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Jonathan WardExtended Diploma in Creative Media ProductionAssignment IG1

Codes & Conventions Research:

Task 1.1

The Black Hole is a short film lasting just under three minutes. It was created in 2008 and is distributed by Future Shorts who are a specialist short film label. The film stars Napoleon Ryan and was written and directed by Phil Sansom and Olly Williams.

The film centres a round an office worker who is routinely photocopying as part of his job.

The camera then zooms in to a close up shot which is used to show that the everyday man is in fact quite bored. He looks like he is sick of his job and is wishing for something amazing to happen.

The close up shot shows that he is tired and frustrated, when the photocopier breaks he takes his anger out on the machine bashing the buttons and kicking out..

The machine goes quiet and then prints out a single page with a solid black circle on it. The worker places the page to one side and continues his drink but after placing his plastic cup down he sees it disappear through the hole in the paper.


The framing in this low reverse angle shot tells us a lot about the black hole, giving it depth.

This eye line shot brings the character down to the audience level showing us that it is just paper on a solid surface.

The use of props and special effects from this point leaves us believing that the hole is real. The low profile close up shot of the worker examining the hole and then lifting the page to put his arm through the hole, are particularly effective.

Having discovered that the black hole has powers he tries to use it on the vending machine, stealing a bar of chocolate. He enjoys his chocolate before deciding that on a bigger crime to rob the company. Close up shots showing the characters facial expressions enables good communication with the audience at this point. The shots below show his enjoyment whilst eating and reaction to a sudden idea.

Using the black hole to break into a locked room, he moves towards the safe.

Jonathan WardExtended Diploma in Creative Media ProductionAssignment IG1Lighting plays a part in this section of the film the darker surroundings in the room with the safe giving a dark side both in what the worker is going to do and indicating the room is isolated. In this shot backlighting causes the worker to be silhouette.

After successfully removing a large quantity of cash the worker is overcome with greed, he reaches further and further into the safe finally climbing right in, in search of extra wads of cash. This extreme close-up shows the real greed in his eyes. A medium shot is used as he goes in the safe.

The final scenes shows the sellotape holding the paper with the black hole on it coming loose and the paper falling to the ground leaving the worker trapped inside the safe.

Continuity is quite good. Care has been taken at the beginning of the film, particularly when the clock is in the scene but later on when emptying the safe some editing has moved the scenes around and two bundles of cash disappear.

The film initially looks very simple it has only one character, there is no narration or dialogue of any kind but there are special effect noises for the black hole. The location looks like a dull everyday office.


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Batman Dead-end is a short film lasting just over eight minutes. It was created in 2003 and is distributed by Collora Studios who are a small independent label. The film stars Clark Bartram as Batman and Andrew Koenig as the Joker, it was written and directed by Sandy Collora,

The film starts off with a number of extreme close-up shots showing Batman getting dress and preparing for his next mission. The dark background and focussed light gives a strong effect.

The file continues with a long aerial shot in which an important looking tower block is shown and also revealing the rest of the dark night time scene.

A medium shot is used which frames batman and shows his bat symbol. This suggests that the batman is a powerful character in this film.


The film is very atmospheric using dark lighting, rain and a number of high and low angle shots.

Batman finds the joker up to no good and a fight starts. These two extreme close-up shots shown close together are used to show the expressions on their faces, this shows how much the two rivals hate each other.

The film uses a lot of point of view (P.O.V.) shots, this one shows Batman’s surprise as the Joker is snatched away over the roof top. The close up of the angle of Batman’s head indicating the height of the building, with the second shot showing the jokers legs disappearing.

Jonathan WardExtended Diploma in Creative Media ProductionAssignment IG1This eye line shot shows that Batman has immediately spotted the alien and he is looking straight at it.


This is a different type of P.O.V. shot it shows what the predator is seeing when Batman is stood in front of it. It uses a heat sensing camera to give a colour negative effect. It tells us that the aliens are nothing like humans.

In contrast to the dark mood of the film, the fight scenes use very high key light to show power.

More Predators join in the fight.

The final scene uses a wide angle and is taken from outside the fighting group it shows us the trouble Batman is facing being surrounded with no possible escape between his captures. It leaves us thinking this might be the end of Batman.

I think the film is really good it brings together characters from two different films that I have seen and makes them fit in and look right. It has a lot of good action scenes and looks like a real Batman Film. There is a small amount of dialogue in this film but most of the audio is special effects noises to signify the predator and alien.

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Inside is a short film lasting just over five minutes. It was created in 2002. The film stars Jeremy Sisto as the main character, Daniel. It was written by Eric Giz Gewirtz and Trevor Sands who also directed it. The film is about a mental patient with a multiple personality disorder based in a mental institution.

The film starts off with the patient in a padded cell. This high angle shot shows his isolation.


This is an over the shoulder shot to show that he is being taken down a dark corridor by the guards.

This shot is a long shot to show that this is a dark creepy place, the low key lighting helps to put this in place. As this shot takes place there is a sudden scary audio track that plays, this creates a horror theme to the film.

As Daniel is taken down the corridor on his way to an office to be interviewed by a doctor he is joined by more and more people on his journey there.

He goes inside an office where he is interviewed about his problem by a doctor. As the shot starts it is a pan shot which introduces a new location and character, the camera then moves right the way round the back of the doctor to create an over the shoulder shot as she talks to Daniel.

As Daniel talks to the doctor other people in the room speak at the same words at the same time. The people are all from Daniel’s personality disorder.


Mid shots are used to show this. There is a lot of noise in the room as all the people speak this shows the confusion of Daniel’s mind. Some people speak angrily others are quite calm.

As the doctor calms Daniel down all the people start to disappear until only Daniel and the doctor remain. A Two-Shot is used here to show that all the people have disappeared and shows that the doctor and Daniel are having a one on one conversation.

As the door opens another doctor enters the room he sits at the desk and then there is a twist in the story as we realise that the first doctor was also from Daniel’s imagination. This low angle close up shot shows Daniel’s facial expression and also it makes the first doctor look as if she is a powerful touch to the story as this is when we realise that she is on his side.

I think this was an odd story and it me took a lot of time to understand what was going on. It was a good concept as towards the end of the story there was a shocking twist to the story which I would not have not suspected. The film consisted of dark light and horror sounds to make the film a bit more dramatic. The characters in the film had very different personalities some times quiet but other times really angry and loud which added another interesting element to the film.

Jonathan WardExtended Diploma in Creative Media ProductionAssignment IG1I enjoyed watching each of the films and was inspired to recreated similar camera angles within my own short film see the treatment for Isolation. Although detailed I think that each film could have been made using a single camera. Good picture and sound editing has helped each of the films keeping the story flowing successfully.

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