2AM

1. Lauren Whyte
Short Film Analysis – 2am
Macro Issues
Narrative Outline There is ayoung man who is on his way to somewhere,
he is walking down astreet wearing a yellow suit when
he sees a figure that is moving in an unusual way. The
young man decides he needs to avoid the man. The
man in the suit continues to pursue the young man, he
decides to run away from him and thinks he has got
away. But he didn’t.
Narrative Theory Begins with the equilibrium of the young man walking
at night. There is a disruption, another character is
introduced. The young man decided he need to react.
He avoids the man by crossing onto the other side of
the street. Equilibrium is restored as the yellow suit
man walks away and the character thinking he is safe.
However, the man then turns around and runs after
the young man.
Genre The genre of the film is a horror. It can also be seen as
a thriller.
Conventions The setting creates the dark theme to the film giving it
a spooky edge on top of the narrative. There is also a
weird and unknowable character who clearly appears
to be malevolent, furthering the horror genre. The
music is also constantly building up to the bad
moments, building tension up to its peak. The
crouching yellow man also creates an intertextual nod
towards Thriller as he forms a pose that suggests the
horror genre.
Representations There is an obvious message and value of how people
shouldn’t walk alone at night and they should be
frightened of the dark and any strangers they may
come across. It also says don’t trust other people that
you do not know. A negative impression of mental
illness the man may have had is also presented.
Furthermore, diversity was presented as a negative
thing and that having a mental illness is not a
something you want to have. The character also
shuffles rather than walks.

2. Lauren Whyte
Micro Issues
Mise en Scene The short film is set at night and due to this it is dark.
The dark creates the sense of horror as the characters
are lit to capture all of their reactions which are
emphasizes by the lighting. The man is signified as
different and weird through the use of his unusual
yellow suit. This goes against typical connotations of
the colour yellow as the bad characters would usually
be wearing black. However, the yellow suit does
combine well with the smile on the man’s face as
yellow connotes a sense of joy and happiness.
Editing The editing jump cuts, suddenly the yellow man jump
cuts into another place where he wasn’t before. The
yellow man beats the continuity editing as he can
move to another place in a matter of seconds. The
audience see what the young man sees through shot
reverse shots. We are kept with the young man and
are able to empathies with him as we can see from his
point of view just how scary the other character is.
Sound Diegetic sound is used to emphasize the yellow man’s
feet as he moves forwards and taps them on the floor
to a set rhythm. Non-diegetic music is included to
increase the tension at the moments of action. It is
loud noises that rise at these tension peaking points. A
sting is used to emphasize the first viewing on the man
across the road. The music is not melodic. Non-
diegetic sound of the man’s heart beat is also used at
the end of the short film is used to emphasize how
scared the young man is.
Cinematography There is a mixture of establishing shots included in the
short film. There are alsomid and long shots to portray
the characters and the areas surrounding them. Close
ups are used to capture the young mans fear by
zooming in on just his facial expressions. The camera
follows the movement of the men at times. The
handheld camera shows the young man running away
which suggests the sense of chaos and worry.
Performance There is a strange physicality of the yellow man. There
is the movement from the joke to worry in the young
man as he realizes that the man in the yellow suit.