Textual Analysis

The Smiling Man

In order to fully understand what makes a horror effective, I looked at a pre - existing text, and I hope this will help me to make my own to best of my ability.

Camerawork

The short film starts off with a slow pan - establishing the setting of the little girl innocently sat watching TV among all her toys. Yet, due to the fact that we see her alone, it creates a feeling of uneasiness, due to how little information we can infer from the screen. The girl later leaves the room and is met with a red balloon. The camera shot used here is a mid shot, and offers a better view of what the girl is experiencing. It also raises the question of where the balloon is from, since we only later see that is attached to a bag full of dolls arms. The camera is incredibly still, which once again re - inforces the uneasy feeling, and creates a sense of dread. This is because the little girl paired with a balloon, a red one at that, connotes an idea of danger as everything is too innocent that it's just a little off. The next shot is an over-the-shoulder of the girl going down the stairs collecting more balloons. This offers the childs POV - which is slightly disconcerting since the audience would not be used to seeing things from the perspective of a toddler. Another effective shot is during the kitchen scene, featuring an aerial shot, showing both the creature and the girl moments from each other. This particular shot creates tension due to the fact that the audience can see what is playing out almost before the characters - seeing both the antagonist and protagonist clearly. It therefore makes the film far more uncomfortable since there are no jump scares, but rather all the information is slowly revealed - building anticipation. 

Editing

A shot - reverse - shot cut is first seen at the beginning when the young girl is watching TV. This sets up the sotry and gives and idication of the innoced of her. It also can be portrayed as slightly eerie, since it only focuses on the girl adn what she is doing - there is no sign of anyone else. Additionally, the face paced editing of the creature playing with her hair again creates discomfort and auestion as to what is actually happening. It also reflects the confusion found upon the childs face. Lastly, the majority of the cuts create a seamless flow to the film - meaning that the audience can apply aspets of reality to it - since it is not obviously one cut from the next, again adding to the unease of the whole viewing experience.

Sound

The sound at the beginning of the film is diegetic, because it is the noice coing from the TV. This re-inforces the idea of normality and reality among the audience and within the storyline. The sound coming from the cartoons is in major key, this contrasts with the soft innocence of the child and adds to the tension and sense of forboding. Non - diegetic sound is later cross faded and this juxtaposes the earlier childish sound with the use of high strings. This is a convention commonly found in horror and the contrast of the high tones indicates some sort of inpending problem. There is no formal dialogue found within this text, just a series of noises that the creature seems to release. This again raises the question about what is going on - since there is no development of the story - a tactic often used in short films through the use of dialogue to further the plot without wasting time. 

Mise - en -scene

The location of the film is familiar to everyone - a nice suburban homes with a realistic feel. This can immediately put the audience at a disadvantage since it means they wil be able to apply anthing that happens in their own surroundings - thus playing on their fears further, a convention of psycholgical horror in particular. The young protagonists clothes are extremly childish - the dungarees create a sense of a playful nature, endearing the audience towards her. This means that they are already tense over what might later happen to her if they feel such a connection from the start. The props in the film are mainly balloons - theses paired with a small child are often not sinister in nature, but since the audience are aware it is a horror, they would be able to infer some sort of danger that comes with them. As for the antagonist - their constume is somewhat an ashy cover of paint and clown make up created from blood. This is disturbing for the audience to watch, and harshly jusxtaposes the protagonists own costume.