Analysing the opening sequence of a film: The Black Hole The Black Hole is a short film produced by Future

Shorts. The film is about a sleep deprived office worker who accidently discovers a black hole and the greed gets the better of him.

Mise en scene The short film first starts off with the main title of the film; this first scene then introduces the audience to where the film is located, the location being an office, gives the audience a clue about the film and how it is based around an office worker. We are then introduced to our main character, our main character is dressed in a shirt, tie, his costume shows the audience how hes office worker. His shirt and tie is untidy, with his top button undone, shirt rolled up and creased, his costume indicates his personality and how hes someone who doesnt out his mind into his work. This presentation of the main character shows how drained and deprived of sleep he is, due to the presentation of his hair. The props based around the setting are all props which would be seen in an office e.g. computer, scanner, fax machine, clock, lamps and cabinet filers; this creates a good sense of verisimilitude and shows us as an audience where the film is located. The facial expressions seen on the main character are dull and straight, this yet again shows the audience how deprived he is of sleep and how work seems like a massive chore for him, his facial expression give us as an audience a clear indicator of how hes feeling. The office based environment lightening is very dark and dull, this connotates the emotion of the scene. As the scenes progress, the lighting of the film brightens up, these light scenes make the audience get more into the film and also indicates to us that his emotion has brightened up as well. As the main character starts to discover what this black hole does, his positioning changes, at the start of the film his positioning was sluggish but as the film goes on hes seen to be standing up straight and interested in the black hole. His character positioning indicates how the characters more happier Cinematography An establishing shot is used at the start of the film, this establishing shot allows the audience to see where the film is located, and gives the audience a sense of what the film is based on. As the scenes progress and we are met by the main character, we are shown how the scanner isnt working. A low angle is used at this scene to show the characters aggression at the scanner, the

low angle used allows us to see him kicking the scanner to get it working again. The low angle then changes to a high angle; this high angle is used when the paper prints out of the printer, the use of the high angle at this scene allows the audience to see a bigger picture of whats printed. The high angle used at this scene also creates questions in the viewers mind of what the paper is and where its come from. As the scene progresses, the director uses a high angle to show the audience how the paper that printed out is the black hole. The use of low angle puts the audience in the papers perspective, as we can then see the main character drinking water from the angle. As the character gets to grips with black hole paper, the director then uses a medium shot. This medium shot show the audience what hes doing with the black hole, this shot also lets us see what the next scene will consist of. During the film, a close up is used to show the audience his reaction, this reaction shows the audience that hes seen something hes interested. This close up then changes to a long shot, this long shot shows the viewers what hes looking at, which is a door saying keep out. This long shot, then changes back to a close up of his face, his face then connotates to the audience how hes going to use the paper to get into the room. Once he enters the room, a long shot is used to show the viewers what the room contains; a large safe is seen in the middle of the shot. Lastly a medium shot is used at the end of this film, the medium shot is used when the main character is seen taking money out the safe, and the use of this shot allows the audience to see his facial expression and his reaction. Sound At the start of the film, a non-diegetic sound is used, this non-diegetic sound used is of the sound of printers and scanners, the use of this sound allows the users to know where the film is location and also creates a sense of verisimilitude. As the scene progresses the director yet again uses nondiegetic sound, this non-diegetic sound is used when the low angle of the paper perspective is used. The sound used over that scene, is an eerie and unnatural sound, the editor used this sound to show the audience how the paper isnt the same as every other paper. Using the low angle, when the viewers are seen from the paper perspective, yet again a non diegetic sound is used; this eerie sound yet again creates a mysterious atmosphere and makes the viewers think something is going on. The main character is seen hovering his hand over the paper, the same non diegetic sound is used to create this mystery atmosphere. The use of this eerie sound makes the viewer asks questions on what the paper is. At the end of the scene, the main character is seen to put the paper on the safe, this paper then falls of the safe. When the paper falls off, the director uses a non diegetic sound over this

scene; the sound used over this scene creates tension for the users, of what is going to happen next. Editing At the start of the short film, a circle transition used to introduce the title of the film, whilst this circle transition is in play, the scene then pans to the right. Whilst the scene pans to the right, we are then introduced to the first character. Towards the end of the film, the main character is seen going in the safe; an editing technique used here is zooming. The zooming technique used here ends the short film and also creates questions in the audiences head; the zoom also creates a cliffhanger as the protagonist is left in the safe. The end of the film ends in credits, these credits let the audience know who was starring in the film, the producers, sound, editor etc. The end of the film ends with the production logo; ending with the production logo makes the audience remember the production name more.