Blackhole — a black hole and its disc of fire

On screen

What Blackhole shows

Blackhole computes, for every pixel, the path of a ray of light near a black hole. Gravity bends it: you see the top and the underside of the accretion disc wrapped around the shadow, a thin photon ring, and the background stars stretching and doubling near the edge. The disc, white-yellow at its inner edge, then orange and deep red, turns faster near the centre; the side coming toward you shines brighter and bluer.

No beat at all: over several bars the music only changes the disc’s brightness and speed. The camera slowly closes in on the black hole during the first twenty seconds, then drifts gently back if the scene lasts. For ambient, space music, drone and film scores.