Black Swan Review

Black Swan

Types of Mise-en-scene are used throughout this clip of Black Swan. This film is about a ballet dancer, Nina, who wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan. Throughout the clip there are straight cuts which, unless you look for, are hard to spot.

This scene starts with Nina walking back to her dressing room from the stage. A lot of the other “swans” are walking in the opposite direction and they are all in white, while Nina is wearing black. As well as her walking in the opposite direction, her wearing black, which is a colour associated with dark matter, creates the noticeable difference between the Black Swan and the rest of the dancers. This makes the audience see that she is a lone character. As she is walking, there is a hand-held dolly-shot. This gives the feel of a jerky, unstable effect, which is what is going through Nina’s mind throughout the whole film. This also may make the audience feel claustrophobic because we are following, and watching. The music in the background is non-diagetic because as she is walking away from the stage, the music doesn’t get quieter at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Nina returns to her dressing room, there is a pan which is from Nina’s Point Of View (POV). The pan shows the smashed glass from earlier on in the film, and then goes to the shower cubical door, where there is blood seeping from under it. Nina grabs a towel from a high shelf to soak it up. In this shot you can see her hands as she reaches up, which are painted black. This shows that this personality has possibly done something wrong or has a dirty conscience. The towel is pink which is not subtle at all, which may be what the Black Swan wants-she wants somebody to possibly see it.

 

After she covers up the blood, Nina sits to sort out her costume. At this point, there is a fade from the Black Swan to the white, to show the differences in personality. Before this fade, you can also see the broken mirror, which is why a long shot is used. Then there is a knock at the door, and Nina is greeted by Lily, a fellow dancer. She said that she’s proud of Nina, which is when she realises something vital later on in the clip. Having this contact with another human shows Nina out of her comfort zone as she still believes she’s the Black Swan. This realisation brings her out of her own world and into terms that the Black Swan is destroying her. As Nina and Lily are having a conversation, Nina is constantly in the shot to show her importance. This is done by Lily’s POV and “over-the-shoulder” type shots. To show Nina’s importance further, throughout this clip there is low-key lighting such as in her dressing room. This shows her importance because she is wearing a lot of white and this makes her stand out.

 From this point on, there is non-diagetic sound which is the famous music from Swan Lake-the main stimuli for this film. This increases in volume as the scene progresses to exaggerate and build up towards the final dance. This is the most dramatic part of the piece.

 The vital part of this clip is when she realises that she’s fighting against herself and so she stabs herself with glass from the broken mirror. There is an extreme close up of the stab wound to show the audience the significance of it. As Nina knows she’s going to die, she begins to cry. There is also a close up of her face to show her pain and emotions as she pulls the shard of glass out of her stomach. She sits and then looks at herself in this mirror and you can tell in her facial expressions that she is soon determined to perform a perfect show. She then blends in her tears with her makeup to show that determination and confidence. Her makeup is almost like a mask, which she can blend her emotions into it and hide them.

 

 When the scene cuts to the stage, there is a tracker to follow Nina (importance). There is also a long shot used when Nina is running up to the setting sun. This sun signifies Nina fading with the sun as her wound also gets worst and she is slowly dying. There is a reverse shot from Nina to her Mum, to show that her mum is proud of what she has accomplished. She is the focal point of the shot at this point and this is made by having a small amount of light on her, despite the shot being in deep focus.

 Then she jumps onto a mattress which is slowed down and you see how proud she is of herself that she’s performed a perfect show.

Her face has a close up on it to show her happiness. You can also hear her breathing, which is diagetic and exaggerated as well as the audience cheers and music. She says to her coach that her performance was perfect. The shot then fades out and the lights increase to show Nina has passed away.