Sunday 24 September 2017

Textual Analysis 4: 2am The Smiling Man




Often in horror, the narrative is not about the characters but rather focuses on atmosphere and tension through sound and music. This is why not much attention has been paid towards the main character. He is also made to be purposefully young so that the target audience of the film can relate to the position of the character to receive scares. Considering that the main demographic for horror is young adults and males, this is a perfect set up. 



We can assume that the genre of film this will be is horror. Going off the cliches of the horror genre, conventionally atmospheric music will be used throughout to portray how the characters feel throughout. In the beginning, the main protagonist is walking down a dark road in what we can assume is the US. There is no music, diegetic or non-diegetic throughout, but a few interruptions of musical notes every once in a while connoting to the audience that there is something wrong. Coupled with the stereotypical time of night, we can only assume that this will be of the horror genre. 

Whilst there is equilibrium, the shots are fairly slow, with the camera mainly remaining still with some pans to establish the setting. This is to establish the narrative that this man is clearly walking home from somewhere. However once the short film progresses the shots are edited together at a faster pace, to show that there has been a disruption. During the chase we see quick editing to make the audience feel frantic and tense. In these quick shots we see him primarily in either long shots or close-up shots of his face. The long shots place him in the centre third of the screen making him seem small and obsolete to his surroundings, meaning he is inferior to the smiling man. The close-ups also exaggerate his emotions, also blocking the view of anything else in frame, shrouding the killer, leaving the audience in a state of panic.



Representation of the main antagonist in the short film is very cliche to show that there is a threat to the audience. He is costume consists of nothing but an ordinary jumper and jeans. It usually plays on the fears of society, and more particularily the fears of the audience. The antagonist has a suit, and is designed to look like a rather abnormal, ominous man. He has no clear motive and that is what scares the audience. I believe it is playing of the fear of being attacked or robbed at night as he is alone and often in society, acts like this are blamed on those who are not mentally stable enough. By creating a deformed man who does not know how to act properly this is portrayed to the audience.



The only diegetic sound we hear is the man saying 'What the hell do you want?'. This being a stereotype of the genre as usually the main story arc of horror to find out why the antagonist of the film is performing the horrific acts. The sound has its climax in the last chase part of the film where the smiling man is chasing after our protagonist accompanied by a loud disarray of musical sound. This obviously reflects the manic thoughts of both of the characters and is a common trope of horror to build tension. Sound throughout is minimal, the non-diegetic sound dominates the film, with the atmospheric long notes to build up the tension, commonly seen in horror to climax to a jump. There are also several beats throughout, mimicking the sound of a heartbeat to show that there is a threat, setting up for the narrative of the man being a danger to his life.

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