Micro Analysis 2A.M. – Dir: Michael Evans, 2013. Genre – Mystery.

Task 1b

Location:In the short movie called ‘2 AM’ the location was outside

in dark empty street. The reason why they used dark empty street

so that the character that is going to experience the horror or something

bad will look isolated and builds up the intention for the audience as the darkness and

emptiness of the street creates mystery. Also, this type of location helps those two

characters to stand out and when there is less distractions from others the film

becomes more scary because the main character is alone.

LightingThe lighting in the short film was used as the street lights where

shining and creating very mysterious atmosphere around which had an

impact on audience by building intention and make audience prepare that

something is going to happened based on the very dull and scary lighting. By

the end of the short film just before the young guy is about to face the

interesting, scary creature he ran into darker lighting to isolate himself in the

darkness..

Costume (Young guy)In the short film the main character was wearing very casual

clothes as it is a very casual night and nothing is expected to

happen. The colour of the clothes there pretty dull, colours were

dullish violet shirt, dullish grey colour hoodie, dark blue jeans. As

these colours were dull it represents that they main character

was upset over something and that’s may be the reason why he

left the house at night for a walk.

Costume (Smiling man)In the short film the mysterious man was wearing dull yellow

costume and a white shirt. The reason why the man was

wearing dull yellow costume was to show the characters age

because a young character would not wear a costume. As it is

dull yellow it shows happiness but happiness is covered with

mystery or happiness to scare people but not help them. The

dark belt could represent the actual dark side of him as it stands

out from the dull clothes.

Movement of actor (Young guy)In the beginning of the movie the movements of the

young guy were very calm walking and his focus was

mostly on the ground which suggests that he was

thinking about something. As soon as he saw the

smiling man his movements became very slow pace

as if he didn’t wanted the mysterious creature to

notice or hear him. But when the smiling man started

to run his way the young guy started running and

after he stopped to look back the whole time his

focus was on the ground which suggests that he was

scared and he likes to isolate himself a lot. This type

of response shows not just the way he responds to

situation but about his personal life which suggests

that he is very shy and lonely teenager which made

him end up in this situation by leaving house to think

about life.

Movement of actor (Smiling man)As soon as the smiling man showed up the whole

way through the movie he was looking up to the sky

and moving from side to side in dance moves. This

suggests the happiness and enjoyment of the

character but at the same time the fact that he was

looking up into the sky smiling could show that

whoever gets in his way will end up dyeing or be so

creeped out that won’t be able to come back to a

normal life. As the smiling man stops it suggests

that although it turned away from you, he will

always be there and as you met him you will never

get rid of him, his creepy face will haunt you for

ages.

DigeticAt some pint of the movie there were parts when sound

changed to digetic sound as to represent key moments.

Also, they used digetic sound to make the smiling man foot

steps more scarier as the soundtrack is gone he starts

walking as well as it prepares audience to get scared

before anything even happens.

Non-DigeticFrom the beginning of the movie till the end the whole way

through soundtrack was over the whole action which was used

to keep the audience attention and build p the intention. Also, in

the film the soundtrack made some parts look scary and creepy

when it looked very normal.

Medium close upIn the beginning of the movie the whole scene

started with medium close up to show character

mood. Also, as the camera moves very slowly and

smoothly it shows very mysterious calmness and

quietness, it keeps the audience wondering. Also,

although, we don’t really know the guy or what is he

doing outside, with the close up it makes audience

think about what is the behind the story and his

facial expressions kind of reveal that.

Wide shotLater on in the film there was a wide shot

used from the young guys back and through

the wide shot audience can see in what kind

of location he was and show that the streets

were empty and calm. So the audience know

where the action is and with their

imaginations they already starting to think

what is going to happen which makes the

horror movie scarier for the viewer.

Wide shotFrom the time smiling man showed up the most

of the time he was in wide shot which made him

look very scary because as the streets were

empty audience could see something very

strange moving towards the boy. Also, the

smiling man was more standing out in a very

empty street as his costume was pretty bright

and his movements were very strange and big.

Because the wide shot made the space look

bigger his shoe noise was even more creepy and

we could here it the best in the film. This scares

audience because they feel like something very

quick is going to happen.

Over the shoulderAfter few minutes as the young guy realized

that smiling man was very strange and it kind

of scared him so to protect himself he

crossed the street and the moment when he

was crossing the street there was a over the

shoulder view from the smiling man. This

might show that as the boy left the street the

mysterious creature was not even paying

attention or looking his way, he was just

swinging from one side to other and smiling to

the sky. But as soon as the boy turn from the

other street he sees that smiling man is

behind him. This keeps audience thinking that

it is not a human is it can transport to places

quickly and build up the intention as we don’t

know where next he is going to show up

Over the shoulderLater on in the film there was used over the shoulder shot

again but this time through the boys shoulder just to show

that the other street is none different from the one he

been and it is empty as well. Through the shoulder

looking forward we can see that he is going into the

darkness as it shows to the audience that it is not going to

end up good and this way it keep the audience nervous

because they don’t want him to go that way. Also,

because audience feel for the young guy they become

emotionally attached to the film which makes it very scary

to watch and it connects audience and movie for a longer

time.

Close upFollowing the scene later on we

can see a close up on the boys

face and some not clear view

behind him. The close up shows

that he is scared to look back and

he feels that something is following

him. But the view behind him

makes audience more calm

because we can’t see weird

shadows standing behind him,

although audience have a feeling

that to be empty when he is going

to turn around is a small chance

because we know that smiling an

can change locations quickly.

Very wide showFew seconds later when the young guy turns

over we can see smiling man sitting pretty far

from the boy and his target is the young guy.

The wide shot shows what is going on behind

the smiling man which was darkness that cuts

the street out meaning that that way it shows to

the audience that , although it is a smiling man

it came from the darkness. Also, the wide shot

make audience feel very nervous and intense

because we think he is going to start running

or something unexpected is going to happen

as it makes the mysterious creature look more

skinnier and creepier

Medium close upThe medium close up showed some more of

the smiling man and how does he actually

look with more of a detail. As we can see the

smiling man was pointing to the young guy

and looking to the sky as it could represent

that he is the one who is the target and he is

going to end up dyeing. Also, audience

expects to see the change of face in smiling

man or a direct contact with the camera which

keep audience feel intense and prepared to

be scared.

Medium wide shotLater on in the movie we can see that the boy

started running and through the wide shot it tries to

show that no one is actually running after him

which is mysterious and we know that the smiling

man will appear somewhere in front which makes

the audience feel intense and the already getting

scared, although nothing happened yet.

Extreme close upThis type of close up scares the

audience the most as the face is very

close to the screen. Although, we can

see that smiling man is not that scary

the quick flow from medium close up

to very unexpected extreme close up

makes the audience jump and it feel

like it is not going to haunt the young

guy but as well it is going to haunt the

audience so they get scared even

when they stop watching the film.

FadeIn the beginning of the movie we can see a

quick face which adapts to the actual

atmosphere as the atmosphere is very darkish,

silent and empty the movie starts of by gently

fading. Also, reveals the darkness behind the

boy which straight away shows to the audience

that he came from the dark and depressed

place.

Continuity editingLater on we can see continuity editing

which helps audience to concentrate on

both characters emotions as there is no

narrative to focus on. In this case we can

see two different emotions and they never

changes, young guy was very scared and

smiling man was just having the one

mysterious smile, although that doesn’t

really mean that he was happy inside.

Although the transition from one person to

other was very quick so that audience can

feel intense as they don’t know what is

going to pop up on the next shot