Headgear Girl at Underground Films

Head Gear Girl


"Head Gear Girl," by writer-director Emily Weissman, is about a young girl wearing head gear braces that make her an outsider. Any of us who have been outsiders in our time can identify and feel empathy for the character.

Still, as a couple of reviewers on Undergroundfilm.org note, the title sequence is overly long for a very short movie, as are the end credits. The story itself is more of a slice-of-life thing than a finished plotline. Emily would have done well to cut the front and back credit sequences and added a bit more story development, again, something site reviewers suggest. I frequently disagree with site-reviewer comments on Atom and ifilm and AOl's moviefone (see links on sidebar). But these Undergroundfilm.org reviewers are sharp.

Megan Casey handled the title role here with alplomb. I'm always impressed with younger actors who pull off such professional performances. Is it our movie culture that instills acting talent this way or is it that acting is such a natural part of being human? Regardless, Casey is talented. We hope to see more of her.

The movie has nice action sequences for a mini-DV production, all well handled by Casey. The movie progresses quickly and I particularly liked the brief section where Casey ducks into the grass to avoid being seen by classmates who unmercifully tease her. It spoke volumes about the character and Casey moves well, effortlessly, regardless of what she does. All of the actors turn in professional level performances, though.

The camerawork, sound and other technical aspects of this are suberb for MiniDV, better, really than all too many we see using much higher-end equipment.

Here are the details from the

Underground film

site:

Running Time: (11 minutes 37 seconds)
Original Format: MiniDV
Filmmaker BioOriginally very Montana, Emily attended the Walnut Hill School for the Arts outside of Boston before recieving a B.F.A. in Film at New York University and an M.F.A. in directing at the American Film Institute. Other than writing and directing, she's rather mothery.

Influences
"Yikes" and "Champs" comic books by Ribs, Joseph Losey films, Michael Ritchie films, and the writers Malcolm Lowry, Roald Dahl, and Percy Bysshe Shelley

Cast
Francesca Catalano, Member of the Shark PAck
Megan Casey, Head Gear Girl
Michael Salai, Member of the Shark Pack
Sean Carrillo, Member of the Shark Pack
Trevor James, Potential Boy

Crew
Emily Weissman, Director
Gloria Rosa Vela, Editor
Philip Harris, Producer
Emily Weissman, Writer
Aasulv Wolf Austad, Director of Photography
Jennifer Alicia Jones, Production Designer