A Birthday Wish

Be careful what you wish

Released: January 1st 2016
Certificate: 12a
Director: Abbie Ashman
Cast: Meg McNaughton
Running time: 5 minutes
Plot: While counting down to
her birthday. Harley, a regular
women who works in a office has
a plan which turns out to be for

A new quirky short film which is a

different story line to a regular thriller film.
A Birthday Wish was created by a group
of A-level students at Netherhall School in
Cambridge.
This film is a brand new idea which
involves a fifty year old women who works
in an office. She is counting down to her
birthday and her wish comes true which
has an unexpected turn in the film.
Meg McNaughton plays her debut in
this short film and she is simply brilliant.
She plays the character fantastically and
adds a humorous feel to the character.
By the students using
unconventional ideas in the film it means
that you will not expect the ending.
However the film has some
downsides to it. It can be seen as
repetitive but once you get past that and
Pg 15

Some facts
1) It was filmed in two locations
2) The director stars in the film
3) There was only 6 students making
the film
by the use of some weird shots you can see
the overall brilliance of the film.
The character of Harley is an older
women (as you can see from the photo) she
pulls the greatest facial expression, is a
strange person, and she holds a grudge. By
these elements you can see how the students
thought about who they wanted which really
paid of as she acted brilliantly and brought
some charisma to the film. With out Meg it
would be seen as a regular film but with the
addition of Meg it is simply marvellous.
The students used their initiative
when making the film. They found all the
locations, the star and all the costumes. Ive
also heard that Meg came from France just to
film A Birthday Wish which doesn't only show
dedication from Meg herself but the fact that
the students helped Meg as much as she
could and make her feel comfortable.
A quote from the director We (her and the
producer) wanted a simple film with quirky
camera shots I have to agree with Abbie that
it has different camera techniques instead of
a regular close up. For example the camera

A sneak peek from the film

glides down towards the cupcake in each scene.

Lovely short film,

different to any I have
ever seen! viewer
Verdict: A nice short film that is different and not
at all like any other short film you would have
seen. If you haven't seen any short films before
go and see this one for its weird yet wonderful
story.
I would give this story
Jessica Brown