Nigel - The Black Hole Analysis

The black hole is a short film based on a man who discovers a black hole in a piece of paper after attempting to print what seems to be something else as he dismisses the piece of paper for being a mistake and puts it aside. But when he discovers its power he then uses it for bad, giving a short look into his greed, attempting to steal money from inside the safe but fails miserably when the paper falls down (so we presume that he fails as he gets stuck inside of the safe).

It begins with a transition from the first title into the next with the frame of the next shot/sequence, opened up by an expanding black hole. I think using this as the starting point is a quite good idea as it includes the whole concept of the short film. The protagonists costume, hair and make-up create an image of his everyday life and perhaps even his characteristics are suggested here too. He honestly looks tired and perhaps even zombie-fied here, this could suggest that he feels that he is controlled by his job or even trapped, and maybe this new discovery will help him become freer?  You first see him when the camera tracks towards him diagonally, revealing him into focus after a few seconds. The tracking allows you to see some of the setting whilst the camera goes across the room, but it also makes him seem even more distant with the out of focus shot, he is shown in a medium close up which allows the audience to see his body language which tells his mood at the time is pretty much bored or just not wanting to be there, therefore unhappy. There is a sound of photo copying which connotes the sounds of a workplace and perhaps more of an office area than any other type of employment because of the connotations behind them.

The man’s face and body language change once he realizes what this black hole on the paper can actually do, this could suggest that he is no longer as unhappy as he was because he has found something unique to do or he is just amazed by it. This is a change of attitude (visually) for the character which may suggest to you he has a plan for it and might have a small adventure with it or as simple as suggesting that it will be the narrative rotating around the new found item. The harmlessness of the object from the beginning so is turning a usual office item or even a usual item in life for most people (piece of paper) into something stranger.  

 

This might be a worthy for a ‘good’ short film, but there are so many continuity errors. From the props changing and appearing out of no-where due to editing and even just confusing towards the audience, it seems to have bad continuity. The paper for example seems to actually grow from the beginning; this is problem of the prop department. This can be said to break the realism of this part, changing the size, breaking the viewer’s immersion. Although this is true, the editing of the sequence helps the film flow and move along at a steady pace, getting gradually quicker whilst the protagonist discovers new information.

 

Sound is an important asset to this short story, displaying the mood describing what the man’s intentions are.  For example, this can be seen in the last scene of the film, which has a background soundtrack which creates enigma and adventure, suggesting that he has an idea and will try and fulfil his plan. There is quite a lot of ambient sound used in this film; this includes the noise of what seems to be the photo copier and other sounds around the office to give the setting an authentic feel.  Some of this is off-screen whilst some of it is on-screen like the beeps in the background which aren’t actually anything to do with the story of the character. At the end of the film, the viewer is left to understand that the protagonist is stuck in the vault because of the sound which accompanies it; the tapping on the metal inside after the paper has fallen down, this means that the sound is important to actually telling the complete story, especially with unison with the cinematography and camera movement, slowly edging away with a dolly movement signifying this is the end of the short film.