2. Official Trailer Length: 2:08
Budget: $13 Million
Release Date UK: January 21st
2011
Release Date US: December 17th
2010
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Productions
Plot Summary: Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like
all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive
former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When
artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre
(Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But
Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake
requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black
Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is
the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a
twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that
threatens to destroy her.
3. Natalie Portman – Nin Sayers/The Swan Queen
Mila Kunis – Lily/The Black Swan
Vincent Cassel – Thomas Leroy/The Gentleman
Barbara Hershey – Erica Sayers/The Queen
Winona Ryder – Beth Macintyre/The Dying Swan
Benjamin Millepied - David/The Prince
Ksenia Solo – Veronica/Little Swan
Kristina Anapau – Galina/Little Swan
Janet Montgomery – Madeline/Little Swan
Sebastian Stan – Andrew/Suitor
Toby Hemingway – Tom/Suitor
Sergio Torrado – Sergio/Rothbart
Mark Margolis – Mr. Fithian/Patron
Tina Sloan – Mrs. Fithian/Patron
Abraham Aronofsky – Mr. Stein/Patron
4. The features in the Black Swan trailer are very stereotypical of a thriller trailer. Like other
trailers such as Orphan, the trailer starts off without suspense and it gradually builds
throughout using a culmination of different shots, sounds and editing. The trailer itself is rather
dark, especially towards the end, it is not very bright and this is effective as darkness is related
to scary things. The black cuts between shots, like in Orphan increases the suspense as they
flash between rather quickly and makes it difficult to keep track. The increasing speed seems to
resemble the audiences heart rate as they watch, which would quickly get faster due to the
increasing fear. Throughout the trailer we see the psychological distress that the main
protagonist goes through is evident. It is shown from her prospective at times which is common
in thriller trailers such as this one as we can see the characters spiralling downfall. There are
many stereotypical features in this trailer, for example, the make-up the characters use is often
dark and at times the main character even sees herself with red eyes, which are associated with
evil, which is associated with horror/thriller type films.
5. The Black Swan trailer uses a lot of close ups and extreme close ups throughout, especially focusing
upon the eyes and ‘injured’ body parts to emphasise the fact that main protagonist is going crazy,
which increases the suspense of the trailer. This increase in suspense is perfect for the genre of the
trailer. The use of the over the shoulder shots are extremely effective in showing the audience that
the rivalry between the main protagonist and the other character has been one of the direct causes
of her psychosis. The use of long shots in establishing the settings/locations that play key roles in the
trailer is very effective as we can see which locations are going to play key parts in the film itself,
such as the dance studio and the theatre in which most of the suspenseful scenes take place.
The editing style of the Black Swan trailer is very conventional and stereotypical of horror/thriller
trailer. Throughout the trailer, the shots become shorter with cuts between, this is a common way
of building up to a crucial moment and also a very effective way of building suspense for the
audience.
6. Throughout this trailer, both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds are used. At the beginning, there is a voice
over (the voice of the main character) which explains a small story. This is effective s it lets the audience
know briefly what the film is about, yet still leaves mystery and suspicion, which increases the suspense
throughout. The voiceover also mentions death, which is chilling, scary thought which fits well in the genre
of trailer. The diegetic sound of particular parts of conversations from the film also increase the suspense
for the audience as the snippets of conversation do not tell the full story, making them want to know
more. The non-diegetic music in the background of the trailer increases in pace throughout and this also
builds suspense, which is a very common convention.
The text cards play a crucial role throughout the trailer. They advertise the film by letting the audience
know famous actors/actresses are in the film and letting them know how well the film has done, making
them more likely to want to go and see it. As well as this, the trailer also has a text card with the title f=of
the film, this is a common convention. There is also a text card advertising the release, in this case it says
‘coming soon’ this adds to the suspense in this case as it is a thriller trailer and the audience will be very
curious as to what happens.
7. The Black Swan links with the genre theory due
to the fact that, like Lawrence Alloway states,
it has all of the symbols, character types, props
and settings of a typical psychological thriller.
These different properties of a thriller creates a
link for the audience with other thrillers, so
they know what they are expecting. Examples
of these familiar properties are the mirrors,
colours, locations etc. that are used within the
trailer and the film. Steve Neale states that
audiences enjoy this familiarity as they know
what to expect and can help them follow the
plot.
