BLACK SWAN- THRILLER

 

Black Swan, 2010, directed by Darren Aronofsky and written by Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz and John J.Mclaughlin. Aronofsky also renowned for his latest film, Mother staring Jennifer Lawrence in a psychological thriller.  

To begin with, the very first impact from this clip was the non-diegetic soundtrack starting the clip with a slow and eerie tempo which quickly reverted into a fast tempo; our focus point is immediately shifted towards the first character, although at this point her identity remains solely in the bottom half of her body specifically her feet as she is dancing. The light and color palette are another key factor in the buildup of the tone and atmosphere; the stage like location is flooded with darkness with a single spotlight following the ballerina as she dances.  

As the clip progresses, the camera tilts up revealing the ballerinas face as she continues to dance remaining our vocal point towards the dancer with her movement positioned continuously in the center composition to the screen. Her costume displays huge symbolism of purity and light represented through the purely white color pallet which is also symbolic to the nature of a swan through the use of the white feathers to depict the animalistic approach.  As an audience member, my initial predictions upon the very first focus in this opening is the darker undercurrent of the dance's nature, expressed primarily through the music's eerie and unpredictable tone yet whilst also expressing a contained nature through the elegance of the characters body language and movement through the dance. 

As another character is introduced, our focus is shifted and the tone dramatically switches to a more dangerous and foreboding atmosphere; as the man enters, the non-diegetic soundtrack increases the tempo, adding a more intense nature as the two characters begin to dance together. The close proximity with both characters invites the audiences suggestion of this overwhelming intensity between them and therefore establishes the prediction of a toxic relationship taking place.  

Likewise, the camera movements around the dancers seem to move intertwined with their bodies, creating a busy and overwhelming sense for the audience. We also notice the change in mood of the first character as her facial expressions are more evident as the man dances, with a much more worried and desperate look, suggesting the man's danger. The dream like nature of the scene is also suggested through the costume decisions of the characters, her dressed in purely white and the man dressed in all black also depicts the juxtaposition between light and darkness of the scenes color pallet. This dream focus reflects on the psychological aspect of this rest of the film which is so evident in this prediction from this opening scene. 

The use of facial expressions and the body movement of the characters when dancing together reflect a quite aggressive nature which again reinforces a dangerous attitude to the male character in relation to darker and more mysterious color choices in his costume and his makeup to depict the animalistic approach to the dance. This itself entails to an audience's perspective of the films later narrative to be consumed by the journey of which this dance may suggest, especially in relation to the female character. 

As the scene ends, the tempo of the soundtrack decreases and the female character is left in the shot alone as the ‘dance’ ends, she is left affected and seemingly broken as the lights fade to black which gain relates to the darker and more sinister theme which is expressed towards the audience.  

Overall, I believe this opening sequence skillfully connotes the harsh and perhaps psychological themes of the narrative through this symbolic dance to depict the ‘journey’ at which the female character will go through in order to overcome these overwhelming issues. The use of lighting, for me, successfully approached this overwhelming sense to demonstrate to the audience the psychological themes which this film's narrative will include. I would however argue that this scene lacks emotional connection that fully engages the audience's attention which lacks understanding of both characters' motifs during this dance scene which could invoke confusion for an audience's point of view. On the other hand, you could also argue that this ‘dance’ is therefore reaching its target audience to understand the meaning behind the movements and body language which ‘paints’ the dances overall message and thus the target audience being therefore met and successfully achieving an opening sequences aim in all films.