Black Swan (2010) Film Case Study

Film synopsis:

'A ballet dancer 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. '

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,762,429 (UK) (21 January 2011)

Gross:

$106,952,327 (USA) (29 April 2011)

Runtime:

108 min

The film 'Black Swan' was a thrilling twist on the world-famous ballet Swan Lake. Two of the most recognisable actresses of modern cinema were featured- Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Throughtout the film there is an expertly captured sense of tension, with emotional and physical progression shown through the main character of Nina. This film divided critics and audiences as the certificate rating of 15 seemed too low for the extent of self-harm and sexual scenes. Many expected a moderate film about ballet but were instead shocked into a terrifying tale of mental destruction of a perfectionist dancer. (Nethertheless 'Black Swan' achieved numerous awards such as an Oscar and Golden Globe.)

Darren Aronofsky created a genius thriller that was subtle yet shocking- this would be an ideal genre for my own film trailer. Many aspects used such as symbolism and mystery are areas I have taken to assist in making my own trailer.

The target audience of this film was widely spread as noone truly expected the nature of the film- however a great portion of females would have been intigued by the theme of ballet that features regularly. Also audiences who enjoy twist, turns and jumps would have enjoyed the thriller aspect. It encaptured mental helath issues such as schizophrenia and depression. Many would relate to the pressure of achieving ambitions however Nina's character shows a greatly warped drive for perfection.

The ending scene of the film is seemingly a cliffhanger and open to personal interepretation. Nina has realised that instead of stabbing Lily, as she had thought, she had infact stabbed herself. As in the original the white swan dies in order to free herself from her inner demon (the black swan). The screen fades to white with Nina fallen with blood leaking from her stomach, however the audience are never told if she lives or dies. This was intentially as interepretations can point to the final scene of the ballet is symbolic of Nina becoming a woman of her true identity- or that her perfectionist nature meant she intentially killed herself to match the role she felt she was born to play. Personally I prefer the latter as it is more fitting to the thriller genre and gives a shocking but necassary downfall of the main protagonist.

I believe the film was created to explore the depths of mental health problems and pressure individuals are exposed to. Similarly it is symbolic of a person finding their identity and coming into their own; shown thorugh Nina's exploration of her sexuality, talent and relationship with her Mother. The distributors- Fox Searchlight pictures, are perhaps the most renowned brands of the modern cinema market. They are an excellent example of a company that uses technology to a wide extent in order to achieve maximum convergence and synergy.

Adulthood Analysis

Adulthood Analysis

(2008)

This evaluation links to my previous text about 'Kidulthood' and this was the long awaited sequel. Both were incredibly successful films and obtained a huge audience.

The official film description: 

''Six years after Sam Peel is released from jail for killing Trife, he realizes that life is no easier on the outside than it was on the inside and he's forced to confront the people he hurt the most. Some have moved on, others are stuck with the repercussions of his actions that night, but one thing's for certain - everyone has been forced to grow up. Through his journey Sam struggles to deal with his sorrow and guilt and something else he didn't expect - those seeking revenge. As he's pursued by a new generation of bad boys, Sam sets about trying to get the message across to his pursuers that they should stop the violence, much like Trife tried to tell him all those years ago. Can Sam stop the cycle of violence and make something positive from the destruction he caused or will his journey into Adulthood end here?''

Target Audience

Target Audience for 'The Fear and the Desire for the Strange' by ClockWork Pictures

For any film/ trailer a clear target audience needs to be depicted in order to create a direction for the team to work towards, otherwise it may be inefficient in reflecting a genre. I believe in playing to the strengths of any team therefore taking our interests into accounts we discussed a teenage-based, light thriller/ dark comedy. Based on aspects found in the 1980's film 'Heathers', which follows four girls in a clique at high school in Ohio. Their relationship is explored though sex, drugs, social status etc...

Our film trailer is based on two students and the location is primarily at a school, therefore it appeals greatest to a teenage target audience. There are many ways to promote films to a teenage audience and many have come about through the development of modern technology. For example a effective techniques used by a range of media to reach out to 13-18 year olds, is through the internet and social media sites, such as FaceBook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube. News is easily spread through social media and topics can become viral in a matter of minutes. Most social media such as FaceBook, Twitter and Tumblr are all free to join and have no costs whilst a member, therefore it is extremley effective and low-cost which is appealing to any film distributor. Survey's reveal that teenagers feel most comfortable and easily accessable when online and are more likely to respond or take in information.

A significant aspect to our film trailer is the use of video blogs, as the characters will be shown to be recording their experiences of 'the switch'. This form of communication is really relatable to our target audience of teenagers as the internet is the most widely used technology of our age.  

Target Audience Profile:

Age: 15-19 years old

Gender: Female

Interests: Music, Fashion, Films, Socialising 

Location: London (any main city in the UK)

Heathers trailer

The 1988 film 'Heathers', was a great source of inspiration for our trailer. The idea of dark comedy, interconnected with teenager issues that we could recreate was a prominent one for our genre. The setting was accessible as we could film it at school and also were the actors as we were in talks with the drama students who were excited about the possibility at filming such a unique film.

Heathers Synopsis: 

Heathers is a 1988 dark comedy film starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. The film portrays four girls in a trend-setting clique at a fictional Ohio high school. The girls — three of whom are named Heather — rule the school through intimidation, contempt, and sex appeal.
A regular girl, Veronica, tries to survive the social jungle of high school by sticking with the three most popular girls at school who are all called Heather. As she meets a sociopath named JD, her life spirals into a continuous cycle of hate, unintentional murder and indifference, as she exacts revenge on her enemies, also known as her best friends.

The trailer offers an intense build up to many significant events without giving the ultimate ending away. As I have seen the film I know that the ending is bitter sweet and typical of a late 1980's drama as there are no repercussions for the individuals rather a melancholy acceptance of the events.


-The opening shot of the trailer (shown in the youtube link) begins by a medium shot of all three girls on a sports field, followed short individual shots that characterise each girl in order for the audience to recognise them as important figures in the film.
- Secondly a comical shot is used by showing the blonde girl whack a ball against brunette 'Heathers' head, with minimal visual effects typical of an 80's film.
-The next sequence explores the social relationships between the four girls in their own clique and it is revealed how they are 'the top dogs' of their high school.
-The camera work from then on is not particularly expert however the simplicity works well with presenting the dark comedy and the diagetic sounds (such as dialogue) are essential in revealing the films nature.
- An extreme close up used into Heathers eye that is extremely wide suggest a shocking and crucial event.
- A spinning effect is used shortly after symbolising the distortion of Heathers mind as she begins to slowly kill certain students of her high school with the assistance of her violent boyfriend.

Ideas for Film Trailer

Diary

When in discussion with my group as to what direction we conclusively want to take our film trailer in, we drew some ideas together:
The most prominent area we discussed was for it to be original and not done to death, for example a horror trailer. After this decision we looked into areas such as physiological themes, school orientated settings and drug/ alcohol influenced story lines.
Physiological Themes: This would involve an effective actor(s) to reflect a mentally troubled character with various events happening in the trailer, perhaps supernatural events. It could possibly be hard to have the necessary equipment/ costumes/ make up in order to make it convincing. Techniques that sprang to mind immediately would be blurring, fading camera shots which could symbolise the decent of the characters mental state.
School orientated setting: The idea was firstly based around the nineties film 'Heathers', which focused on a clique of girls in high school, of which their social status becomes of the upmost importance, resulting in violence, drug abuse and sexual scenes.
Drug/ alcohol abuse: This would feature in both of the previous ideas, however they may be a dominent theme. There are sterotypes when these substances are involved, however we feel it could give the edgy feel to the trailer.
Secondly we have considered the idea of a 'Body-Swap' to initiate a school based drama that includes the themes above. 

This mind map was great for conclusively evaluating our ideas and the main outline of our film trailer for 'The Fear and Desire for the the Strange'.

Kidulthood Analysis

                                                                           

                                                 Kidulthood (2006)

       Budget:

           £600,000  

       Opening Weekend:

          £100,056 (UK)  

       Gross:

          £453,876 (UK)

       Run Time: 91 minutes

      Certificate: 15                                                                   

This film is the first of a two-series which gives the audience a look into the life of 15 year olds in inner West London. The writer is the well-renown actor for gritty youth London life; Noel Clarke. He also plays one of the main characters in the film, portraying a troubled thug who abuses his school peers inside and outside of school. The drug filled, fast paced film is still very successful and replayed on BBC 3 regularly and many phrases are repeated by teenagers today, such as Noel Clarke’s characters ‘catchphrase’- ‘’are you dizzy blud’’?

This genre would be appropriate for my age in particularly, as it is written by and for young adults. The trailer is very true in expressing the main areas of which the film focuses on such as gang crime, drug abuse and sexual relationships.

The film features a number of underground rap artists such as Bashy and Plan B; appealing specifically to inner city youths, who they are targeting for their audience. The criticism and reaction to this film when it was released was mainly positive, Stephen Armstrong in the Daily Mail summed up its minimal negative criticism expertly: ‘’ …the only people who are shocked by this film are people who have never been teenagers. What Kidulthood does is take all the sex, violence and intoxication experience in a teenager year and condense it into a single day…’’

This is a significant point- the whole film centres on just one day for each of the main characters. The film cleverly flicks between focus on what is happening around West London. All the storylines interlink and ultimately at the end all the characters are at the party of which Trife is murdered. All the violence, sex, alcohol and drugs attention boils down the penultimate scene, where Sam (Noel Clarke) hits Trife (Al Ameen) with a baseball bat, that he punctures his lung and kills him. 
There is a deathly moment of which the audience realise the intensity of violence on the streets and how these events all happen in cities around the world. The film has just one more scene after Trife is left dead, sprawled out on the floor, where his killer Sam runs from the crime scene and the audience are left wondering what will happen to him and the other characters such as Alisha, Moonface and Jay who were close to Trife. There is a definite sense of a sequel, as the story abruptly ends with all the youths going separate ways, feeling the weight of Trife’s death on all their shoulders. I beleive that this film was made to reveal some haunting truths about the youth life in cities in the United Kingdom. It gives audiences a worm-hole into aspects one may not be exposed to in their own lives.

The film distributors of both 'Kidulthood' and 'Adulthood' was Revolver Entertainment which is well known for making teenage-drama films in the United Kingdom. Having such a reputation for this genre gives a effective platform for the distributors to make the film and be successful in appealing to their target audience. I believe these two films were made in order to speak to the youth of London in a way they would understand and appreciate. By subtly sending them a message about the dangers of knife crime and gang related violence in the UK it is deemed a very successful film.

- Non Diagetic sounds of heavy rap music

- Begins with extremely fast pace of film from many different characters but the audience are aware by the presence of guns and microphones.. the nature of the film already. 

-High screeching sound when the baseball bat swings into the camera (close up)- symbolic of the danger.

- Another fast sequence of drug and alcohol abuse.

- Nudity and bad language are used- reflecting the 15 certificate.

Genre Conventions

Film Conventions:


The aspects the viewer expect to see in the film (from the genre) for example:
A Thriller film would be expected to contain a great deal of suspense and gradual increase of speed of shots and have one ultimate shot that intrigues the view (the last shot leaving an impression).
The codes and conventions in media can be separated into 3 groups -
- Technical (e.g camera angles, movements & shots)
- Symbolic (e.g clothing, colours)
- Written and audio (music etc).
These three effective groups give the text meaning and determine a response from the viewer.
Horror:
*Setting- Secluded, for example a forest or deserted house. The isolation of the main protagonist(s) creates suspense.
*Characters- Main protagonist(s), heroic, victims, source of horror (whether physical such as a monster, or psycological).
*Props- Physical injuries (blood, wounds etc), costumes, broken/ dirty objects/ furniture.
Indie:
* Appeal to a niche market (not a universal issue/ event).
* Unknown actors to play the parts.
* Controversial perspectives.
* Independent film companies. (New Hollywood)
* Stereotypically a lower budget than mainstream films.
Romance:
* 'Bildungsroman' storyline where the protagonist begins innocent and inferior, faces obstacles and overall triumphs and becomes the heroic figure.
* Relationship introduced early, face obstacles, together at the end.
* Traditional 'happily ever after' ending.
* Emotive events/ language/ characters 
* Bright colouring- Happy events  &   Dull colours- Bad events