Black Swan Trailer Analysis

The film trailer opens with the 'Fox Searchlight Pictures' logo and swiftly moves to the 'Cross Creek Pictures' logo. This is used for simple advertisement. While this is happening delicate classical ballet music begins, parallel to the scene it moves into - the main protagonist dancing to the music. Even though the music is non-diagetic it fits well with the movements of the dancer. The girl is lit with just one spot light on a pitch black stage. This adds a sense of curiosity immediately to the film as the audience wish to find out who she is or at least see her face. The shots are very slow and creates a relaxing atmosphere for the consumers which is enhanced by the soft dialogue of the actress used in a voice over as we watch her dance. The dialogue is very simple again initiating a comforting mood for the audience however when the voice speaks 'she killed her self' we are immediately taken to a black out. The black out helps focus the audience on nothing but the meaningful dialogue itself as we having nothing else to look at and helps put the audiences attention into the directors hands. The next thing we see is the films 'achievements' on two sliding inter titles. The inter titles are written in white writing against a contrasting black background to ensure they standout and are clear to read. The inter titles lay out fits perfectly with the film itself - around the writing they have two 'feather like' images which could potentially symbolise the feathers that begin to sprout from the main character as she turns into the creature or more simply the swans themselves. Also faintly in the background we can see images of what looks like feathers enhancing this point further. In the next couple of shots, as an audience member, we get a chance to learn a little about the main character - we firstly see her in dance class and then talking with her mother, "..and you're the most dedicated dancer in the company'. This is an important piece of dialogue as it during the film her dedication is the reason behind many of her choices and so is an important feature within the trailer. We then get another inter title starring the directors name, 'Darren Afronosky'. This will help widen the target audience and sell the film further as those consumers who are a fan of Afronosky's work are more likely to come and watch another one of his productions rather than watching a film they know nothing about. The same style of inter titles is used to create a sense of consistency. At this point the shot montage is still fairly slow however the music is beginning to gain 'beat' and volume which will create an element of suspense for the audience as we are introduced to new characters. Again we spot another inter title, this time highlighting the other films that Afronosky has produced to again sell his film further. In the next couple of scenes - "shes not faking it" - we can feel a sense of conflict between to characters which adds to the excitement as we want to see more of whats going to happen. From here on the shots within the trailer increase in speed adding to the tension previously created. We see Nina's (the main protagonists) cuts on her shoulder which builds curiosity. At 1:11 we see the first element within the film trailer that is actually 'scary' and introduces the horror aspect to the genre. We see Nina standing in front of a mirror and her reflection doing something completely different to her. I feel as though this is fairly unexpected to an audience and would definitely 'shake them up' a little. From here on the non-diagetic music increased in darkness - the volume increases and the general tone of it is much deeper. This creates suspense, terror and again curiosity which is highly important within a trailer as the whole point it to get the audience to want to see more and therefore watch the film. The montage of shots are much faster paced now and each time something 'scary' happens for example the face of the 'bird' on a man, or Nina seeing blood in the water with her while she is in the bath there is a high pitched - almost stabbing - sound used to intensify the scene and creates panic. After going to one last black out the diagetic music settles slightly as we see more inter titles starring the actors/actresses names - this again is used to widen the audience as fans of these actors/actresses are more likely to watch films that they know they are in. Lastly we see a close up - highly conventional for horror films - of Nina pulling a feather out of her back which hints at the narrative and then another close up of Nina looking at the feather with blood shot eyes. The feather coming out seems very cringe-y as the sound effects used are enhanced to make the audience 'grit their teeth' and adds to the body horror within the trailer making the film conventionally more of a  'horror'. Finally we see the title page which is white writing against a back ground of black feathers - maybe symbolising Nina's transformation. Her breathing is also enhanced to create a creepy effect.

There are a couple of basic elements to this trailer that I feel work well. The first of these is the intertitles - the feathery effect used as a background adds a sense of continuity to the product and ties in well with the main narrative of the film. Its also nice that we typically know of swans as being white, so excluding the fact that the film is called 'Black Swan', its interesting that they have used black feathers as it connotes danger, death and creates a mysterious, spooky atmosphere. Another good point that I like is the close up of Ninas face at 1.54. Close ups are highly conventional within a horror trailer as it obscures the consumers view of what they are seeing as it is abnormal for us to invade anybody's personal space like that. Also we can clearly see Nina's red, bloodshot eyes which connotes again danger and death bring even more of a subtle hint towards something bad happening in the actual film encouraging audiences members to what to see what is happening to her and therefore watch the film.