Black Swan

Analysis

Institutional information given at the very start of the trailer.

Dark logo which matches with the thriller genre.

Cross creek pictures - established in psychological thriller/horror type films.

Black background - common feature in psychological thriller films - used throughout the promotion of Black Swan.

Lonely female protagonist introduced to us at the very beginning.

Isolated environment, she is dancing alone.

Bright spotlight on her shows the audience that she will be the main character.

Sense of control - ballet requires a lot of control - assumption that this will be shattered as the film progresses.

Long shot, straight angle, makes the audience feel like they are in the room watching this rehearsal.

Sense of the darkness closing in on her, outside of the spotlight it is very dark.

Close up as the female character massages her feet after a dance session; focus on the normality of this action/situation.

Again the character is alone, no one is around her.

Fairly light setting, there are shadows in the corners of the rooms.

Set up as a normal room - typical in psychological thrillers that the settings tend to look normal, but are made abnormal - absence of light, stormy weather etc.

Variation of the over the shoulder shot, showing her alone again.

Everyday city lifestyle, walking through a well-lit busy square.

Use of daylight contrasts to the dark nature of the rest of the trailer.

Sense of her being watched with this kind of angle/shot combination.

Thriller element - image in the mirror moves without the real object.

Close-ups create a sense of tension.

Well lit room, but shadows are evident in the background. The character is not wearing a lot of

make up in this scene; revealing her true self?

Panic-stricken expression adds to the tension already created by the close up.

Poorly lit; tense atmosphere. Can barely see the face of this character; but we can tell that it is not normal, there is something wrong.

Background is a familiar one to the audience as it is where the ballet dancer has been practicing - creates a sense of unease because this strange character has appeared in a place where the dancer seemed to be comfortable.

Appears to be set in a dressing room type setting.

Audience shocked by the sudden violence of the protagonist, pushing someone/something into a mirror.

Use of mirrors in psychological thrillers is fairly common; seeing things from a different viewpoint/how the character sees themselves.

Contrasting sides of the room; one side is very bright and well-lit, allowing us to see everything there, whereas the other is very dark and does not allow us to see very much.

The protagonist is wearing white, typically a colour which connotes innocence and purity - contrasts to her violent behaviour in this scene.

Extreme close up of the protagonist, sense of overexposure/nowhere to hide.

Red/bloodshot eyes; there is something very wrong with this character, sense of something that she has been hiding coming to the surface?

Orange/red lighting; sense of danger, the need to be alert because something is important is going to happen.

Panicked expression on the face of the character, making the audience feel uneasy and uncomfortable.

Title of the film given at the very end of the trailer, makes it more memorable - you’ve seen the action and what the film is about, now you know what it is called.

Black background becomes solid, with a feather like texture to it - reflecting the ‘swan’ in the title.

White typography - fractured in the middle like the split in her personality?

Black background similar to the others in the promotional package.

The crack in her face suggests that she has some dark secret that she is hiding and that is coming to the surface.Simple, bold

black typography, giving nothing away about the story line.

Close up of the female protagonist, heavily made up, again re-enforcing the idea that we are not seeing her ‘real’ features. Dark typography

stands out against the pale skin of the female character, again the suggestion of a dark secret.

Institutional information at the bottom of the poster in a light coloured font - barely noticeable.

Black background reflecting the mystery of the psychological thriller.

Dark clothes also represent the genre and reflect the package overall; these clothes are similar to the rest in the promotional materials.

Again, in this image the female protagonist is wearing a lot of make up - hiding her true self from the audience.

A long shot is used for this image, the exact opposite of the image used for the theatrical poster - a different viewpoint?

Simple white typography is used again, although this time the name of the film is not particularly bold.

Common features

• Black background.• Simple, white typography - occasionally bold.• Main feature is the protagonist.• Use of make up on the protagonist - sense of hiding who she is.• Focus on something that is not as it seems with the character;

sudden personality change in the trailer, crack in the face in the poster and the vacant expression in the magazine cover.

Links with Genre Theory• Lawrence Alloway states that genre boils down to symbols -

character types, settings, props etc. • A genre consists entirely of symbols used to create a link with the

audience and what they expect. • This fits with the promotion of Black Swan because it has very

similar symbols to other psychological thriller films; for example, the use of mirrors is similar to many other psychological thriller films. Also, the type of character is very similar; a character that from the outside appears fairly normal, but there is something dark within.

• Steve Neale also argues that both the audience and the institution like familiarity in a film, and this is why Black Swan fulfills so many of the typical conventions of the psychological thriller – to maintain the audience.