The Black Hole

Media Language – write an in depth textual analysis of how the 4 technical codes (Sound, Mise en Scene, Camera and Editing) communicate meaning.

Sound

Mise en Scene

Camera

Editing

The short film begins with a circle-shaped transition featuring the title 'The Black Hole' and in the background the audience is able to tell that the location is set inside an office building. There is diegetic sound of beeping noises suggesting machinery. The camera begins to track sideways towards an office worker, his facial expression lacking enthusiasm, where he then gives off a sigh letting the audience know that he has possibly had a long day at work, or is extremely bored at this moment in time. He also seems to be completely alone.
The audience can now be assured that the diegetic beeping sounds were in fact a photocopier as the camera shows a big close-up of the character pressing a green button on the device where the noises repeated themselves. So far, the pace of this short film is slow.
The character seems to become frustrated as he repeatedly presses the button and the audience is shown a close-up of his hand doing this. He then proceeds to kick the photocopier and the audience is shown another close-up of a piece of A3 paper with a large black circle printed onto it. The character seems puzzled as the audience is shown a big close-up of him staring at the page and then proceeding to check inside the lid of the photocopier to see if there were any objects obstructing his photocopying process. There was nothing unusual about the content inside of the the photocopier, however, there is a sense of enigma when the character places a small plastic dixie cup on top of the piece of paper with the black circle, but it appears to fall into the black hole. Here the audience can pick up on his sudden change of facial expession from fatigued to amazed about what he has witnessed. The only sound the spectators can hear at this point is a quiet non-diegetic tone coming from the black hole itself and the ambient noise created by the office environment.
Realising that he can place his hand through objects sparks his curiosity and he begins to retrieve a chocolate bar from a vending machine in which he has not paid for, resulting in his imagination running wild as to what he might be able to do next; the audience can tell this from the expression on his face.
The camera begins to zoom in on a door which the character has fixed his gaze upon, with the words saying 'Keep Out' suggesting that there is possibly something valuable or mysterious behind the door. The protagonist uses 'The Black Hole' to open the door which then reveals a safe in the middle of the room where it is then predictable what he is going to do. A variety of long shots and close-ups are used here to show the audience exactly what the protagonist is doing.


The Black Hole - Short Film