A good short film

The Black Hole (2008) produced by Future Shorts- 2 mins and 49 secs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_Msrdg3Hk

I've watched this short film and found it an excellent example of a Short. What made this so good was the...

The Plot

The film is about a man who prints a black dot that is a black hole. This is a original and unique idea that is well suited for a Short and interesting to watch. The film is about a man who works in an office and is clearly unhappy with his job and possibly life. This is clear within seconds of the film despite the lack of dialogue through different shots and diegetic sound and body language of the character. Portraying this quickly positions the audience with the main character so they are interested from the start. The film builds up as the character uses the black hole to more daring uses which we can identify with as many of us would have done the same thing. As the film ends you watch the man get stuck in the safe, you can see this happening and as you are positioned with him from the start you feel as if you want to warn him. This is what makes the film so good-the audience have identified with the character and the plot quickly develops to keep you interested. 

The Shots

The large amount of shots from different angles make it feel like you are watching him secretly at times, this feeling is strengthened by the fact no shots are from behind him at the start. For example the low angled shot through the black hole. The shots decrease in length as the tension increases. The fast paced cutting speeds up the film and makes it much more interesting to watch. At the end the shot of the safe ends it very well as you are given a while to wonder what will happen next.

The Lighting and Sound

The lighting sticks with the mood of the film and the plot, starts of very gloomy to fit with the characters mood and then gets a lot darker as he tries to rob from the safe. This makes the Short better as it adds more emotion so the audience are better involved. The diegetic sound is mainly the stereotypical office sounds only made louder so that they seem more of a part in the characters life. This helps position you with and understand the character more with the combination of his body language.

What I learnt

This showed me that in my film I should try to make the plot simple but original as well so that it isn't hard to follow but not predictable. I also learnt that the lighting is a key part of portraying the mood of the Short so I should think about it a lot when setting up a shot.