Short Film 'Black Hole' - Media Language - Olivia Farren

In the first shot of this 2008 short film directed by Philip Sansom and Olly Williams, we're first shown the setting of an office; this is instantly recognisable due to the props used within the office to create this setting, (office table and chairs, lamps and computers all close together to create a working environment that we are probably all familiar with). Often, offices aren't associated with happiness and fun, as they're more often familiarly associated with boredom, and in this first shot of the office we can see that this isn't an interesting place to be due to the dull colours; the furniture in the office is monochrome with everything a bland shade or grey, therefore this conveys this to be a place of lifelessness and boredom, and along with the this; the shallow depth of field of this shot making the office out of focus adds to this image of lifelessness as it's clearly not important if it isn't in focus.

Here we can notice the dull lighting and colours.

Typical and empty setting;the office.

The shallow depth of field is obvious here as the setting isn't in focus behind the titles.

The camera slowly pans the room, showing us more of the out-of-focus room that we as an audience are being placed in; the fact the camera is panning the room slowly gives us the impression that what it's moving towards isn't something to be eager about; again, this camera work helps to communicate an uninteresting and dreary feel to this short film.

Only minimal non-diegetic sound is used; first we can hear only the noise of the photocopier working and then the buttons on the machine being pressed, a normal sound to be heard in an office and so we associate this sound with a normal situation, along with this, we can also hear the sigh of the man; nearly all of the sounds that we hear; and these lead us again to think that the whole feel of what's happening in this film is being communicated to us as dull and boring, as he is clearly bored as he lets out a sigh as well as adding to the sense of realism and remind the audience of the realistic setting. There is only one sound that is created using foleys, and that is when we hear a 'whooshing' sound that imitates the action every time something goes in or out of the 'black hole', a totally unexpected sound sound from what we have seen in the film before hand as this turns this realistic and boring scene into a moment of escapism from his everyday life as this is clearly something that would be out of the ordinary. By having no music soundtrack, a sense of realism is then added to the short film as this connotes to the audience that this is a real life situation. A lack of dialogue is also included in this short film as there no dialogue used by the character at all. This helps the audience to look more carefully at his facial expressions and body language more closely as any sign of emotion.

From the characters facial expressions and body language, we can immeditately tell that he is feeling 'fed up' and tired, from what seems like a long day at work. His tie is slightly loose which also connotes how he is tired and his appearance is not a main priority. When he uses the photocopier his movements are lethargic and 'floppy' which also connotes his fatigue. However once the man has discovered the 'black hole' his facial expressions start to change to excitement, especially when he starts to steal the chocolate and money.

A variety of different shot sizes are used to give the audience an unrestricted view on the film. Shot sizes vary from close ups to long shots to allow the audience to see what the protagonist is doing at all times. The close ups are used at first to denote the audience of the protagonists feelings -fed up and tiredness.  

The only shot transitions used in this short film are cuts; this is the most common type of shot transition used in film and is used to connote realism - which mirrors what other concepts that are also implying realism. However the editing frequency increases as the action progresses to show how the man is getting more excited about the new ability of the photocopy. But at the start of the short film, there is post-production editing where a text is shown displaying the name of the short film 'The Black Hole'. Then a circular wipe transition is used to reveal the footage. This circular shape imitates the photocopy of the black hole and could hint plot features, along with the title of the film.

Click here to watch The Black Hole