Black Swan- Teaser Trailer Deconstruction
Theme: Beauty/Vanity Extremity
· The trailer begins with a common almost essential convention of any trailer; the official rating for Black Swan for its appropriate audiences, by the motion picture association of America, INC). Followed by the production company logo (Fox searchlight/Cross Creek Pictures)
- The trailer begins with a dark misty large room, perhaps a stage, with a long shot of a distant ballerina dancing under a bright pure white spotlight (artificial) almost as if it came from the open sky. A voice over begins to tell about a dream of a little girl who turns into a swan but her prince falls for the wrong girl...’. The mention of a prince is typically associated with fairy tales and happy endings etc.
· The non-diegetic sound is subtle piano chords, quite sweet and rich but almost as delicate as like a nursery rhyme sound and it works well with the mise en scene (ballerina’s white dress etc) that symbolises innocence, purity. But also elegance and beauty because those are keys attributes typically associated with ballet dancers.
· The mention of respected film festivals, that this movie has been screened at, adds credibility to movie and its ratings. Audiences that perhaps follow or are aware of these particular festivals may be more persuaded to go and see this movie with a level of expectation. The backdrop, black long feathers in mass, reflects the title of the movie.
- This is a high angle shot of a studio room full of ballet dancers; this is very much the centre theme of the whole film so this simple shot can be considered symbolism for the set equilibrium: a dance company but focused on the protagonist, Nina Sayers.
· The diegetic sound bridge of Nina’s mother, ‘...you’re the most dedicated dancer in the company’ and ‘...been there long enough..’ emphasises the protagonists recognised efforts to be the best and achieve perfection within the company. As the mother said this, shot of Nina stretching, practises, and dancing are shown to illustrate to the audience these said efforts.
· With the same styled backdrop, the acclaimed director ‘Darren Aronofsky’ is boldly mentioned along with other hit movies the director has previously done, e.g ‘Requiem For A Dream’. Again, this adds to the credibility of the movie and lets audiences, who have enjoyed those mentioned movies, that they may be likely to enjoy Black Swan too. It can be considered subtle promotional means.
· This over the shoulder shot shows the introduction of the character of Lily, Mila Kunis and this signifies the disequilibrium because as the trailer progresses its evident main protagonist Nina believes it’s all about Lily and that she is the root of the problems she faces as she’s strives for perfection.
· This close up shot shows the anxiety ridden facial expression and a POV shot of the room spinning as Nina performs a pirouette at the diegetic sound of the demands of the teacher ‘..SEDUCE US... ATTACK IT...’. The handheld camera shot of the spinning room and the sheer speed of it could even reflect the speed of Nina’s mind etc.
· As the trailer progresses shots of Nina’s bruised back beings to worsen till the last shot of Nina pulling the dark feather out of her back almost signifies the transition of turning into a swan is complete (like so mentioned in the beginning voice over) and her blot shot red filled eyes appear inhuman and almost evil.
· Keeping in line with the fact this is a teaser trailer it shows short glimpses of the possessive, obsessive and demanding nature of the mother. Not too much coverage on her role in the film but enough for audiences to understand the strange and strained relationship between her and Nina. In this shot the mother also hails Nina as such a ‘sweet girl’ but on the contrary the many latter shots didn’t reflect this.
· With the diegetic sound bridge of her teacher saying ‘The only person standing in your way is YOU’, editing techniques are effective used to create creepy and peculiar effects illustrating the dark half of Nina’s personality that appears to be working in opposition/against her. It appears the inner demon she is battling with is herself e.g. Mid shot of her own reflection turning round in the mirror and Nina physically walking past herself in an alley.
· These are close up shots of the drawings oddly moving as the diegetic sound of Nina’s scream is heard. These shots and those above showcase the thriller and psychotic nature of the actual film.
· The trailer also had fast cuts to these close up and mid shots of the make-out scene highlighting another sub-theme of this film; sexual exploration. This element of the movie simply emphasises the now defiled initial character of Nina; the once innocent, pure and naive young woman.
· The non-diegetic sound heightens and so does the echoed words of the mother ‘...sweet girl...’ as Nina, still dressed in a costume with connotations of innocence, rams Lily (dressed in opposite, black) into a mirror. The sweet girl image the trailer portrayed of the protagonist is finally stripped away through the fast cut to this shot.
· The movie title typography is a bold white (subtle representation of the white swan and the black swan) faded in and out with the same black feather styled backdrop, keeping with the uncanny theme. Teaser trailers don’t typically put the exact date of the cinema release just yet but rather leave that to the theatrical trailer that is normally released later on; ‘COMING SOON’ and methods of finding more information about the film (website, twitter, facebook etc) are normally the only things placed after the actors/actresses names (whether they are award winning or nominated) and production information.
POSTED BY TOSIN
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