Thriller Conventions In The Black Swan

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980), the “Master of Suspense”, was a English film director, who was well known for his use of suspense and psychological elements to shock and surprise his audience. Hitchcock was known for his use of recurring themes, motifs and plot devices, such as the use of birds, hand motifs, the audience as a voyeur, mothers, blonde women, and sexuality. He was also very technical in his editing, using filming techniques such as deep focus, point of view, close up and wide, tracking shots. Montage was also a technique he used frequently in his films. He believed that by using visuals, he could convey thoughts and emotions just as well as dialogue could.

In the film ‘The Black Swan’ does the costume follow the conventions of the swan lake? Looking at other additions of the swan lake, both screen and stage. The 2010 film the Black Swan (2010, Darren Aronofsky) is based on the original Russian ballet production Swan Lake. The story is about a young ballerina who was about to be performing the production.

clever camera techniques which create tension and fear. The camera shots also pay close attention to detail. For example, when the man with the dog throws a stick for his dog to fetch into the sea, the camera

In the novel, The Devil in The White City, the author, Erik Larson, utilizes a back and forth organizational pattern between the two main characters, Daniel H. Burnham and H.H. Holmes. It showed how their lives contributed to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Larson began the novel where the story actually ends in 1912 on the Olympic, a sister ship of the Titanic. The character, Burnham, waits for a response from his initial message to his friend Millet, aboard the Titanic. What Burnham doesn’t know at that time, is that the Titanic sunk and his friend Millet is dead. This is the point to which the story begins. Burnham flashes back to the building of the World’s fair while waiting for his friend’s response.

This technique momentarily suspends the omniscient gaze of the camera, and evokes the spectator’s—as well as Hitchcock’s—desire to “capture” the female protagonist as she escapes off-screen. In this context, the seemingly objective tracking shot may in fact reveal itself as a violent, subjective

Alfred Hitchcock also used cinematography in a uniquely stylizing way. Hitchcock not only uses the camera to create dramatic irony, but he also uses the camera to lie to the audience and create anxious suspense. For example, in his film Psycho, when Marion is in the shower Hitchcock frames the scenes very tightly. Marion is in a confined and very personal space. This makes her incredibly vulnerable. Then Hitchcock heightens the suspense by creating dramatic irony with the reveal of a shadowy figure closing in on Marion, unbeknownst to her. This creates a lot of anxiety for the audience, knowing the protagonist is vulnerable and in danger with no way of altering the inevitable. Hitchcock then manipulates the audience by “revealing” a brief silhouette of an old lady as our shower killer. Hitchcock uses this “reveal” to lie to the audience, he makes the audience think they have more inside knowledge confirming their already growing suspicions, when in reality the audience is misled entirely and the murderer was Norman all along. The way Hitchcock uses the camera to reveal both inside information and misleading information truly keeps the viewer engaged and not knowing what to believe until the truth is finally revealed. By using this unique technique of controlling the audience by only showing what he wants you to see, Hitchcock masterfully defies expectations and creates suspense.

Personally, I did sense a change in the overall “mood” of the film, (through the progression of scenes and such). I thought that it became lighter but also (mainly) darker throughout the whole movie. For one, the director Orson Welles, opened the entire movie with a very caliginous, horrendous and intimidating scene-that follows the death of the main character or “hero” of the film. So, right off the bat a very daunt thing occurred. As the movie progresses, I felt the dark mood begin to (in a very minuscule way) deplete a little, and grow almost lighter. As the movie continued, it seemed like it was reversing in Kane’s life, showing his affair, his first wife’s relationship, his campaign for becoming the governor etc. It continues like this throughout the entire story. But, as it lightens it also grows darker as well, hitting on the points of Kane’s life that were unforgivable (leaving his family, forcing his new wife to sing, etc). In these moments the mood grew darker. Since the movie was based off of Citizen Kane (and basically his rude behavior) the mood did grow darker in more aspects but, it had light hearted moments, especially in the end when the researchers and other people were going through Kane’s house and personal items, they seemed to joke and state Kane’s life in a blunt way-it was almost as if the somewhat apologetic manner for Kane’s death was simply a social need. Whenever someone commits one’s last breath, it is polite and socially correct to pay your

To illustrate, director often uses red details in scenes to symbolise danger, small things such as a scarf on Dr Sattler’s neck in the beginning of the film. These tiny details indicated the audience about danger and builds a fearful mood. In addition, the weight of the evidence suggest that, colours and lights can make any situation appealing and horrifying.

Darkness is used for some scenes which causes more suspense to the

Most of the actors are wearing darker clothing as well which makes their faces stand out even more. This lighting style also adds to the tension and the mystery of the scene. It makes the audience on edge. The contrast filled lighting of film noir is also effective at bringing out the extremes of emotions and thought. The darkness of the genre makes anything that goes wrong seem less taboo, because the lighting of the genre sets up the norms for the world that the film lives in—and in that world, bad things happen. The lighting of the film helps the audience understand the world that the characters are in.

“Black Swan” is a dark and chaotic film that follows a ballet dancer named Nina who's only and greatest dream is to become the “Swan Queen” in the production “Swan Lake.” The movie follows Nina’s demise into chaos as she attempts to master and embody both the white and black swan. Although dark, confusing, and sometimes frightening, the movie excellently portrays the utter chaos of living with an eating disorder, as well as the perils of schizophrenia, and anxiety. The movie begins with the portrayal of Nina as a timid person struggling with Anorexia and self-confidence with the aspiration to become the perfect ballet dancer.

Every camera shot traps her body, confining it as an image of objectification within the perimeter of the frame. Frozen in time¬, the body becomes paralyzed by the camera which reduces and pacifies it. In this state, the fixed image lies helpless, ripe for victimization. Photography, and—by extension—art, becomes associated with megalomania and a perspective of perversion within the scene. Once the last photograph of the woman is taken, the camera cuts to a close-up shot of the murderer unveiling a series of knives.

Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller horror by Darren Aronofskywhich follows the story of Nina Sayers, a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life is completely consumed with dance. The issue of perfection may become one of the issues dealt in Black Swan. In Black Swan, the main character is obsessed with perfection. Her final words, as she lies dying with a gentle smile curing on her lips: “I

In the film, Black Swan, the plot centers on Nina Sayers, a ballerina whose only goal is to play the role of the Black and White Swan in her company’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet. While she easily embodies into the innocence and grace of the White Swan, her shy and fragile personality does not fit the seductiveness and mysteriousness of the Black Swan. As a result, she struggles to become the opposite of who she is, worsening her issues with depression and anorexia.

Black Swan is a psycho thriller film that narrates the life of a ballerina called Nina Sayers (played by Natalie Portman). She is a young, ambitious dancer working for a prestigious NYC ballet company. According to the movie, she was around twenty-some year old when the story begins. Even though the main point of the movie is how bad Nina wanted the lead role for a theater production called Swan Lake, the dark drama around the movie is built by the psychological illness of its protagonist. Nina’s disordered relationship with her roommate/mother Erica, played by Barbara Hershey, sets the stage for Nina’s psychological breakdown. In the movie, the role that Nina always wanted requires her to play both the black and white swans. Her innocent, almost child-like personality makes her a perfect hite swan; however, she was having trouble getting into the character of the white swan’s dark and seductive counterpart. This film brilliantly captures the brutal physical and emotional demands that ballerinas face in their short-lived career span.