Black hole analysis

Information about the short film

Production company -  HSI Films

Distributors -  Future Shorts

 Directors : olly williams & phil sansom

Actor : Napoleon Ryan as Charlie

Genre : comedy/drama

Created by Phil Sansom and Olly Williams, The Black Hole is a deceptively simple story that puts a fantastical discovery in a mundane world. Charlie, a tired office-woker, will xerox something life-changing: his very own black hole. Unfortunately, his instinct to use it for quick personal gain will backfire somewhat. It won the inaugral Virgin Media Shorts competion in 2008 (and hasn't been bettered since).

Camera angle, movement and position 

The film start with an establishing shot of the whole location thus giving the audience perspective where the subject is located. Then the camera pans over to the subject, and a medium shot is used to show the audience of how the characters emotion towards the environment.

Then throughout the whole film a series of close ups and mediums shots are used show the protagonist emotions and reactions towards the discovery of the black hole in the white piece of paper. This allows the audience to understand the protagonist in more depth in terms of sympathising with the decisions he is making on the subject of human beings and greed.

A low angle is used when the protagonist first notices that the white piece of paper is a black hole, this makes the protagonist look more powerful because of the great discovery, and by using this angle it shows the audience that he is now more supreme than every human being.

Framing      

The protagonist is always framed in the centre of the shot in order to place most of the attention on him, thus showing the audience to how he reacts to him environment. And in the film most of the shots are loosely framed as the protagonist as room to move around, this shows the audience that he is alone in the office.

When the protagonist starts stealing the money he is shot in a three quarter turn this makes the protagonist seem more secretive, as he is turn away from the audience. This may give the audience an idea that the protagonist is now turning into an antagonist as he is now committing a crime.

Editing and special effects/lightning

A classic Oval opening effect is used to inform the audience of what the general over view of the film is, and it also coordinates with the title.

At beginning the film is very slow paced to show the audience that the protagonist dislikes the task he is doing, this creates the feeling of that the work is dragging on. But then when he discovers the abilities of the black hole, the film starts to become very fast paced in order to build tension and to show the audience how excited the character has become.

During most of film low key used meaning that the majority of the frame has areas that are underexposed; this creates a feeling of weariness to show the audience that the character is tired.

The cinematographers used light shading to focus the audience on particular spaces and objects within the office. for example the is scene where he is stealing from the vending machine, there is a higher light  on the vending machine compared to the rest of the objects surrounding it. This then give the audience an insight on the characters intentions.

Sound 

Diegetic sound is then sound explained by the fictional world of the film, for example street noise,music played on record players, dialogue between characters.

Computers & paper copying machine beeping this acknowledge to the audience the fact that the protagonist is in a office location.

Throughout the whole film the protagonist does not speak we can only hear his actions for instance when he is eating the chocolate bar or when he is walking around the audience, this forms the feeling of lonesome thus letting the audience know that he is alone.

Non-diegetic:  It is sound which is represented as coming from a source outside the story space, i.e. its source is neither visible on the screen.

Every time the character uses the black hole a spacey strange sound is used, this creates the unknown feeling to show the audience that the black hole & its ability are located out of this world.  

Audience  

The YouTube demographic statistics show that the target audience are males ranging from 25-54 years, but I this short film could also attract a female audience who range from 25-45 years.

It is popular in location with internet access as like Europe and America, as that’s where majority of the views of short films comes from, because they tend to be firm on budget, thus making the internet a great way of distributing the film.