Titles
The Black Hole
In “The Black Hole” it starts with the title of the film with a black background which then dissolves out with an interesting circular transition. From this shot we can identify the convention of featuring the title of the film which is normally in a unique font which isn’t too fancy.
Job
In my film we didn’t have the title appear straight away we had the after the opening credits. It does follow the convention of using an unique yet simple font for the title. We’ve also followed the convention of having the title on top of a shot.
The Black Hole
In “The Black Hole” it starts with the title of the film with a black background which then dissolves out with an interesting circular transition. From this shot we can identify the convention of featuring the title of the film which is normally in a unique font which isn’t too fancy.
Job
In my film we didn’t have the title appear straight away we had the after the opening credits. It does follow the convention of using an unique yet simple font for the title. We’ve also followed the convention of having the title on top of a shot.
Introduction to main character
Black Hole
Straight after the title we are introduced to the main character which is another convention of short films. The character’s make-up and costume contributes a lot towards identifying the character. Straight away we can tell that he is tired and works in an office. The background setting also signifies that the character is working in an office.
Job
We followed this convention as the main character is introduced after the title in our film. We also use the costume design to signify that he is a cleaner. However, the costume is deliberately ambiguous to add towards the effect of the climatic ending.
Special effects
The Black Hole
As the character learns more about the paper the audience gets to see some special effects as the characters hands seems to disappear. The use of special effects to anchor the story is a convention of short films.
Job
In our short film, we used flashbacks to anchor the story with a mixture of voiceovers. This helped to explain Paul Bison’s life and a different way.
Use visual to show thought process
The Black Hole
Once the main character has discovered what the paper actually is he decides to take advantage of it. The film uses visual codes to explain the thought process of the character.
Job
In our film we do something similar. When Paul Bison is explaining his job, he grabs a picture and the picture enhances the dialogue being said.
180 degree rule
The Black Hole
In The Black Hole they go against the 180 degree rule as they place the camera in front of the character and then behind the character thus crossing the line.
Job
We put extra care in our filming to avoid breaking the 180 degree rule. This was to stay within the conventions of not just short films but filming in general. The scene shown in the image above was actually re-filmed because we crossed the line originally.
Climatic end
The Black Hole
The ending is shown with a close shot of the black hole paper falling off leading to the main character being trapped.
Job
We took this convention of a climatic ending by revealing the fact that our main character is a crime scene cleaner instead of an ordinary cleaner. We’ve done this with a close-up shot of a crime scene tape. Again following the style of The Black Hole of using a clse-up to reveal the ending.
Black screen followed by credits
The Black Hole
Straight after the climatic end, the screen turns black for a moment and then the credit appear. They appear in two columns and show the whole cast and crew.
Job
We followed this convention by fading the last scene into black, waited a moment and then the credits appeared. However, our credits are done in an unconventional way as they fade in and then out in different positions on the screen. We also didn’t show the cast and only showed the crew. This was because we showed the cast at the start.
