to who is saying it.
