Analysis of a short

film

The smiling man

Generic conventions of a horror film

Dark settings
Young characters
Exaggerated diegetic sounds
Scary music
Shadows
Victim
Creepy villain
Low lighting/concentrated lighting
Slow movements
Isolated areas
Demonic spirits/creatures
Death/blood

Examples on next slides.

Young Characters

The convention of
a young character
presents
innocents and
therefore is used a
lot in horror films
due to the
connotations it
presents.

Convention Balloons

Balloons are often

seen in horrors
films due to the
links with clowns
and therefore the
scary connotations
of clowns.

Camera angle

Using a very creative high shot

that shows the girl going
downstairs creates the feeling
that both the girl is small and
weak as well as making the
viewer feel like they know
what's going to happen before it
does due to the camera showing
a different angle to what the girl
can see

Scary Character

The use of a scary looking

character means they do not
even have to say anything their
body language shows they are
scary. When mixing this with a
young character this can be a
very scary combination.

Dark settings/concentrated
lighting

The use of concentrated

lighting puts focus on the
dropped shopping causing it
to build suspense as it seems
there is something wrong. The
dark setting causes the light
to be emphasized and in this
scene the corridor looks
smaller due to the lighting.

format

Its digital and internet format

as its posted on youtube this
means it is both easy to access
and watch as well as it is easy
to share on social media.

Sound

Throughout the film the use of actual dialogue is very much left out as
there is not speaking but the use of both diegetic and non diegetic
sound such as mood music and sounds created by objects in the story.
The music is very dramatic and is mostly focused on high end sound
(higher pitch noise) to create suspense for the viewer this is similar to
the most horror films. The music gets a lot louder as it gets to more
dramatic parts.

In this clip the music gets

louder and reaches the
peak moment of suspense
just before the creature
reveals himself.

Editing techniques

All the transitions are fairly harsh cuts and all

change types of shots dramatically which is
stereotypical of films in the genre of horror.
Even though the cuts are harsh the clips
themselves are quite slow paced to build
suspense
In some scenes a vignette is used as to make
the center of the video seem more important.

Audience expectations and

interpretations

Audience expectations

The audience at the start expects that everything is okay as it starts with a
young girl watching cartoons
As the short film continues it begins to become more creepy and the innocent
start to the film soon becomes dark. Throughout the film this continues
It is important to include all the conventions of horror films that the audience
expects and that they have seen in other films. This is important because
they are more likely to watch it.

Interpretations

What the audience will interpret the characters to be like and what will
happen is very dependent on setting, music/sound, characters and many
other things. In The Smiling Man the setting has been done very well with
the use of shadows and specific lighting to create a dusk and dark setting.
The audio is effective as it creates suspense as to what will happen. The
music is not too loud and does not distract from the video.