Black Swan Trailer Analysis

Black Swan

I am analysing this trailer in particular as the genre is the same genre as i have chosen, a psychological trailer. The conventions of movie trailers have been previously mentioned but I will write a quick list to refresh my memory as well as yours. In this analysis I will be looking at the codes as the genre of this film is the same as mine so the codes will be very similar.

Conventions:

• Short clips of the film. Which do not give away too much of the narrative.
• Actors & Directors names are mentioned.
• Title of the Film is shown at the end of the trailer, usually followed by release date.
• Music is usually heard throughout and non diagetic. 
• Occasionally Screen text moments.

I will look at each one of these conventions and see how the created has adapted the codes to connote the genre and creating feeling amongst the audience. 

As mentioned the clips shown in the trailer are short and cut fairly quickly. For just under a minute all the clips shown set the beginning of the narrative and appear fairly "average" and "normal" to the audience. All the things shown are not abnormal such as the dancer doing her stretches, meeting new people and conversation. After around a minute the clips start to show the gradual increase of stress induced by the main character and this starts to create genre. There is one clip in particular around 1min 5 secs is when an older lady (as the audience i am guessing it is the main characters nan or mum) is cutting her nails, the camera angle is at eye level when she is cutting and the noise of the cutting is loud. This allows the audience to become un-nerved and are expecting trouble to happen. And then it gets "worse" at 1min 13secs Nina's reflection starts to turn and face her but Nina herself does not move. This is code is very nearly associated with horror but the two genres tend to interlink with each other. This creates adrenaline in the audience and therefore they become more fixated. The clips from this point become creepy and faster edited than normal. They feature things such as a broken spinning ballerina doll, someone being smashed into a mirror and red and green flashing lights. The clips then cut out into text screens. The one final clip brings the whole trailer together as being the most "crazy" clip. The audience see Nina with red blood like eyes and she pulls a black looking thorn out of her back. This completely throws the audience as they become intrigued as this has caused narrative enigma. So this successfully completes the trailers goal of setting genre and intriguing the audience. 

The actors names and directors names are shown in an un usual order. The first text screen is informing the audience that the film opens at the film festival and that it was a Toronto film selection. This is slightly abnormal as the first text is usually who has made it or actors names, the reason the maker of this trailer could of done this is because psychological films tend not to be the ultimate must go see but immediately this informs the audience that critics have said this is the must go see movie. After a few more clips the directors name is shown. This is still fairly early on so the audience can still acknowledge  the quality and type of film by the director and previous films he has created. The reason they put this in is so the audience now what they are getting and therefore they are more inclined to go see the film at the cinema. The actors names are only shown at the end of the trailer, this is unusual as the creators tend to put this at the front so the audience are completely intrigued by the film at the beginning rather than the end. However with psychological trailers the narrative and director is more important than the actors as they tend to be more about creativity. 

The title of the film is also shown at the end just like most trailers and the release date is also at the end. However the release date is mentioned right at the beginning as well in one of the text screens. However the audience are probably going to miss this and are more likely going to want to see the release date at the end of the trailer as that is when they have been captivated by it and then want to know when they can see it. 

The music is very important in this trailer. The music starts right from the beginning. The music sounds very much like the sound you get from one of those little music boxes that has the ballerina spinning round. This allows the audience to identify the music with the part of the narrative that is about ballet. The music builds slowly and builds at the same pace as the clips do. This helps very much to create an atmosphere and feeling in the audience. It keeps the audience nervy and on edge and allows them to feel slightly vulnerable just like Nina. At the very end of the trailer the music cuts on that last clip and ends, this allows that last clip to heighten and give more of a thrill to the audience.

The text screens have a special effect behind them, the colors are black and white this represents the black swan and the white swan and also the good side and bad side of the main character Nina. The special effect looks like the curtains of a stage which are known to bed red, however the have been dyed black and also look like they are moving. This helps keeps the film dark and eery rather than happy and again this sets genre and helps with the atmosphere. The font isn't anything special and is just a bold font so it is easily read by the audience.