This short film was made in 2007 and shot in Melbourne Victoria, Australia by director Lucas Crandles and was released through the company dark heart productions. They won the Melbourne Film Award:
Camera: – distance, angle, movement: Opening variety of close ups, long shots, variety of midshot’s, low angles high angles: The variety of shots and angles show the conversation and who is controlling who where the man in the white is being offered money to push the button and kill someone and the other man in black says if he does not he will be allowed to leave however he will never see the button again. This is cleverly shot with a variety of shots and the use of the variety of shots keep the audience in suspense at what the main characters decision is going to be. The narrative moves forward quickly where we are automaticly introduced into a senario where as a normal film would have taken a lot longer to set the scene and characters. The use of camera is effective because it allows us to establish exactly who is good and who is evil as well as luring the audience in to keep them guessing.
Editing: – speed, style…: Cutting, fading out from titles: The pace of the piece is very fast and keeps the audience in suspense where the conversation is always cut to and from each character adding this tension between them and keeping the viewers interested. The fading out from the titles reinforces this idea of religion and heaven etc as we connote white with heaven and black with death. The editing is faster than a feature film because of the cange in length however shots still last long enough for the audience to undertsand what is going on.
Sound: – effects, musical score…:Digetic and non digetic sounds: The conversation is shot in a cleaver way because the character in white speaks really fast however the character in black speaks very slowly and clearly. This reinforces the idea of control in the situation as the man in black is not under any pressure however the man in white is forced to take a life changing decision. There is the use of synchronous tension music playing in the background of the piece which helps reinforce the suspense of the piece and in a way helping fasten the pace as it gets louder and quiter at various points throughout the film.
Mise-en-scene: – props, costume, setting, lighting, colour…:The use of the black briefcase, the dark desk and black chair and the black button, white background, white door. The use of mise en scene in this piece is interesting because the whole seen is shot in a white background and the door is also painted white, this instantly gives the idea of heaven and good and as we find out in the end of the extract the door did lead to the path of good, however when the man explains that he wants the lawyer to kill someone this illusion fades instantly. Also the characters clothing is smart here because the man in the white is being asked to kill someone and is innocent (white is iconic for innocence) and the man in black (can be iconic for evil/ the devil) is asking him to kill and is not innocent. The director has followed the stereotypes of good and bad here. Finally the use of props in the scene helps add tension and show who is in control in this conversation. They also are symbolic for death e.g. the black chair, the black button and black briefcase where to do with death and greed to see if the man would fall to tempatation Where the button and briefcase can have both positive and negative connotations and the desk and chair show the idea of power and control and even blackmail. At the end it is revealed that the connotations are correct and that the white door leads to heaven and that the black button leads to hell which follows stereotypes of life and death.
Titles: – font, colour, placement, over black / over clip…:A quote from the Corinthians in black text on a white background. The use of the black text on a white background is symbolic for religion light and darkness good and evil etc and the use of the quote from the Corinthians is an indexical sign for religion and god and a higher power possibly even the devil.
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