Technical Analysis 2 - 2AM: The Smiling Man

2AM: The Smiling Man is a short thriller/horror film which is about an feared character and a extraordinary individual. This short film is shot on the street at late hours of the night.

Narrative & Format
The Smiling Man is linear as it shows all of the events in order, it has beginning, middle and end.


Genre conventions are very important in this short film as location is the most important as this is shot outside rather than inside. Costume and props is not as important due to the main focus of the film is on the location and characters.

Locations - 

In this screenshot, it shows that this short film is based on a empty, quiet street. This is the main focus as this is where all of the activities that took place were shot.





Lighting -
Naturalistic lighting is the most common lighting that is used in this short film because as there are a high street lights on a wide stretch of the road, there is no need for extra lighting to be used to reveal character's faces. High Key and Low Key lighting was not used as naturalistic lighting is used to make it more realistic.

In this screenshot, this shows that the lighting from the street lamps give the street a natural light as high key lighting is not needed for this time of day.







Coverage Shots -

Depth of Field was commonly used in this short film as the main focuses of the film was on both characters and not the street.

This screenshot shes the character and creepy individual in one shot but one character is blurred out so the main focus can be on the creepy individual.

This shot shows the emotion in the character's face while the depth of field shot is being used. This implicates that the background is not important as the audience is only focusing on the character's face.




Framing and Composition -


Depth adds interest into the shot. In this case, it shows the characters face and in the background is the blurred street lights and objects. This is not important because this frame is used to show the character's facial expression.




Editing -
Jump cuts are the most common shots to be used in this short film as when the character starts to run away there are three different shots that shows him running away from the creepy character.

This screenshot shows the character running away as the camera is set up from the back to show that the creepy character is running behind him.






This shot was filmed in the front of the character. As he ran, the camera followed him. This is to put the audience in the character's perspective of fear.







This shot was filmed from the other side of the road as it shows that the character is still running away. This is also a wide shot as it shows parts of the background of where he is running to alert viewers.

This is a over the shoulder shot because it shows the creepy individual watching the loner as he crosses the road because he is in fear of it trying to attack him.

The camera switches from an over the shoulder shot of the character to the creepy individual staring back at him. This makes the time frame in the film quicker as we do not see the character looking up to see the individual.

This short film uses continuity techniques such as 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot to show relationship between characters
The editing of this short film also uses pace to keep the audience engaged as if it was a slow paced clip, it wouldn't have much viewers as horror films consist of fast pace and movements.

Sound -
There are limited sounds in this short film. Diegetic sounds such as the character's voice, footsteps, wind and sound of distant cars are heard by both the characters and audience. Non-Diegetic sounds such as the creepy music is not heard by the characters and only the audience to bring secrecy.