TASK C: Technical Analysis of SCT:1/3 Short Films

TASK C: Technical Analysis of SCT:1/3 Short Films

In ‘2am: The Smiling Man-short film’ the director uses depth of field blurry in the background as one of his first scene to show that we do not know what is in the distance. For example if I want to focus on someone I would blur out the distance so I do not give plot away if something bad is going to happen to that character. By this it makes the audience unsure what is going happen especially this was film at nigh time, producing cold and dull atmosphere. We know this because colour blue associated with very cold and heartless. Also the director uses naturalistic light to show that is dark place at night and things can happen to you. Furthermore straight away we can see if it thriller/horror. The director uses non-diegetic sound such as deep and shallow sound of piano to create the atmosphere. By this we know that something bad or usually is going to happen.     

 In this scene of ‘the smiling man’ the director uses a close up his shoulders upwards, this is because to show the characters face expressions and to make the character imitated. As the director uses close up of the character face we see that he might be confuse on what he seeing in the distance and look very anxious and apprehensive. For example I would use this shot to show the audience how he feels, also you can use close on his eyes or mouth. Due to this the audience can see that he really shock about what he seeing and by his face expression we know that something wired/ dangerous is going to take place. Also the director uses death of field to focus on the character face. Also the director uses effects of footsteps to have more effect and to build up tension. As the character walks the sound the volume increase then stops. By this we know that something strange is going to happen.  Also the right use low key light to chiaroscuro effect.

In this scene of ‘the smiling man’ the director uses mid shot to show the character but still do not want to give anything away yet. The first thing we hear as the character is the effect of footsteps from  the editing department, due to this we know that this person might be dangerous. As progress into this scene we see that character is not normally and maybe mental ill just on how he is walking. It is also ironic that the character is wearing a work suite and associate people in suits as normally. The sound people use diegetic as we can hear sound on set, by this the footsteps stands out.  By this we know that this character is dangerous.  

In this scene of ‘the smiling man’ the director uses  over the  shoulders shot to protect the character identity. For example if I was looking someone or talking someone that is unusually I will use over the shoulder shot to create suspense and mystery. At this point we know that something is going to happen to him as he walks away. Then the sound reappeared and increasing of violin, by this it would be built up tension. 

In this scene of ‘the smiling man’ the director uses   short reverse shot giving the front view and the back view of the character, use depth of field as well and close up of the character. As we are watching this we know something is just going pop up and frighten the audience this scene would be build up tension.  By this we can also the expression on his face. The sound is loud then decreases till you can only hear the wind blowing and footsteps.  The director  uses high key lighting to show his face expression as it was dark at night. By this we are very suspicious about is going to happen next. 

In this scene of ‘the smiling man’ the director uses  long shot to associated that he wired and not normally and he does not fit in the society and use low angle shot to show that the character is  powerful . For example a long shot is associated with word isolated and lonely in the world. This means that character should not be associate with people because they are dangerous and can cause a lot of harm into the world. In this scene the direct uses non-diegetic sound as it was deep and depressing. At this but we defiantly know that something is going to happen. This makes the audience feel worried for the character. This creates mystery and suspense’s

At this point the director did close up to show that he really anxious as the character is breathing heavy. The sound gets louder and you can hear rockiness in sound. This will be tension and makes the audience worried and makes us feel like we are already there with him. The direct also use depth of field to make the audience to focus on the character face and nothing else.

As the character walking we know that he is dangerous from the dark and dull colour in the background and the music playing in the background. Until know the director still protecting his identity. And at this point we know that the boy needs to escape urgently. By this it create tension  in the room as it is foreshadowing what’s going to happen next.   

In the final scene of ‘the smiling man’ the director free hand when holding a camera because to give affect we are running with character in the scene. This will make more realistic. By this we do not know if the character is going to make it to safety. The editing increasing the sound kind like danger sign. This makes the audience really reluctant that the wired man does not catch the other character. This makes scared for the boy. 

Overall the short film ‘2am: the smiling men’ uses loads of techniques to make a good thriller film such sound techniques such non-diegetic and diegetic to build up tension when its need different lighting to give effect, depth of filed and camera shot such as close to make more interesting. These are all techniques you need to make a good thriller film.