Black Swan Trailer- Textual Analysis

Black Swan stars Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel. It was directed by Darren Aronofsky and was then released worldwide in 2010. Natalie Portman won the Academy award for Best Actress In A Leading Role for her role as Nina Sayers in Black Swan. Black Swan was rated a 15 by the BBFC as it contains explicit scenes involving swearing and sexual references.

To begin with, we see Portman's character dancing alone in a single white spotlight. This connotes that she is a pure and virginal woman but also vulnerable as white is a colour of innocence. Portman is also wearing a white ballet leotard and tutu which connotes that she is young and still has a lot to learn. Furthermore, the white spotlight may act as a beacon of hope for the character Nina because white is often associated with being pure and angelic.

 

Towards the middle of the trailer, there is a close up on Portman's shoulder blade putting the focus on the single black feather that has just appeared. This is to highlight the fact that she is mentally turning into the Black Swan because the role is sending her clinically insane. It also connotes that as a character in the film, she has developed into a stronger person who has been fully able to embrace her role in the ballet. However, the use of a close up on the feather makes the audience wonder if she is physically turning into the Black Swan or if it is just a figment of her imagination and she is going insane. It leaves the audience on a cliff hanger drawing them in to make them want to go and watch the film to see what happens to Nina.

There is some dialogue in the trailer which is used to draw the audience in further and make them want to watch the film. There is also incidental music played which is composed using a piano, violins, and wind instruments. This type of sound is stereotypical for a film like this because piano music is often associated with ballet and the main theme of the movie is ballet. The music creates a dark and creepy atmosphere as its very slow and quiet then speeds up and gets gradually louder. This subverts the customary view that ballet music always has some element of high pitched tune and has a joyful, happy atmosphere. This suggests that in post production, the sound has been mixed because the volume of the music is constantly changing to support the atmosphere withing the movie. 

 

As for the editing, a non continuity system is used to show the different aspects of the film. Also, the fact that the trailer is made up of snippets from the movie shows the build up of tension and makes the viewer want to see the whole movie.