The Black Swan

The black Swan 4 scene analysis

For this blog post I will be analysing and talking about the camera , sound, mise en scene and editing within 4 scenes from the Black Swan. this movie is a thriller about a committed dance who wins the lead role in a production of Tchalkovsky's 'Swan Lake' only to find herself struggling to maintain her sanity.

Scene 1

The first scene I chose to analysis was when she returned home after finding out she had just received the role of the black swan. When Nina Sayers arrived at her door she takes a long pause, fixes a very nervous smile onto her face, before taking a deep breath ad jolting the door open. Her body language implies she is petrified of what is waiting for her behind the door. When she walks down the long hallway numerous mirrors are hanging from the wall, this gives the illusion her mum likes to constantly look at herself in the mirror, this could emphasise that this movie contains a mystery of not everything prevuing what is seems and there being two sides to people. Another thing that stood out for me was when Nina was looking into a room full of paintings and photographs of her, this gives the indication that the mum is obsessed with her daughter and her dancing, it could imply that the mother is living her dream and passion for dancing through her daughter.
Within this scene it shows the first change in Ninas personality, we see her look into the mirror and find blood dripping from her back. The music changes and starts sound like a swan hissing, this is the first clue that nina is turing into the back swan ,the blood signifies that the black swan is trying to emerge from inside her body and break free.
The camera uses a close up camera angle of the mother cutting a celebration cake for her daughter you can see the passion and excitement this mum has on knowing that her daughter is going to be the Black swan in the show, the director has position the framing to allow the audience to also see Nina in the reflection of the mirror ,to see her reaction when the mum cuts her a slice of cake. The shot reverse shot camera technique is used to show conversation between the characters, usually this type of camera shot is used to separate the two characters, this therefor represents that they aren't on the same page and are very different within there personality and behaviour. When the daguter sees the massive slice of cake her mother is trying to give her she replies with 'my stomach is still in knots' an over the shoulder shot is used to show the mothers facial expression, from this we can see that the mother has very harsh angular facial features and also in this particular framing the director had only aloud us to see one half of the mothers face, this could emphasise that she has two different sides to her. The non -digetic sound that is convayed in this scene has a ticking beat, this could portray that the director is building up the tension and implying to us through the music that the mum is going to snap at any moment. Almost as if she is a ticking time bomb. When the mum carries the frosting cake over to the bin she stays there and hovers over the bin for a few seconds, a mid shot /over the shoulder is used to show this. The daughter stands at the opposite end of the kitchen ,she starts to hesitate and stumbles on a few words this shows that the daughter is at this point within the scene become quite afraid of the mother, as she doesn't want to disappoint or make her mum angry because she's unsure of the reaction she will have, therefore creates a sense of mystery and tension as the daughter has to think about what she is about to say.

Scene 2
The second scene is when Nina is in the bathroom just after being crowned the black swan. We see her become very agitated and begins to panic about someone knocking on the door. There is a contrast in the music used in this scene, a piano theme type beat is used. The editing is very elegant which links to the piano music and the idea of a ballerina dancing. When she begins to constantly scrub her hands a close up camera angle is used, to build up tension the director has made the backing music playing to increase in volume. They want the audience watching to be on the edge of there seats thats why theres a drastic speed and volume increase when nina starts to be intruded by a knock at the door she replies which 'just a second' her voice signifies that she's ajitated and by the soft tone it highlights thats she's just going to break down and burst into ears uncontrollably. Therefore is shows that already 34 minutes into the film we start to see a change in Nina personality.
An extreme close up is used to show you that she starts to peel of the sink to her nail, cosmetics are used which creates an unsettling and gory atmosphere. It creates tension between the audience because they feel obliged to look away. However this idea of her ripping off layers of her skin portrays that she's starting to become the back swan, its implying that her skin is starting to shred as the black swan part of Nina start to emerge. The editing use in this section is constantly cutting to face to finger then to face which created tension ,also when she begins to tare off the skin the cuts start to get faster and lose there elegance. However the important part is the close up used after she looks away then back at her nail, it shows that Nina was hallucinating and imagining herself pulling off the skin on her finger and that actually this didn't really happen it was just all in her head.

Scene 3
The third scene takes place in a hospital room, Nina comes to return earrings  and cosmetics that she had stolen from the old swan queen, it represents her trying to clear her guilt. She try's to lay down the objects very slowly and elegantly emphasising her light-footed and quite hand movements when dancing. An over the shoulder camera angle takes places as she places the objects back onto her table as she notices that the lady is asleep in the hospital arm chair. The sound goes very quite , no dialog is used and the only digectic sound used is the fast breathing that Nina is doing as she gets evidently closer to the lady. The director has then used a fast cut to show he lady grabbing Nina's had before she had chance to leave the room. It cuts to a close up of the lady, this is done to show the anger and change in her personality, she questions why Nina took her stuff. Nina panics and starts to become very flustered, an over the shoulder shot reverse who camera angle is used between the two character is represent there different personalities and lifestyle, by using this type of angle it shows a separation in the characters.  The music becomes very loud and when the lady grabs Nina's hand a loud dramatic sound has be added to make the audience jump and be on the endue of there seat in anticipation. Also cosmetics have been used in this scene to createa horrific scene when the lady grabs a pen and starts to stab herself in the cheek, a point of view shot i used to show through the eyes of Nina, this is an effective angle to use because the director hs then showed how metal unstable and how much her character is changing when she starts to hallucinate and see herself has the lady in the arm chair who is stabbing herself. the camera zooms out as she starts to quickly walk backwards toads the door. then the camera pans behind her as she makes a quick escape to the evaluator.

Scene 4
The forth scene I analysed was when Nina had just entered her dressing room to get changed for her last performance. this scene shows that she has no longer got any control over the black swan. She starts to doubt herself by thinking she isn't good enough and that Lily is going to steal her queen swan performance. Theres is a confrontation in this scene when Nina walks into her dressing room with lily preparing to go on stage portending to be the queen swan, a shot reverse shot closeup is used to show the fear of panic on minas face, she starts to stumble on words and become extremely angry. Then the director has used a low camera angle when the two girls have got into a fist fight and Nina seems to be on top about to stab lily with a piece of smashed mirror, she protects herself by wrapping her hands around Nina's throat. This type of camera angle has been used to reprint the queen swans importance in the whole show and that she's in control. When Lily wraps her hands around Nina's neck we start to hear a cracking sound, this emphasises that her obsession with the swan performance is making her form into a swan. The director has added editing within this section to show minas neck extending ,just like a swans neck, this implies that her black swan self is trying to escape from her body. This is a tense atmosphere for the audience because it starts to revival that this character is mental unstable as she starts to see her reflection in lily who is the black swan, her pupils become a red tone with very defended makeup, this shows a contract between what she was at the start of the film and now it reflects on the pressure she has been put under to become an amazing dancer. Evidently proves that  Nina can't control her actions.