Black Swan

I remember when I watched the trailer of this movie for the first time. I was intrigued by and pondered on what the plot of the movie may be, as I thought there could only be limited ideas to discuss and come up with for a thriller about the topic of ballerinas.

However when I watched Black Swan in the cinema, I was moved and found that the story line was original and unique. At the premier press conference on the 22nd October 2010, a film festival was held at Berkeley Hotel in London, where interviewers had the chance to ask questions about the movie, Darren Aronofsky, the director of Black Swan, was asked:

'Taking on board Black Swan and the other projects you've been doing along the years, what kind of advice would you give to film makers who are trying to strive to be in the position you are in today?'

He replied:

'The only thing I think new film makers have to offer is originality, that is what I would push starting film makers to do, try and do something different because that is what you can offer the world. Persistence is a huge part of the game, so a combination of those two things is what will work.'

I agree with what he said at this conference as the movie did not lack originality. I also hope that our group will be able to take in his advice when we plan our thriller opening to create an unconventional and unique outcome.

The movie shows a young woman, Nina, played by Natalie Portman who has a great passion for dance, and goes through a competitive process to audition for a production and has an objective of practicing until she becomes a perfect ballerina. Throughout the obsessive, compulsive daily routine and the ritual of stretching on the bar everyday and breaking into shoes repetitively shows the extreme effort and flawless vision of where the dancers wish to be and what they would do in order to get there, Nina goes to an extent of scratching herself as a stress relief mechanism uncontrollably until she is bleeding, listening to her dance director to do sexual things, taking drugs Lily (played by Mila Kunis) offers her, disobeying her mother and even killing Lily subconsciously by stabbing her in the dressing room, not realizing that the impossible pursuit of becoming immaculate and pure is not directing her to the right path but is only driving her insane.

Self harming and attempted suicide as she scratches until she is bleeding and drowning herself in a bathtub.

When Nina is raged and attacks Lily in the dressing room

Nina Sayers at a nightclub on

drugs Lily gave to her.


The characters exchange an intense sexual kiss, it was a very highly discussed aspect of the film. 

The schedule of the production of the movie was described as 'rigorous' by Natalie Portman in an interview, as she and Mila Kunis had a very restricted diet and had been given 6 months of intensive training to tone their bodies for the film. Portman passed out on several occasions and dislocated her rib halfway shooting in a scene, this shows the tough work they had to put in for the movie and also highlights what real ballerinas must go through for their desire to be impeccable.

I enjoyed the thought of using the 'Black Swan' and the 'White Swan' to represent the good and evil characters and the mysterious music used throughout the film, especially the soundtrack Swan Lake. There are several shots I really liked and acknowledged in Black Swan.

The shot of the two characters walking past each other swiftly, exchanging eye contact is a shot I approve of as the setting is dark but includes some light which echoes the idea of the Black Swan and the White Swan. Also the rebellious graffiti on the walls reflects Nina's behavior in the film as she disobeys the teachings of her mother.

In this scene the camera tracks the back of Nina's head, following her every movement which creates an uneasy mood as it makes the audience feel as though we are following her. This is something I would like to think about using in our opening sequence as it is very effective, it is also a technique we attempted to use in our preliminary video.

This shot is definitely one of my favourite shots, as it similarly highlights my first point and second about the two swans and the mysteriousness created. The spotlight shone on the ballerina is compelling as she is the complete central focus in the frame and the audience are forced to concentrate on her and nothing else, the shot presents the perfection of what other ballerinas desire.

The opening of Black Swan starts off by a voice over of Nina: 'I had the craziest dream last night. I was dancing the White Swan.' this way of beginning the movie, by reminiscing a dream, is interesting because it is as if Nina is telling the audience what happened which gets them involved in the movie and as she introduces the realism of ballet.