Short Term 12

SHORT TERM 12:

Short Term 12 is a social-realism drama following the life of Grace (Brie Larson) who works at a care home for at risk children. The film shows how Grace herself has experienced what the children at the care home have gone through as she starts to relate to one of the girls (Jayden) at the care home. It follows the ups and downs within her life as she faces new obstacles such as pregnancy, marriage and her dad being released form prison.

One of the most prominent themes within Short Term 12 is romance. This is important as it explains why she does certain actions within the film as she wants to make everything right for the people she loves. For example, her relationship with her future husband has been distant so in order to change it she tries facing her problems so she can over come her fears.

The two micro-features that are important in Short Term 12 are: Performance and cinematography.These are important as it shows to the audience how Grace is feeling throughout the film.
Performance is important in the film as it creates the atmosphere within the film and also shows the emotions of Grace. In the scene when Grace breaks into a house planning on hurting the father of Jayden, she is looking down on the man (who is sleeping) in disgust. Her body language appears to be quite calm as she is standing still but she is gripping on to the baseball bat and her face looks angry and upset. This connotes to the audience that she has built up anger over time due to the past with her father but has managed to keep it a secret from everyone by pushing the feelings away. She is in the house because she wants to help Jayden by doing something to the man that she couldn't do to her father when she was younger, which was to stop him. She wasn't brave enough to stop her father but she wants to stand up to someone else so she can make up for everything she wasn't able to do. The performance is important in that scene as it shows the downfall of Grace and her life. It shows to the audience that everything was good at the beginning of the film until she starts to find out more about Jayden who reminds Grace of herself when she was younger.

Cinematography is also important as it is also used to show the emotions of the character Grace. Through out the film it constantly shows a close up of her thumb. When the audience knows that Grace is nervous or uncomfortable it shows her scratching her thumb and making it bleed. This is used to connect negative feelings and scenarios with Grace hurting herself. By the director using a close up shot of her thumb when it is bleeding shows that it is important to Grace as it tells the audience about her past and how she used to self harm. It is also important as it also shows one of the girls in the care home (Jayden)to also do the same thing. This is to show that Grace and Jayden have quite similar personalities and stories. This is important as the film is based around Grace trying to fix the problems she faces, she does this by helping Jayden. The use of close ups through out the film is a key micro feature as Short Term 12 explores the different emotions that children and adults face when they have been brought up in an unstable environment. The close ups allow the audience to see how they feel rather than being told how they feel. The audience gets to make their own interpretation on how the characters feel and why they feel like that.