BLACKHOLE-FRANCES

The Black Hole

‘Black Hole’ opens with the words ‘black hole’ on screen in big white letters; we are then introduced to our character through an establishing shot, the character is an ordinary looking middle aged man with a frowning face and black curly hair. As soon as the scene opens we hear the diegetic sound of a photocopier which suggests that the character is standing in an office, which could potentially be where he works. The character who appears on screen is wearing a costume of an off-white crumpled shirt and a grey tie. It doesn’t seem like he’s made much of an effort with his appearance as he doesn’t look smart or well presented.

As soon as the scene opens we come across the diegetic sound of a photocopier which suggests that the character is standing in an office, which could potentially be where he works. The establishing shot ends in a medium close up of the characters facial expression which suggests he is tired and bored. There is then the diegetic sound of the character sighing which backs up my idea that the character is bored and not happy with his job. The film lighting scale looks almost black and white because it is so dimly lit however it just has a very low key level of lighting. This suggests that something bad could happen in this short film and the low level lighting is setting the atmosphere for it.

The male character is pressing a button on the photocopier but nothing is happening, the medium close up of the characters face cuts to a medium long shot of the man standing by the photocopier in an office which confirms that he is alone in the room. The shot then cuts to a close up of the man’s feet kicking the photocopier out of frustration. We then hear the on screen sound of the photocopier starting to work and a demonic sound takes place as we are shown by an above medium shot of a big black dot on a white piece of paper is  printed out by the photocopier.

A medium eye level shot shows the confused facial expression on the characters face as he tries to work out what this black dot is. The character has a prop in his hand which is a white plastic cup which he accidently places into the black dot on the piece of paper.

There is then a non-diegetic sound as the character places his hand through the paper and retrieves his cup,  this sets an eerie atmosphere for the male character. The shocked facial expression which appears on his face suggests that he has just realised that he’s discovered a black hole.

A long shot shows the character walking over to a vending machine with the on screen diegetic sound of his shoes hitting the floor. This sound suggests that the rest of the building is silent and he is still alone with no one around to see what he has discovered. Each time the protagonist puts his hand through this black hole the same eerie soundtrack which may be played on the drums or piano is played which suggests that this thing he has found is in some way evil. A medium low angle shot shows the protagonist reaching into the vending machine and taking a snickers bar without paying.

As the male character eats his snickers bar which is shown through an extreme close up his facial expression changes from smug to serious in a matter of seconds. This shot cuts to a point of view establishing shot of a wooden door with the words ‘KEEP OUT’. The setting of this next scene appears to be a manager’s office with a safe in it.  A low angle extreme close up shows us using the black hole to enter the office and the same non-diegetic sound is played as he puts his hand through the black hole to unlock the office door.

The office low key lighting as he walks in which suggests that something bad may be about to happen. The protagonist walks over to the safe and sticks the black hole on the door. He starts to take money out through the black hole and this is shown through many types of shots including low level close ups and medium close ups. The characters facial expression as he takes the money from the safe is excited and shocked suggesting that he can’t believe what he is actually doing.

There are numerous cuts showing the protagonists facial expression and then him taking the money from the safe with a high frequency pace which suggests that tension is rising and he is getting more and more confident that he is going to get away with it. The camera keeps cutting to a long shot of the office he’s in to the show there’s no one else in there. A medium close up followed by an extreme close up of the characters facial expression shows he has gone crazy with greed, so crazy that he decided to climb inside the safe to get the last few stacks of money.

A non-diegetic sound of the eerie sound which was made by the blackhole throughout the movie is played however this time much louder as he climbs fully inside the safe. A long shot shows the black hole on the piece of paper coming unstuck from the safe and falling off onto the floor, leaving the protagonist stuck inside. The long shot then cuts back to an extreme long shot to create the idea that there is no escaping the safe. The only sound we hear at the end of the film is the diegetic sound of a photocopier in the back ground and the sound of the male character tapping quietly from inside the safe, however too quiet for anyone to hear.