Textual Analysis: 'The Black Hole'

The title is introduced with a digital effect of the scene being revealed through a circle. The title doesn't match the image at this point, as the title is 'The Black Hole', but here we see a coloured hole with black edges. This could foreshadow that maybe there is something in the black hole that is looking out of the hole, whereas if someone was outside of the hole, the hole would actually be a black colour. This creates anticipation amongst the audience and they would want to see if it is a magical hole or not.

The scene is revealed which slowly zooms into a man at the side of the screen who looks like he is bored, tired and exhausted. We can tell from his dull face as he has eye bags, which connotes that he hasn't had enough sleep. Also, the clock on the wall says that is 3' o'clock. We as the audience don't know if it is 3am or 3 pm, but as there is no one else in the office, we can tell that is 3am in the night. This allows an active audience to think what he is doing all by himself at 3am in his office. He is slowly brought to the middle of the screen, fixing the rule of thirds that he broke on the screen about 2 seconds ago. This connotes that he is the important character in this short film as he is in the centre of the screen. He does a loud sigh as the camera does a mid close up of his shoulders and above. This connotes that he is frustrated and tired.

He vigorously presses the photocopier and kicks it as it is not working. In a small horror convention, usually nothing works right before an incident happens, so this could foreshadow that something bad is about to happen, and no-one can help him as he is alone. The camera shows a close up of the photocopier printing  a black hole, but little does he know that it is actually a black hole. After he drinks his water, he tries to place on the black hole but it falls inside the printer instead. This is how we know it is some time of magical printer/ magical black hole, and it lets you go through things.
A wide shot of the man is shown putting his hands inside the hole whilst there is a whizzing sound to connote that this sheet of paper is different and alien like. He tries this with the vending machine and is able to get himself a snickers bar, which tells the audience that the hole will let you go through anything.


He then has the idea to steal the money from the safe. We can see that he unlocks the door from inside with the help of the magical black hole. Once he finds the money, he tries to reach for more in the safe. By his facial expression, the audience can tell that something is going to go wrong. He is trying to look for more money which foreshadow that he himself will go through inside the black hole to get the money and then try to come out but he won't be successful And this is exactly what happens, as the paper with the black hole on it falls to the ground, and he gets stuck in the safe in the dark.

The fact that he tried to go for the money connotes that he is of a working class background, as normally the working class have office type of jobs and they have less money, so he was probably trying to get the money and try and be rich so he doesn't have to work extra hours in the office.


In this short film, there is hardly any sound. This is to create the effect of loneliness, as he is by himself in his workplace. All you can hear is him sighing or giving a little chuckle after he is able to get the money, and you can hear the machine printing. This connotes a dull and boring life and job, and could suggest that he is working extra hours because he needs the money.

 The beginning of the film also shows verisimilitude, which most psychological horror films try and start off with, showing that the main character has a job or lives their everyday normal life, and then something comes in and disrupts this balance. This supports Todorov's equilibrium theory as the film starts off with an equilibrium, then a disequilibrium, however we do not see another equilibrium at the end.
At the end of the short film the last sound is of the photocopying machine, which connotes that the machine is evil. This leaves the audience with an enigma code wondering what happened to the man after he was eaten by the machine and no one could get him out.