Black Swan - Film Opening

The opening starts with a wide static shot of the protagonist Nina: static shots emphasise character action, which in this case well suits the ballet opening of a ballet-themed film; The static shot also suggests a narrative equilibrium as proposed by Tzvetan Todorov. The opening is filmed with low saturation, which gives the scene a surreal texture that suits its dream setting. The wide shot is cut to a close-up follow shot of Nina’s feet, which adds to the emphasis of professional ballet choreography in the film, creating a sense of realism. The protagonist is framed in centre, which directly presents her importance and attractive, also suggesting that she is acting within a sphere of equilibrium. The scene then cuts to a handheld over-the-shoulder shot from behind Nina, which presents the male dancer to the audience. The handheld shot is shaky, with the male dancer approaching Nina from darkness: camera instability in this shot is a subtle action code, suggested by Roland Barthes, which implies to the audience that the initial equilibrium is threatens and may soon be disrupted. The audience is also immediately presented with the striking binary opposition between male and female dancers, which was proposed in Levi-Strauss’s theory and is a juxtaposition frequently used in dance and highlighted through the contrast of masculine and feminine actions. The male dancer enters the frame from the left, and in cultures which traditionally read from left to right, entering the stage from the left in drama is often a natural assumption of power and significance. A power inequality is conveyed through framing the the male dancer on a higher horizontal level than Nina, in which the male dancer clearly holds more power.

As the male dancer closes in on Nina, the camera assumes a circular movement to show both indirect and direct entwinements of the two characters in the dance sequence, also in line with the frequent spin movements in ballet choreography. After the male dancer exits the scene, Nina is once again framed in centre, implying that she has triumphed over the manipulation of the male dancer. The reintroduced centre-framing is followed by a dolly out to another wide static shot: this furthers consistency in framing between this shot and the initial shot, signalling the audience that the scene is about to end and giving the narrative implication that an equilibrium has been reestablished, simultaneously completing a short nested narrative which fulfils a condensed version of Todorov’s equilibrium theory. The next shot depicts Nina after waking up from the dream, which is conveyed through higher saturation and a warmer tone, strongly contrasting the pale, desaturated dream sequence. Here, Nina is also framed in centre and fills the frame, illustrating the significance of her presence. She is also looking from left to right on screen, which in most western countries creates a sense of naturalness and illustrates tranquility in the scene.

The scene begins with a J-cut of classical music with string instruments, producing the effect of attracting the audience. The music is predominantly calm and serene, thus the audience will receive the sense of peacefulness as an intact initial equilibrium. The music is likely diegetic in Nina’s dream, since it is completely synchronised with her actions. The audience will also feel that the music is diegetic as part of the cultural code, because traditional ballet plays are accompanied by this musical genre. After the initial dance moves, the background music grows tense and heavier with lower notes, creating a sense of foreboding and adds to the unease created using the shaky handheld camera shot to create a comprehensive sensation of disruptions within the initial equilibrium.

As the male dancer moves behind Nina, the audience hears a diegetic breath from her otherwise mostly silent choreography, embodying an action code that implies she is frightened by the unknown presence. As the male dancer performs a circular movement with Nina, diegetic sounds of whooshing created with foley can be heard, which is also an action code suggesting that his presence is powerful. This also creates the binary opposition between the evident power of the male dancer over Nina, who is depicted as powerless against his actions. As the male dancer undergoes a metamorphosis, foley sounds of diegetic screeching can be heard, employing a cultural code which refers o the audience’s knowledge of bats, which are connotative of vampires, darkness and evil, all serving as suggestions of the male dancer’s ill intent. The background music grows rapid with repetition of strong notes, complementing the increasingly threatening actions of the male dancer. After Nina breaks free from the male dancer’s grasp, the music assumes a grand tone which implies of repair within the nested narrative. The calm, serene tone at the beginning of the scene recurs, confirming that an equilibrium has been reestablished.

The final studio logo was presented in monochrome, which was processed to create a coherent transition from the studio logos into the title sequence as low-saturated first scene of the film. The lighting on stage is low-key and back-lit, which is often employed onstage in performances and fits the theme of the film. It also highlights the silhouette of the dancers and serves to highlight their metaphysical qualities above physical traits. A heavy particle effect is present on stage, creating a surreal effect suiting the protagonist’s dream. The effect was likely created using a fog machine, which is often used in onstage dramas to create similar effect and thus also suits the film’s theme of ballet performances. The protagonist Nina is wearing a white costume with feathers, which culturally resembles a swan and has the semantic connotations of beauty, purity and innocence. As opposed to Nina, the male dancer is wearing a black costume, which provides semantic connotation of power, evil and danger, producing a binary opposition between white and black, furthered through the use of low-key lighting. After the male dancer enters the scene, he gradually shortens the distance between himself and Nina, which is an action code symbolic of his increasing influence over Nina. A mirroring action is performed with the male dancer behind Nina, which has the cultural connotation of a puppeteer, which holds absolute power over the puppet from behind. The submissiveness of Nina fulfils Zoonen’s feminist theory in that Nina is reduced to a secondary role after the appearance of the male dancer, and that she is passively subjected to his active actions of dominative intent. Further constructions of binary oppositions between male and female, as well as power and powerlessness. The symbolic connotations of power are naturally attributed to the male dancer, whereas Nina receives the attributes of fragility and powerlessness, which subtly reflects upon the conventional gender roles and traits assumed by western societies. The male dancer undergoes a transformation during his spinning action, with his skin painted black and wearing a black feathery costume with black horns. The increase of black elements furthers the semantic connotation of darkness and danger, whereas horns in western society has a cultural connotation for the devil, and is directly linked to evil. Back lighting also leaves the male dancer’s face in the dark during his transformation, adding to the ominous atmosphere surrounding him, whilst the spinning action is a typical choreographic action that can be employed to demonstrate strength in males. Notably, both characters are played by white individuals that are regarded as conventionally beautiful and attractive by western standards: the male dancer is still based upon a white actor despite being attributed with black denotations, and from Paul Gilroy’s perspective of Postcolonialism, the opening is privileging white individuals above other ethnic groups through the passive exclusion of other ethnicities from the scene, attributing the ideals of power and beauty onto white ethnicity. This also reflects upon the cultural representation of ballet as a predominantly white European activity, simultaneously creating a cultural exclusion of non-white ethnic groups and reinforcing the western social hierarchy overarched by white Euro-American values and aesthetics. The following action sequence shows Nina being dominated by the male dancer’s powerful lifting and spinning movements, reflecting upon the stereotypical representation of men being capable of dominating women through sheer physical advantages in society. Nonetheless, Nina regains strength and breaks free of the control of the male dancer, which can be viewed as a more modern stereotype of women who are less dependent upon men and struggle for their own independence. As she breaks free from the male dancer, white feathers can be seen falling from her body, which has the cultural connotation with women’s loss of innocence, yet her body remains white despite the imagery, symbolising that that her insides remained pure despite her ordeals. Nina covers her face during her solo choreography, the action code of which implies that she is in shame of her experiences, but is still capable of regaining calm and composure by the end of scene, suggesting resilience and inner strength in Nina’s personality. The next scene begins with Nina opening her eyes in bed: this includes a significant action code which allows the audience to infer that she has just woken up and the previous scene was part of her dream. the pink tone of Nina’s clothing and bed are common semantic connotations for femininity and naivety, and pink is also a colour commonly worn in ballet, culturally suggesting to the audience that she may be an aspiring ballet dancer in reality. Nina’s more saturated, yellow skin tone creates the cultural connotation that she is not wearing makeup, contrasting with the heavy pale makeup within her dream sequence, and introducing the binary opposition between dream and reality.

As opposed to normal stages in drama, the stage in Nina’s dream is dark and isolated, with no props, clear boundaries nor audience to be seen. The stage is specifically constructed in a studio to create a sense of verisimilitude with actual stages used in drama, but is also differentiated by surreal details and camerawork which hints that the scene is not staged in an actual performance, subverting the originally nature of ballet performances within modernity, as suggested by Jean Baudrillard, into postmodernity and hyperrealism through blurring the boundaries between dream and reality.

Only 4 obvious cuts can be observed within the film opening. The first two cuts are respectively a J-cut and a cut to close-up of Nina’s feet. Both cuts have the primary purpose of directing the audience’s attention, the first towards the overall scene and the second focusing on the footwork of Nina’s choreography. The third cut switches the perspective from front to behind, using the change in position to convey power relationships. If Nina is closer to the screen, the distance would emphasise Nina’s powerlessness above the male character’s power, whereas filming form behind puts emphasis upon the dominance of the male character, who is now closer to the screen. This inadvertently causes the shot to be viewed from a predominantly male perspective, which is privileged above the female perspective. portraying Nina under the scrutiny of male gaze and adding to the representation of traditional gender roles in an European background.

After the switch in perspectives, no visible cuts can be seen until the end of scene. This replicates the continued camerawork employed in dance performances, providing the audience with a consistent watching experience of the dance sequence. It is also an example of genre hybridity suggested by Steve Neale, and combines the traditional stage drama genre of ballet with the drama genre in film, allowing a larger audience appeal for the film, and also provides genre piggybacking from the well-established ballet drama genre. Nonetheless, subtle cuts are enabled through the use of low-key lighting and moments in which the male dancer’s black costume shifts in front of the camera. For example a cut is used when the male dancer’s appearance shifts from the normal dancing costume into the devil-inspired suit and makeover.

The final cut is a fade to black marking the end of the dream scene, which then brightens to transition into reality. The difference between the two scenes is also made obvious by both the change in environment and colour tone. Fading out and back in is also an effective transition in this scene because of its similarity to the closing and opening of eyes when humans sleep and wake, giving the audience an intuitive understanding that Nina is waking up from her dream.

Leon - Film Opening

The opening shot is an aerial shot which starts out of focus, gradually progressing forward with landscape tracking, and tilts up to reveal a bird’s eye establishing shot of an urban city surrounding a forest. Opening sounds include a hollow, high-pitched piece of background music composed using a synthesiser and brass instruments. Through the landscape and buildings, some audiences may recognise the city as New York. Subtitles of the director and cast are shown in the middle of the picture in white letters to attract attention and create visual contrast.

The shot cuts to a truck tracking shot which moves forward along a city street. The camera is handheld, as indicated by the slightly shaky lens. The background music continues, and the scene is clearly shot in a busy urban city, shown by the towering buildings on both sides of the road, with an abundance of taxis and pedestrians. A golden sign on the left writes ‘Sheraton New York’, indicating the setting of the story. The scene cuts to a different setting shot from the same angle, where the building style clearly indicates, along with the Chinese signs, that the scene has shifted to sections of the city populated by Chinese immigrants. Again, the shot cuts to another setting, in which less tall, red brick buildings indicate the suburban location, whereas pervasive red, white and green colour schemes suggests that they are entering an Italian immigrant community. The shifts between vastly different areas of the city strengthens the impression that the setting is a large city with great diversity. The lens also tilts up to highlight a banner writing ‘Welcome to little Italy’ to explicitly demonstrate the setting. From cultural codes, audiences know that Italy is the home of mafia crime organisations, which hints at the theme of the film’s storyline. The camera cuts to a dolly shot moving forwards into the doors of a restaurant. When the camera tilts up, a low-pitched humming sound appears in the background, growing more intense until a whooshing sound ends the soundtrack, creating the connotation that they have entered a different environment. The change of tone in background music from soothing and tranquil to apprehensive marks a symbolic transition between the harmony of wider society and the conflicted life of individuals. Throughout this scene, the camera cuts forward four times, creating the action code that an individual is moving forwards and thus the impression that a character slowly enters the city and travels to the restaurant, which when placed at the end of scene suggests that it is his destination. The red door and dark interior of the restaurant create semantic codes: red in western civilisation is a colour which suggests danger, whereas darkness in a mundane daily environment suggests something shady could be going on.

The camera fades to black, and gradually brightens to transition into a close-up shot of a pair of hands and a glass of milk on a dining table. The shot cuts to a dirty extreme close-up shot of a pair of round glasses. Another individual sitting across the table is shown in a reflection, the semantic connotation being that the two individuals are having a discussion.

A number of quick cuts are employed between cutscenes: another cutscene shows the other man lighting a cigarette, tilting up to show his facial expressions. The other man asks the protagonist Leon about his recent wellbeing in Italian, again linking to cultural code to suggest that the two men may be involved in mafia business. A dirty close up reaction shot of Leon is shown. More close ups of the other man are given to create a disjointed feeling regarding the conversation. Another cutscene shows the man extinguishing his cigarette, the action code of which implying that he has finished his casual talk and is now down to business, which is confirmed by the extreme close-up of his mouth speaking the words ‘lets talk business’ in English. The grey photo of the target is a closeup, and its black-and-white colour is a semantic resemblance with photos that represent data files, and combined with the cigarette, gives the semantic code of crime and creates the stereotype of an informant in the crime genre. Despite the neutral tone, the diction ‘fat bastard’ suggests that the man is angry about the target, whilst words such as ‘reasonable’ used to describe the employer are clearly more indirect to show respect. The pause before ‘a little conversation’ and maybe he’ll listen to you‘ are clear euphemisms that allude to usage of violence to achieve goals. Similarly, ‘maybe he’ll listen to you’ suggests that Leon is also either well-respected or well-feared by people in their line of business.

The fast reaction cuts between the two characters highlight the intensity of their conversation, and Leon’s sunglasses which cut off eye contact, along with his more silent role in the conversation suggests that he is unemotional, serious and professional concerning his work. The extensive use of extreme close-up cutscenes creates a sense of engima: characters and their actions are fragmented so that the audience have less details to speculate upon their identities. However, as Leon is revealed to be a hitman, a series of shots show Leon sipping a glass of milk, which subverts the conventional ‘hitman’ stereotype through a juxtaposition of characteristics, and in doing so adds a hint of comedy into the tense atmosphere created in the scene, also suggesting that despite his tough looks, Leon may be a more sophisticated or eccentric character. The use of warm, dark lighting creates a tight atmosphere which effectively stages the conversation, and the diegetic sounds which stand out against the silent background furthers the sense of intimacy and seriousness within the scene. When Leons pulls the target’s photo off the table, the physical contact with the photo creates the action code that Leon will get rid of the individual, virtually ‘removing him from the picture’. The red backdrop of the table also creates the semantic connotation with blood, which suggests violence. The camera remains still as Leon lowers his head, the reflection in his glasses demonstrates that he is looking at the photo, and his emotionless expression as he raises his head suggest that he is not afraid or indecisive, increasing the impression of his tough, professional character.