The movie “The Black Swan” is a psychological thriller that shows the
unglamorous side of the professional ballet world. It is directed by Darren
Aronofsky and is inspired by Swan Lake, which is a well known famous ballet by
Iiyich Tchaikovosky. In the opera there is a princess who is turned into a white swan
and falls in love with a prince but then she commits suicide because the prince
accidentally fell in love with the black swan. In the movie they decided to put a
modern twist to this tragic love story. They would usually cast two girls to
specifically be the white and black swan but instead decide to cast Nina, played by
Natalie Portman which is rather difficult to play both parts.
The film shows many obvious signs of symbolism with doubles and mirrors
and the camera work portrays Nina’s overall state of mind. The camera is almost as
if it is a handheld. In the opening scene there is a long shot of Nina on center stage
with the backdrop being black and only one spotlight on her. This highlights the
importance of her in the movie as she is the first character the audience sees. The
camera then does a close up on her feet wearing ballet shoes indicating she is
dancer but still showing that she is graceful and elegant as a dancer should be. At
this time the camera does a long shot of a man coming behind Nina with the
spotlight still on Nina, showing her facial expression becoming scared and keeping
the man a mystery. The camera follows both of them as they dance spinning in
circles. After Nina goes through costume change the man leaves leaving Nina
alone in the spotlight. When
her dancing becomes
slower the camera zooms
out from Nina and leaving
her on the stage and
headlining N...
... middle of paper ...
...ts from the stage shadow on the back wall her wings. This is one of the biggest
signs of symbolism
in the film. We now
know that Nina
suffers from a form
of multiple personalities disorder, and her evil side has won her over.
Daren Aronofsky’s film is story of a woman who has no control over her
body and lives and works where perfection needs to be met .The cinematography
supports the ideas and the hand held style puts a better focus and giving us more
Surreal feel. It makes us feel as we our experiencing her life along with her. Along
with the doubles and mirrors shots they show us her sinister side. The Black Swan is
a perfect blend of obsessions and ideas showing Nina’s metamorphosis into a crazed
superstar. The public will always welcome the elites best new star. Because as they
say, the show must go on.
Ken Kesey's award-winning novel, "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", was adapted into a film in 1975 written and directed by New York City native Bo Goldman and Czech director Milos Forman. Towards the end of the novel and film, Chief Bromden escapes from the ward. This scene is conveyed differently in the novel and film; however, there are evident similarities between each form of media. This scene is important to the plot because it wraps up the entire storyline. In the film and novel, similarities within Chief Bromden’s escape from the ward include the way Chief escaped, how he couldn't hear anyone in the ward due to being deaf, and how McMurphy assisted Bromden with gaining his confidence to lift the panel and throw it through the window. McMurphy essentially changed Bromden to help him break out of the asylum and back into the real world.
In the beginning of the scene Nuke is dancing with all of the women in
... in fashionable things such as waltzes which are a sign of maturity and that she is growing into a woman.
...ien is first introduced when she is in bed and the first shot is of
She has on a kind of dirty-pink -- beige maybe, I don’t know -- bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and, what got me, the straps were down. They were a little off her shoulders...
She has her right leg bent with her knee always in the air and her left foot is
During the opening six minutes of Nicholas Roeg’s film Don’t Look Now, the viewer experiences a dynamic mixture of film techniques that form the first part of the narrative. Using metaphor and imagery, Roeg constructs a vivid and unique portrayal of his parallel storyline. The opening six minutes help set up a distinct stylistic premise. In contrast to a novel or play, the sequence in Don’t Look Now is only accessible through cinema because it allows the viewer to interact with the medium and follow along with the different camera angles. The cinematography and music also guide the viewer along, and help project the characters’ emotions onto the audience because they change frequently. The film techniques and choppy editing style used in Don’t Look Now convey a sense of control of the director over the audience and put us entirely at his mercy, because we have to experience time and space as he wants us to as opposed to in an entirely serial manner.
Gutmann, Peter. “Igor Stravinsky – The Rite of Spring.” Classical Notes. 2002. Web. 17 September 2011.
In scene 5 we learn how powerful she really is by the way she makes a
She appears to be unable to successfully interact with those around her. The interaction Nina has with her fellow dancers appears to be strained and superficial. Nina exhibits behavior that indicates she views all other dancers as competition instead of potential comrades’ or friends. Being very introverted and unable to share any part of herself with those around her, even her mother, who appears to be the only person that has been remotely close to Nina, causes her to seek companionship with parts of herself instead of healthy relationships with others. Nina exhibits signs of generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and paranoid personality disorder through these abnormal behaviors.
Meshes of the Afternoon by Maya Deren is one of the most intriguing and significant experimental films of the 1940’s. Maya Deren is a surrealist experimental filmmaker who explores themes like yearning, obsession, loss and mortality in her films. In Meshes of the Afternoon, Maya Deren is highly influenced by Sigmund Freud’s theory of expressing the realms of the subconscious mind through a dream. Meshes of the Afternoon, is a narration of her own experience with the subconscious mind that draws the viewers to experience the events being played out rather than just merely showing the film. I chose Maya Deren for my research because her intriguing sense gives viewers an enthralling experience by taking them to a different, semi-real world of the subconscious mind. Meshes of the Afternoon not only reveals Deren’s success in a male dominant arena, but also provides a sensational and escalating experience for the spectators.
Swan Lake tells the story of Prince Siegfied, who sees the Odette, the Queen of Swans, become a beautiful maiden whilst he is out hunting wild swans. She explains that she is under the spell of the wicked magician, Von Rothbart, and is condemned to live as a swan by day, and a human by night. Only when a man swears to love her and no other, forever, the spell will be broken. Siegfried declares his love, but at a ball the following evening, he is tricked into asking Odile, the magician's daughter, to marry him. Von Rothbart makes her look like Odette, but dressed in...
In Black Swan, a ballet dancer named Nina is casted to play both the White Swan and the Black Swan in the famous ballet titled Swan Lake. In the well-known opera, a princess is turned into a White Swan, who falls in love with a prince but then commits suicide when she finds out that the prince confessed his love to the Black Swan. In the movie Black Swan, Nina has to deal with the challenges that arise from trying to accurately portray both characters whom are completely opposite. It is easy for Nina to be the White Swan. She is innocent and controlled. However, it was very hard for her to become the dark, seductive, and mysterious Black Swan. To fully become this character, Nina has to deal with the struggles of becoming the opposite of who she really is. This results in many hallucinations that involve harming herself. She also starts to imagine things that are not really happening. Eventually, Nina has psychotic episodes when she truly becomes the Black Swan. Whenever she takes a step into her transformation, she has hallucinations such as having black feathers come out of her skin. It also seems as if Nina is obsessed with perfection because she even tries to kill herself. The true reality is not what she sees because she is so trapped in the world of Swan Lake.
Also, the performers are constituted with same number of men and women. They imply the importance of equality through the performance. The female and male dancers use the same movements to show that they are equal. The message being conveyed here is important, on the grounds of its social influence and giving the whole performance a deeper meaning. The thing makes dancing different and odd to other occupations is the fact that most famous and well known dancers are mostly females, since on other social circumstances males tend to dominate more realms. Here, besides all the female masters, the male dancers appear as much as the female artists do and they also showcase what they are capable of. As I watched more of the performance, the interactions between dancers and the LED lights became more appealing to me. Dancers use their bodies to interpret the connections between human beings and technology. Moreover, the background music also plays a vital role in the production of this whole piece of art. The tempo of the music, the dance movements, as well as the frequency of the lights going on and off together appeared to the audience as a desirable combination. I love how the dancers do every movements according to the rhythm of the music and how they two fit perfectly. All of those things together made a great show to watch and