The Black Hole (2008)

This short film is about a man whose greed gets the better of him and the editing, sound, camera work and mise-en-scene are very important in displaying this. Since there is no speech in the whole short, the film relies heavily on these aspects to portray its ideas, and I feel that it does this successfully.

Sound is played with a lot in this film, it is enhanced and distorted to reflect the obscurity of the film and the 'sci-fi' nature to it. For example from the outset we are meant to instantly see that this character is a very tired, bored office worker and to show this the first sounds we hear over the titles are the monotonous sound of the photocopying machine and then the worker's loud sigh as the camera focuses on him. To also reflect his boredom and how tired he is, from when we first see him in shot he is not in focus, however once the camera has stopped tracking and settles on a mid shot of him, he comes into focus, just as if he were waking up from a daydream. Finally the very blue/grey, drab and dull colour palette that is used shows the typical office scene and also reflects the worker's mood at the beginning.

However once the black hole is introduced the camera work becomes much more interesting compared to the slow tracking and eye-line mid shots which reflect the worker's boredom. For example a point of view shot is used from the point of view of the black hole, this shot provides variety to the shots and catches the audiences attention because it is so different from the very boring camera work previously. The audience is also caught out by this shot because of the sound effect that cuts in and out with it, the effect is a very distorted, sci-fi like sound which shows the audience that something is different. The low angle we see from the black hole's point of view is also a different angle than we have seen before (previously we only see straight, eye-line shots).

The variety of camera work and unnatural sound effects increase in number from this point, reflecting the character's emotions as he becomes more awake and interested in the black hole. We also see a change to high speed editing and a larger variety of camera angles, positions, and movement to make the film more frantic, for example the close up at 1:31 which creates intensity and highlights the character's expression.

Throughout the entire film the sound of the photocopier continues, this helps the continuity and flow of the film, yet is also slightly creepy as it is a tedious beeping and whirring sound.

The ending of the film consists of very quick cuts and high speed editing to reflect how frantic the character is being while he is collecting the money. The sound is also enhanced to increase the intensity for the audience. At 1:51 we first see a shot through a door frame into the room that he is in, this camera composition frames the character to emphasise that his greed is taking over his morals. The final shots are 3 shots which are the exact same apart from they cut to a further zoom each time, with a jump in the sound on each cut. These shots fragment the film and highlight the disaster that his greed has led him to.

The film presents the values and ideologies that greed can get the better of anyone, even your average joe office worker, and that if you let your greed take over then it will lead to a bad ending. I feel that this film presents these ideas well since it does in such an abstract and interesting way that engages the audience and in so different from anything else, yet develops from a very normal situation.

Bear (2011)

A VICE short film

Directed by Nash Edgerton

Produced by Lauren Edwards & John Polson

Written by Nash Edgerton & David Michôd

Cast - Nash Edgerton, Teresa Palmer & Warwick Thornton

When I first saw this short film I thought that it was one of the most dark and twisted shorts I had ever seen. From the moment it starts it is made very clear to the audience that something is going to go horribly wrong, however things only get worse and worse and I could never have foreseen the ending.

The short opens with a quote "Always, Jack you go too far. Always, you take things too far by one step." So from the outset we are put into suspense waiting for the boyfriend to take it "a step too far". In the build up to the moment where he scares his girlfriend, she is cycling towards him. As she twists around corners and rides closer towards him the cuts become much quicker and and camera work appears jerkier, literally making the audience clench their fists as they wait for that horrible moment they know is coming.

We are made to see the boyfriend as a kind of evil guy from the beginning of the film where he takes his girlfriends toast and is generally dismissive towards her. However he is a similarly complex character in that all his evil doings are supposedly done with love in his heart for his girlfriend. Even after she has fallen and he has checked she is alright he doesn't call for help, but decides to talk to her about how great his bear costume is. Although this does make her smile, once again making the audience return to liking him. He is a caring person all in all however, like the film itself, he is slightly twisted. And this is what brings about the values and ideologies the film presents, that the right idea can turn into something horrible when taken one step too far, even if it is supposedly completely innocent.

At no point in the film is any kind of sound track or sound effect used, and this is to highlight the verisimilitude of the film. Which, in turn makes the audience again reflect on the values that the film successfully gets across. Sound however is used to create tension for example when he is driving in his car he has a music playing which drowns out all other sound, so that when we cut back to the girlfriend on her bike, we hear the sounds of her cycling and heavy breathing to be more urgent and pressing.

Overall I really did enjoy this short. I felt it was successful in the way it went about addressing the ideologies that it showed, and that it would have a full on impact on any audience mainly due to its harshness and bluntness that made the film so hard-hitting. Though the film was maybe a little too twisted for some viewers and may only appeal to a very niche audience, it showed an everyday issue, exaggerated to become something comical, dramatic and dark all at the same time.