Semiotic Trailer Analysis of Black Swan

Black Swan (2010) - Darren Aronofsky

To convey a sense of tension and mystery the editor for this trailer has used various shots and editing techniques such as:

The trailer for the movie 'Black Swan' begins with light-hearted classical music connoting a sense of innocence and purity, this is also due to the white coloured ballerina clothing that the protagonist wears in the opening scene. This non-diagetic music however becomes more intense as the trailer goes on, starting after the dialogue "she kills herself", which therefore allows the audience to see that the film has an overall darker tone to it.

 

 

The mise-en-scene of Mila Kunis' character always being shown wearing dark, black clothing creates a clear contrast between her character and the main protagonist Nina, portrayed by Natalie Portman who is usually shown to be wearing a mixture of white, grey and light pink tones.

These lighter, swan-like colours further connote her characters innocence and purity, which ultimately links with the storyline and creates a contrast between the black swan and the white swan. The dark clothing represents how the antagonist is seen as a temptation to Nina into behaving more like she does and acting less innocent.

Furthermore, not only is Mila Kunis' character Lily shown wearing black clothes, everyone else around Nina seems to be wearing black, or dark clothing aswell. The colour of her clothing appears to portray her characters transition from the innocent white swan to the not so pure and innocent black swan as she is shown wearing darker coloured clothing nearer to the end of the trailer.
 

 

The over the shoulder shot used after Nina has just met Lily suggests that she is perhaps being followed by someone, which creates an uneasy impression on the audience of the meeting with this new character.
 

 

The jump cuts edited with the drum like noises creates a sense of chaos which is built up throughout the trailer. The fast pace of these cuts make the scene appear more intense which further disorientates the audience and creates an uneasy atmosphere for the viewer to watch.
 

 

The non diagetic music builds up throughout the trailer to create tension which leads towards the climax of the trailer with the dialogue "She's gone!", this build up of an intense atmosphere demonstrates typical genre conventions of a psychological thriller.

 

A montage is also used leading towards the end of the trailer which builds up tension and suspense. the ending of the montage cuts off the music and ends on the dialogue "She's gone!", the straight cut used to change the shot to a black screen makes the end of the montage more dramatic and subsequently makes it uneasy and uncomfortable for the audience to watch.

 

 

 

The fade in used after the montage slows the pace of the trailer down but still shows the intensity with a slightly different non-diagetic music, this reduced pace creates a sense of eeriness that continues to make the audience feel uncomfortable.

 

 

The voice over narration used from the protagonist throughout the trailer constantly reminds the reader that the film is from her point of view which allows us as an audience to try to understand her thoughts and feelings. The noise of her heavy breathing carrying on over the top of the title sequence further emphasises the uneasy atmosphere and leaves the audience with lingering tension, therefore following typical thriller genre conventions.

 

 

The final scene of the trailer starts of with a fade in, which is a comfortable to watch transition but is then made to leave the audience feeling uneasy and connotes a sense of lingering tension which is a typical genre convention for a psychological thriller. The straight cuts added with the extreme close up used on the protagonists face makes the scene more uncomfortable for the audience to watch therefore helps to intensify the scene further.

 

 

 

 In the title sequence, the white text used creates a clear contrast between the writing and the black feathered background which connotes the distinction between the white swan and the black swan by putting the two colours against one another.