A video by Phil Samson and Olly Williams features many film techniques . The main character is an office worker who accidently discovers a black hole in the paper he just copied.
One of the most prominent features of the video is the effective balance of color. The whole setting is shot using dull, grayish- blue tones and yet, the main character is wearing a white shirt, which makes him stand out and draws viewer’s attention to him. At 0:24 a paper with a black whole appears on the screen. The bright white paper and saturated black color are so different from the whole color harmony of the video, that a viewer instantly gets that this objects is of a critical importance.
The clip also uses the cutaway shots. At 1:26 the man gets a candy from the vending machine and the next shot is of him eating it while the part where he opens the candy package is skipped. Also around 2:04 the man is taking money from the safe and yet the viewer sees how the piles of money keep adding up on the floor instead of the character, taking them out one by one.
At 1:04 the skit features a jump cut. The size of the image changes, however the camera shoots from the same angle.
The sizes of shots are constantly changing from close ups to medium shots to wide angles. For example at 1:26 there is a wide shot at 1:27 a medium shot and at 1:30 a close up.
There are a few strategically used angle effects in the video. For example at 0:44, when a subject looks at the paper a camera is placed lower than a subject which creates an impression of someone watching him from the printed hole.
The most effective side of this video is the smooth flow of the sequence. Almost Each shot involves a change in both image size and camera angle. The rapid transitions from one shot to another, doesn’t make the video boring to watch yet, at the same time it is not destructing. Also the framing in the video makes an effective visual statement. For example the final shot where the white safe is framed with the doorframe.
Even though the clip is very well made, there still are a few things missing that might have made the skit better. There is a lack of leading lines that direct viewers eye on the certain subjects. For example at 1:34 the man sees a door and the camera just zooms in the door. In order to create the leading line, it would be better to shoot this scene with wider shot, so that the viewer could see the floor. This would create the effect of a path going to the door. Or it would be better to change the angle of the camera so that it would show the profile of the man and than shoot the scene with the wide shot showing the man looking at the door.
