Pitch Black Heist (John Maclean, 2012)

Pitch Black Heist (John Maclean, 2012) is a 13 minute short film that follows a pair of thieves preparing to rob a safe hidden inside a completely dark safe room.

The film is shot in black and white, which reflects the themes of light and darkness. The characters wear all black, reflecting their professions and personalities, as both are pessimistic or reclusive. It also creates a more dark and gloomy atmosphere for the film, as the characters and environments are devoid of any colour. The noir format makes the film feel more slick and serious, as the environment is kept empty of anyone other than the protagonists who stand out clearly with their clothes that don’t match the background palette, keeping the audiences focus on them. It focuses on the relationships between the protagonists, which is developed not through dialogue, as one is vey reclusive and silent, while on is outgoing and extroverted. What small snippets of dialogue there is very carefully reveals important information about the characters. For example, the older, more sociable man talks about, earlier in the film, how he is not used to more modern robberies of things like hardware and technology, implying his age and time in this line of work. Later on, the more quiet man quickly mentions how he resents his father for leaving when he was a child, and then a few minutes later that his dad was also a vault thief, and he has followed his footsteps, in a sense. This careful choice of what to reveal and what to hide explains the sudden betrayal at the end of the film for those who paid attention earlier in the film. The actions and expressions of the characters in the pub sequence are the main way that the director signals a growing bond between them both.

One moment that I remember is when the two characters are arm wrestling in front of a white background, which illuminates them. They are often wearing dark clothes against a dark background, so when they are in a lighter environment they are easier to see. I also remember the almost 2 minute long scene that takes place in the pitch black room. This reliance on audio places us in the position of the protagonists, and as there has been lots of buildup throughout the rest of the film, this moment is made even more suspenseful by the complete lack of music in the entire film other than the ambient, diegetic music played in the pub so signify the characters’ drunkenness. The deliberate use of silence to build suspense, the careful choice of dialogue to build character and buildup to the sudden ending, the tense silence between characters and use of black and white with contrasting uniforms against backdrops all stick with me, and I may even use on or two in my own film.