Alex Barker - The Black Hole - Media Language

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.

“The Black Hole” is about man that is working late who discovers a piece of paper with a black hole that enables him to pass through walls and any object. However when the man tries to still the money from the safe he is out of his luck.

At the beginning of the extract we are given the opening shot of the title with “The Black Hole” in white writing with a black background. It then transitions from the title background opening with a circle widening up to show the opening scene. The idea of the circle may be due to relate back to the title of the extract.

The opening scene shows a pan moving across to the right where we see a medium shot of a man standing behind a printer. From the close up of his face we can tell that he is showing signs of boredom and been tired as shown on his facial expressions. Also the use of diegetic sounds to show his boredom we can hear is him sighing.  Furthermore the diegetic sound of the beeping on the printer can also distinguish the boredom and begin to start tension to the extract. We can also tell by the long shot at the beginning that the setting takes place in the very typical office center. By the use of the average day setting it makes the extract more believable as it is a setting many people of go to/work at as it is a familiar setting to most people. Furthermore, the setting can also tell us that it is set in present time. By the use of the medium shot we can tell that the character is at work due to his clothes and can also tell that he has been through a stressful day as his clothes been untidy.  Additionally, the use of props such as the printer and computers makes the scene more believable.

The colour of the extract is a dull and grey around the edges with the main source of light focusing on the character in the middle to make the audience focus on him. This can show that the extract is not set during day and may be set in late hours at work in the evening.  Furthermore I believe the director used the dark lighting to create the mood on loneliness represented in the character.  The use of dark lighting makes the film dramatic and increases tension.

Another way the director was able increase the sign of his loneliness the editing is used by a close up of the printing machine back to a close up of the character face instead of an overall view of the office. This gives the further highlight on how alone he is in the office. By using the cutting method we able to see the charter emotions. For example when we see a close up of him mashing the buttons of the printer to him kicking the machine to then finally a close up of his face to show his reaction to what he did.

During the film the director also uses eyeliner match. For instance, we have another close up of him looking then cutting to a long shot of a vending machine to show that he is looking at the machine. After getting the chocolate bar we see the character face change into greed as the character looks for another object he can do. He then looks for the door where the safe is being held with the director using a shot reverse shot of the character and safe.

The final scene we begin to see an increase in pace as each shot timing is shorter. This is to signify that the tension increasing and pressure of the character on if he will get away with it.