Sunday, 3 September 2017

Textual analysis: 2am The Smiling Man



The beginning of the film starts with a close-up shot of a young man walking alone at night. We can generally assume this will be from the genre of horror as it hits many of the stereotypical conventions of horror. Credits are shown on top in the colour white which is used to strongly contrast the dark background. Along with this, non-digetic music can be heard which is synchronous to the situation. It has a low bass and is in minor key, again, showing the conventions of a typical horror film. This is not continous but there are short bursts of this non-diegetic music occasionally which signifies the foreboding the coming events.

There is only one protagonist which is typical in a short film. The portagonist is a young white male. As the demographic of horror films are usually teenagers, this makes him relatable. This can link with Hebdiges theroy that media portrays teenagers as either 'fun or trouble'. The fact that he is walking alone at night can be seen as irresponsible and dangerous, therefore, conforming to the theory. Followed by a cutaway, the antagonist is revealed in a long shot wearing a beige suit and walking/dancing in an unatural way. The fact that the antagonist is a actual person seems more frightening as it is more realistic. Shot rerverse shot is also used to show the antagonists reaction change in a close-up from smirking to a worried facial expression. This suggests that there is something wrong and so evokes curiousity and fear from the audience. Furtheremore, there is low lighting to set the mise en scene which is a typically convention of the horror genre.

The narrative is linear as there is a an equlibrium.This is portrayed by the progression of shot where the pace of the shots speeds up as the narrative moves along. The first few shots are rather slow so the audience has a sense of where the location is. This is amplified by the long shots to establish the setting which sets the tone of the film as it is a long dark street, stereotypically to something from the horror genre. As the scene hits the climax of events, there is fast paced editing to show the franticness and panic of the protagonist. The utilisation of constant cutaways and eyeline matches reflect on the characters change of emotion throughout. This shows the contrast of both characters as binary opposites.

The camera angles and movements are used to exaggerate his emotions. Many of the close-up and mid-shots are in shallow focus tso the audience is only focaued on the protagonists facial expressions. This demostrates his fear. Furthermore, the composition of some of the shots are using the rule of thrids so the protagonist is carefully postitioned to be in the focus. It is also used so the audience is unknown to whats going on in the surroundings which create fear to the unknown. There is use of a hand held camera to show the chaos of the situation which also shows the distress of the protagonist. The shot is quite shaky which can suggest theat the character is to overwhelmed with panic that it is hard to focus.

Throughout the film, there is hardly any dialouge except for the protagonist asking one question. This surely is echoing at the audiences thoughts of what does the antagonist want. However, this question is left unanswered which consequently leaves the audience curious. This drives the narrative along as it creates an engima where there is a plot which is left unanswered to engage the audience and keep them guessing as to what happens next. There is a lot of non-diegetic music throughout to exemplify the appearnce of the antagonist each time he changes movements. This adds the the shock and jump scare which creates the stereotypical representation that the antagonist seems to move very quickly without noticing. The non-diegetic music is quite atmospheric and has a lot of sustained notes to draw out the climax. The crescendos in the music suggests that something bad is going to happen and build the tension and suspense. Moreover, the non-digetic heartbeat relfects on the fear of both the protagonist and the audience as we are unaware of where the man went. This question is then anwered with a clash of dissonant chords to announce the prescene of the smiling man who is shown in close-up.

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