The short horror film 2AM follows a young boy who thinks he is being followed by an oddly dancing man in a yellow suit late at night. As the boy walks alone down the street, he notices the strange man and tries to ignore him. However, the man begins to creepily follow closer behind the boy. The boy runs in fear, thinking he has escaped, but looks back to see the man now standing in front of him, creating a sense of false safety for the audience.

1. 2AM (2016, Ireland/UK/USA)
Short horror movie, boy thinks he is being followed.
1. Intro – young boy walking on the sidewalk.
2. Act 1 – as he walks he notices a weird man, dancing oddly towards him.
3. Act 2 – the boy crosses the street and the odd character stops and stares.
4. Act 3 – a chase between to two characters appears, until the young boy runs for
safety.
5. Coda… you think your safe but you’re not.
Todorova Narrative structure
Short movie – Horror
1. Intro
A young boy is walking alone, one the side walk. It is unsure to where he is heading
but you initially presume he is heading home, from stereotyping the situation. The
night is dark, with just street lamps lighting the scene, and he is presented firstly
alone, and very vulnerable, as it’s so quite around him.
2. Act 1
As he walks alone he notices a odd man in a yellow suit dancing oddly towards him.
Firstly, he does not notice him to be a threat as he kind shrugs and smiles it off, until
a unforeseen change in mind makes him frown and decide to cross the road away
from him. This weird man wears a yellow suit, which is linked to happiness and joy in
life, which contrast with what he is bringing the boy in this scene.
3. Act 2
The boy crosses the street and the weird man in the suit seems offended by this and
directly stares at the boy in his weird stance. He again try’s to ignore this stage and
threatening situation, so he carries on walking until he notices this man is no longer
on the other side and is in fact right behind him creepily creeping up on him again, in
his slow motion dance. The boy speaks out and asked ‘what do you want?’, to which
the weird man reply’s nothing and dancing again in the other direction. The boy
carries on walking thinking the threat has gone until footsteps get loud and closer
running at him.
4. Act 3
The man directly begins to run at the young boy, to where he begins to realise this
man is more of a threat than he initially though. The young boys run, until he feels
Asif this man is gone and no longer chasing after him.
5. When thinking he is safe he looking behind him all around and as he begins to walk
again the weird man is again standing in front of him, which creates this false hope
amongst the audience who are built up to believe he has got away and is now safe,
though some typical iconography’s.

2. Genre
2Am establishes its horror genre by following typical elements of its genre to create the
horror impression, firstly you could suggest that being in a dark street, with nobody around
at all, is a typical set up for a begging of a film in its genre, where the protagonist is seen as
alone and venerable with nobody to help if there was a threat posed. You could also infer
that the fact you don’t learn anything about either character creates a more mysterious
approach to its film, and adds to the genre. You know nothing about rather character so you
are left to make it up for yourself to build the avoid of the missing elements, which in almost
every case makes a more dramatic effect as you naturally presume the worse, and by the
story line adding no information of this helps contribute towards its genre
Purpose
Short films purpose is, to gain recognition, for its story lines, its actors, directors and
everybody who is involved. Many are put out there to be evolved into features films, by
selling on the story to bigger companies. While 2AM, has gone to many film festivals, and
won awards for its excellence which has gained the creators more recognition in the movie
business. While it can be said feature films in contrast look for a more profitable purpose
within its movies, shorts films such as 2Am want to gain recognition for its work.
Audience
The audience for 2AM I would argue is general horror fans and even people interested in
the short film industry. Firstly, focusing on the horror fans its hold all key iconographies of a
horror filmfor it to be effect to this group of people. While short films fans like to see how a
message or purpose is posed in a short amount of time, and like to critic how it is done so.
As for psychographics, people who enjoy general horror films, and a tension quickly built up
in places you least expect, reflect easily to this audience.
Geodemographic, of 2AM would be mainly the US where it’s based and made, but really all
over as it would be entered in many film festivals, creating a wider audience for short films.
Propps Narrative structure
Propp, was a literary critic and a scholar who founded the idea that a certain type of
character was used in every narrative structure. Firstly the ‘hero’, ‘the villain’ ‘the donor’
‘The dispatcher’, ‘the false hero’ ‘the helper’, ‘the princess’, ‘her father’. He created this
from his analysis of the narrative to fairy tales. While reflecting 2AM, who hold only to
character, you would have the villain, and the hero almost as they are to contrasting
characters to one another.