Black Swan Trailer Analysis

Momento trailer Analysis

Momento was released in 2000. The genre of the film is a physiological thriller. The audience are able to identify the physiological part of the film through the unstable emotional sate of the main character. There is also a set of mystery throughout the trailer regarding who killed the main characters wife. This employs the thriller side of the film because it gives the element of surprise and excitement for the audience. The film targets the age of 18 to 35 mixed genders. This is shown in relation towards the age of the characters being at the age of 30-40 and is shown in the violent of the scenes in the trailer appealing to people around the age of 18. The film trailer shows a relationship between a male and female which appeal to the female gender and create the target audience to be mixed genders.  The trailer lasts for 2 minutes and 22 seconds with 64 shots being used within the trailer. In the film trailer there are not many transitions that have been used. This could be towards the fact that the transitions take the seriousness out of the trailer. The diegetic sound towards in the film trailer enables the audience to understand the sense of narrative this is evident in the words “since my injury I cant make new memories”. This tells the audience about the physiological state of the man and what is wrong with him. Non diegetic sound is presented at the start of the trailer. This is evident with the sound of a fast car going past this emphasizes the confusion of the character as he doesn’t know were he is. Towards the end of the trailer there is also the sound of a light piano tapping and the sound of a violin. This emphasizes the mood and tone of the film trailer. The sense of narrative in the trailer is being told through the diegetic dialogue of the trailer. This is shown through the man telling us what is wrong with him and what he is trying to find out. The trailer reveals that someone has taken away his memory and it is the same person who has killed his wife. Telling us that the film is going to be about trying to find his wife’s killer, however creating that sense of enigma that even he could be involved into the death of his wife The opening shot of the trailer establishes the mood and expectations of the trailer. This is evident in a black and white shot of the man looking confused and not knowing were he is. This creates the mystery element of the film trailer and gives us an insight that he might have something physiological wrong with him. This then leads to the narrative of telling the audience what is actually wrong wih him. The expectations within the film are established through a variety of characters towards the fact that any of them could be involved in the killing of the main characters wife even him. Within the trailer there is a variety of close up shots of the main character to express his unstable emotional state. The studio used to market this film is called new market films.  I feel very critical when analysing the films target audience as I don’t believe the film trailer appeals to its audience of 18-30 because it doesn’t involve many key transition characteristics that other trailers may use to target its product.  Therefore this film trailer was not sufficiently effective as a promotional device for the film. However the reason for me analysing the film trailer was to see the psychological element of the film to study key ideas I could use for my film trailer. This is evident in the emotional state of the character and the sense of enigma to what happened to his wife and who killed her. The narrative of the trailer is also good not revealing too much of the real plot.

New trailer plot

The trailer starts with an establishing shot of the house. Then it cuts to a medium shot of David taking a drink from the fridge. When he closes it, we see the fridge door with magnets all jumbled up. There is then a tracking shot of him picking up his props from the table before starting to leave the house in a shirt and tie with a briefcase and coffee flask. When he gets to the door, he then looks over his shoulder and shouts “See you later Love”, before it fades out to long shot as he walks away. This fades in to a classroom where he’s teaching a science class.

   He is stood teaching biology to a sixth form class with a diagram of a cell on a whiteboard behind him. He begins to talk about how bad cells can lead to complications – “When a cell’s chromosomes do this…..complications can arise”. He appears distant before a student asks if he’s okay. Then the student’s voice fades out and everything becomes muffled. As a clock begins to tick, getting louder and louder, the teacher’s face appears panicked and upset, before returning to normal where he asks, “Where was I?” The scene then cuts.

   We then see him sat on the edge of the bed crying. Once again, the clock reads 11:57 and on the bedside table is a vase full of flowers.

   The next scene, we see him in the school once again. This time he catches a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye. He looks out the window to see his neighbour leaving the school grounds, this peculiar because the neighbour has no children of his own. Shortly after, he is called into the headmaster’s office where she tells him she thinks its best he takes some time off after everything that’s happened.

The next scene shows him at the door talking to the neighbour. He appears a lot more dishevelled (messy appearance and clothing) with a shirt sporting a stain and pyjama bottoms. The neighbour says, “Look David, a lot of us are worried about you. We know about the job and the” David then interrupts him with “I’m coming love”, talking to someone in the house before saying to his neighbour “I don’t know what weird, sick game you are playing but leave me and Lisa out of it”. He slams the door. He looks down after shutting the door to find his letters have been opened. He looks confused but suspects the neighbour.

   In the next scene, we see him washing his face in the mirror and he hears a man's voice saying, “You've got to move on, there's nothing you can do”. The next scene shows him in the living room flicking through channel after channel. It fades out and shows him doing it over a few days before music from a piano seems to wake him up from the trance – clubbed to death piano solo. He walks into another room only for the music to stop. The silence is then pierced by an alarm clock with the number 11:57 visible. Behind David we see his neighbour spying through the window out of sight of David.

   Next we hear half of a conversation, “So what do you fancy doing today, Honey? Just staying here? Sure if that's what you want” He then begins to hear ticking again as it approaches the same time as in the school. He looks over to the fridge to see the magnets arranged into words with a time underneath - “It's your fault 11:57”. He panics and becomes frozen to the spot when the sound of trash cans falling over snaps him out of it. He runs outside to see what it is just in time to see his neighbour try and run away. He catches him and asks what he's doing, when the neighbour replies, “Don't worry, you'll be looked after”.

The next scene shows him in the house. As he looks around, rooms begin to fade away until it is just Lisa's room. To check he goes in to find it torn up and messy as if there was a struggle. He runs outside just in time to see a car pull off.

   The film begins to pick up pace showing various scenes of David breaking down. These scenes are completely silent and in slow motion with the exception of the song playing over the scene as he breaks down in the corner, smashing plates, rips posters from the wall etc. We then see him in a room where the walls are covered in photos. The music begins to slow down as the scene slowly fades out and the stops completely. He wakes up in an unknown room where a nurse walks in saying the doctor will see you now. In the final scenes there is a black screen. We hear footsteps before it cut back in and his neighbour walks in and smiles maliciously. 

new film plot

David, aged 23 has a good job working as a biology teacher in his local comprehensive school, where he has a good relationship with the pupils and his fellow teachers. The film begins where we find David at a graveyard. He is sat in front of a grave stone, where he places a bunch of flowers. To whom this belongs to is made unknown to the audience.
   The audience then see David whilst in a lesson. He is taking a lesson on the topic of cancer, which causes him to act out of character. His usual happy self now appears uncomfortable and agitated. His odd behaviour continues, when the next day we see him check the time, this reading 11:57. This seems to alarm David, leaving him flustered. Hoping the children don’t notice, he swiftly sets the class a task, and he sits down at his desk in order to try and contain himself. He sits staring into space as if in deep thought, acting unusual to his normal character. David obviously seems distressed to his colleagues who advise him to take time off and work through his problems.
   David is now at home, when someone knocks on the front door. He answers to find his next door neighbour who has come round to check how things are. They have a brief conversation; however, he can hear someone playing piano in the house, although this is actually in his head. This distracts David, causing him to appear distant. This concerns the people around him even more.
   When the neighbour leaves, David returns to the house. While doing so, he calls upstairs, “It was only Mr Andrews again, want a cuppa love?” There is no reply and David pauses. The piano stops playing as he realises there isn’t actually anyone in the house. He returns to his kitchen to find the mornings post open which he has no recollection of. He then walks further into the room to find a message on the fridge. The message reads 11:57, the same time in which triggered his odd behaviour in the classroom. At this point, the man is convinced there is someone in his house leaving him in a paranoid state. Hearing the slightest of noise makes him overly suspicious, unable to feel comfortable in his own home, constantly feeling on edge.
   David starts calling the name “Lisa!” hinting to the audience who he believes is in the house. He begins searching around the house calling her name, behaving irrationally. He hears the piano playing once again, which leads him to a particular room. The room is full of mementos, where there are photos of a woman, presumably Lisa, plastered all over the walls. It now appears that Lisa is or was someone incredibly close to David, and was very important to him. This seems to be too much for David, where we see him emotionally breakdown.
   The film ends with David in a mental hospital. It is revealed that Lisa was in fact David's long term partner, who had died of cancer. David had difficulty dealing with what happened, unable to let go, where he continued to live as nothing had ever happened. This became too much for David, resulting in him being sectioned.

Changes made after the animatic

Towards the production of our animatic we have found as a group that our original idea was not capturing the codes and conventions of our chosen genre of a physiological thriller. Towards this result we have decided to go with Ruth’s first film plot. This is because her film plot matched the codes and convections of a physiological thriller. With our new film plot we expanded on it by generating ideas of our own, when doing this we looked at other physiological thrillers like shutter island and memento. When we have finally decided the full film plot we will create a trailer plot then convert the ideas to a story board before going onto the production of a film.