Analysis of ‘The Smiling Man’.

Analysis of ‘The Smiling Man’.

The short film opens up to a medium shot of a man walking what is most likely a street. This scene appears to be shot in the night time, I know this because of the low key lighting and the fact that the man is in the only one in ‘light’, this being an example of spotlighting, (the light most coming from a street light). This linking to horror conventions as spotlighting is a lighting technique used in horror frequently, this being effective as because only the character can be seen, it creates a mysterious vibe as we (the audience) are not exposed to anything else (this feeding unto the ‘fear of the unknown’ theory), making us at unease.

A few seconds into the short film and we now hear non diegetic, background music, the background music sounding like dramatic, dark piano music with an eerie feel towards it, this being effective in setting the mood and a way to indicate to the audience that the genre is a horror (by using sound that would automatically make them feel nervous). The camera then cuts to another medium shot, however this time in the scene we see the back of the man – neck down - touching a flower. This is not quite an over the shoulder shot as the camera is located a certain distance away from him, however, the fact that we can see behind him gives off the impression that someone is watching him, or in some cases that we are in fact in the point of view of someone following him. This is effective and links to horror as it feeds unto the huge convention of someone watching the protagonist.

To add on to that, the fact the man is touching red flowers can work as a possible red herring, this being due to the fact that red has connotations of evil, hell and negativity, so this possibly being a way to indicate to the audience that antagonist or negative situation is near, this also linking to horror conventions as all the connotations are basically what horror films are based in.

As the tone of the music gets deeper (this linking to the last point of a red herring. Deeper music = antagonist is near), the editing technique of a fade is used, a fade is effective within horror films because it creates an unsettling feeling as the audience cannot see the full frame of the scene and can basically can only see ‘snippets’. We see the title ‘2AM’. The short film being titled ‘2AM’ is significant itself is because 2 am is clearly very late in the night, just after twelve, this linking to horror and the supernatural due to the ancient legend that between the hours of 12am – 3am is where the evil ‘spirits’ come out. To add on to that, at this time in the night, most people are sleeping and are in the comfort/security of their homes, so the fact that the main character (the man) is out in the streets now puts him in a very vulnerable position, making the audience fear and worry for his safety, this being effective as it increases the fear factor.

The man stops in the middle of the road and here we see the eyeline match when the camera cuts to the next shot, which is a slightly long shot of an odd-looking man dancing and smiling in the middle of the road. In this scene, we hear the synchronous sound of the sound of his feet against the pavement, however it quite loud and appears to slightly echo more than average, this emphasizing the strangeness and abnormality of the situation the man is in. This slightly goes against conventions of short films because of the fact it has not been based on an average every day situation, as it is firstly not a normal thing for most people to be out in the streets at this time and to encounter a man of this kind.

We see reaction shots of the man (the main character not antagonist) who seems to at first find the antagonist’s behaviour not threatening but humorous, which creates a false sense of security (another horror convention) for the audience, as the fact he is unbothered and unaffected by the odd behaviour of the antagonist automatically puts us – as the audience – at ease. This is because, when it comes to films, they tend to offer a vicarious experience, this meaning, the emotions that the main character/protagonist experience we tend to feel as well, as we are living life through their eyes. Providing a false sense of security is a major feature of horror because creating it leads the audience into believing that all is well before attacking or doing someone bad, this being effective as it would be easier to scare them further on in the film.

As time goes on, the man start to realise that this situation is not normal and is clearly making him uncomfortable, this represented by his reaction shots and eventual action code of him starting to walk away, with the use of incidental music occurring in the background. When the guy is walking away, an over the shoulder shot is used to capture that moment, this is effective in increasing the fear factor for the audience as it gives off the vibe that someone is following him (which is true because the antagonist does follow him), and to add on to that, it is also a camera angle convention of horror. The camera pans, following the character whilst he crosses the road, this increasing the vicarious experience that most films hope to achieve, as it is almost like the audience is following the protagonist in his journey.

The use of the incidental, deep based music emphasises and increases the suspenseful atmosphere that has already been created, this being effective in the sense that it really sets the mood for the upcoming scenes. The camera then cuts to a medium shot of the man from behind, the camera panning up, this alone being effective as further on feeds into the idea that someone is following him, this representing the character as very vulnerable. Very soon we see a close up shot of the man turning around to look at something, with an eyeline match revealing in the next shot that it is the antagonist (the ‘Smiling man’) standing at the road in a mannequin like posture, with a creepy, unnatural smile to his face. This works as a jump scene because of the sharp note sound included when the antagonist is revealed again, the sound being effective as it emphasises the antagonist’s arrival and increases the suspense. However, this is not the conventional jump scare scene as nothing actually pops out of the screen, it’s the use of sound that makes it ‘jumpy’, (you could even say that the frightening use of sound juxtaposes with the visuals on the screen as what the antagonist is doing isn’t actually scary at all). I believe this is one of the reasons as to why this short film was so successful as it used abnormal behaviour and going against social norms to frighten and make the audience feel uncomfortable instead of relying on something popping out of the screen screaming.

After seeing a reaction shot back at the protagonist, although clearly alarmed by the antagonist’s behaviour, he appears to get over the incident quite quickly and goes on with his journey. We see in medium shots him walking down the pavement again from behind him, however what stands out in these scenes is that there is selective focus, only the man is in focus in the scene. This is effective in creating fear from the audience as only allowing us to see certain sections of the scene and blurring out the rest not only creates enigma codes (“What is he hiding?”) but also puts us in a vulnerable state as the fact everything is not visible to us means we are easier to attack because we are more unaware of the surroundings in the scene.

The man suspects something suspicious is going on again and after turning around slowly, we see a point of view shot of what he is looking at, this being the man who somehow transported to his side of the road, squatting down. This now introduces the possible paranormal element to the short film, as what the antagonist is doing – although being in a human form – is very near impossible. Long, deep based, ghostly, suspenseful notes are used within this scene to emphasis the danger that is evidently very apparent now. In the reaction shot, we see a medium camera angle of the protagonist staring back at the antagonist, his facial expressions clearly showing emotion of shock and confusion. Furthermore, in this shot, lighting from below is also demonstrated, this creating a distorted representation of his face.

When the camera goes back to the man, we see a long shot of him starting to get up from his squat position in a very spine chilling, odd manner, before starting to approach the protagonist, however his walk being extremely abnormal and unnatural. The sound in this part of the film is a mixture of short sharp notes (these used to shock the audience, evidently because of the antagonist’s unnatural behaviour) and very fast high pitched notes, this making the audience feel immediate tension.

When the antagonist finally reaches a close distance to the protagonist, immediately the protagonist speaks and we hear dialogue for the first time: “What the hell do you want?”. To which the antagonist does not reply to but instead maintains his statue like posture with the creepy smile and oddly turns around – walking away. The camera then cuts to another close up shot of the man, capturing him breathing out, this symbolizing that he is now relieved as he believes that the situation involving the antagonist is now over. This creates a false sense of security as by this point we are slowly converting to a relaxed state of mind, as because of the vicarious experience films offer (whatever the main character feels/experience we also feel and experience) we also assume that the situation is over. This is a technique/convention frequently used in the horror genre as it makes it easier to scare the audience in the long run.

However, we are all clearly deceived as only a few seconds later extremely high pitched, electronic rock music occurs and the camera cuts back to the long shot to reveal the antagonist sprinting down the street to the protagonist. Within this scene, tracking, panning and handheld camera are all used, this is to make us (the audience) feel more a part of the action that is going on, this is helped also by the use of the sound, as the electronic rock music being faced paced replicates the action of both the two characters.

Eventually the man stops running and we see point of view (these camera shots are still hand held therefore creates a sense of verisimilitude/realism) shots off the neighbourhood to see it completely empty, this giving off the impression that the coast is clear and the antagonist is now gone, thus creating yet another false sense of security. However, once again, we as the audience are deceived as the protagonist is quickly face to face with antagonist, this being the closing scene.

Overall, from watching the short horror film, I can see it fit into two major conventions, one convention being the cliff hanger/big twist aspect, because as an audience we didn’t get a full understanding of what occurred after they encountered again and enigma codes were still left unanswered, such as “Who was that man?”, however it also felt like you had watched a full narrative. Another convention that was used within this short film was one concerning characterization. As you are evidently only provided a small duration of time when creating a short film, the producer of this one kept the characters to a minimum and didn’t include much character development, which links to context of the type of media product this is.