Black Button - Short Film

Back


-YouTube Awards 2007 - Top Six Finalist, Best Short Film
-WINNER: Fitzroy Short Film Festival (Melb, Aus)
-WINNER: DearCinemaFest Short Film Festival (Int.)
and more...

Mr Roberts finds himself awoken inexplicably in a white room. A man sits before him at a desk and in between them stands a black button. If Mr Roberts pushes it, he will receive a briefcase filled with millions of dollars. Or he can take the key to the door and leave penniless. The catch? Pushing the button will result in the death of a human being. What would you do?

EDIT 1: Some people have observed a similarity in the premise of this film and an revival episode of The Twilight Zone in 1986. Please note (1) We had never seen the episode and only learned of it long after we'd finished the film. (2) The Twilight Zone weren't the first to do it. There was a short story before that, which was in turn based on an old premise called the 'Faustian Bargain', around since the 16th century (deal with the 'devil'). An almost identical premise exists in several cultures. Richard Kelly is even making a film with this premise called 'The Box'. (3) Our film is similar in premise, but different in plot, characters, dialogue, aesthetics, setting, moral meaning, religious undertone, twist etc. Each version, including ours, aims to bring something new to an old idea. Please have the respect to not accuse us of plagiarism.

Additionally, we have no particular religious affiliation; this is a fictional work and its ideas are designed to encourage thought and debate, not comment on any particular theology.


Our first professional short film. We made it for $200 and shot it on the stage of our old school in Melbourne, Australia. Fortunately, professional actor Robert Grubb agreed to act in it for free after reading the script. This film took nearly a year to put together, working on it in stages and creating the 'white' effect on a home PC. Please note that the younger actor, unlike his father Robert Grubb, has no formal acting training whatsoever.

The Making of "Black Button" is now on YouTube.

Two of our other shorts have been released on YouTube, 'Campsite' and 'The Window'. Click on our profile if you'd like to see them and subscribe for updates on new films. Thanks!

Channel: Film & Animation
Uploaded: January 25, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Author: DarkHeartProductions

Length: 00:07:06
Rating: 4.66
Views: 1005605

Tags: Black Button Dark Heart Productions drama intense short film Crandles Grubb Faust

Embed Code: Paste this code in your page


numbing numbered numerous Comments:
ChronoMagnium (September 7, 2008 at 1:50 pm)
Cool ending. I'm guessing it means that somebody killed Mr. Roberts for the 10 mil as well.
LilaGretchenMusic (September 7, 2008 at 11:57 am)
wow. what a deep message. killing people for personal gain is wrong. i can't believe no one's ever thought of this before.

simplistic and condescending. I hated it.

Just my personal opinion
dramamusicdance (September 7, 2008 at 12:05 am)
Oh and I had no idea your dad is Robert Grubb!
He's a fantastic Aussie actor!
dramamusicdance (September 6, 2008 at 11:57 pm)
Fantastic!
This deserved to win, and not just for the Aussie pride ;)
The theme is great, good universal message.
intindse (September 6, 2008 at 10:43 pm)
this is 1000 times better than that my name is lisa crap
SquarezRS (September 6, 2008 at 4:26 pm)
Great job man..
mikerstudios (September 6, 2008 at 4:00 pm)
"You don't die of old age on the Serengeti!"
wwweeeloser12345 (September 6, 2008 at 3:00 pm)
Brilliant, amazing, stunning. This was truly a great film.

I would give this 5/5.
Great peice of work!
electromikey (September 6, 2008 at 1:23 pm)
wow, i was shivering all the way through, that was great!
parusaca (September 6, 2008 at 12:49 pm)
This is was briliant. Great job. I'm a filmmaker myself so check out my film-trailer "leonidas" if you want to.

cheers
Paul