SHOT by SHOT ana l y s i s

Scene: “Attack it!” from Black Swan (2009) [dir. Darren Aronofsky]

1. I chose a fairly simple scene (yet very fast paced], with a few cool visual camera tricks. Nothing really happens in this scene, other than helping to establish the roles of the main characters. It opens on Thomas (French pronunciation – “Toe-Moss”), the director, telling Nina to demonstrate her dance moves (this is a big deal because she’s getting a shot at being the lead in the company’s largest production, Swan Lake. This is New York City, and Nina is a young girl who could  [possibly] be on her way top becoming one of the largest names in the ballet industry).

2. The camera follows her around to get a side view of Nina as she walks to the center, where she will begin her routine. You can see in her eyes that she is very nervous. This is her big chance.

3. Cut to a close-up of Nina’s biggest enemy. These two are competing for this huge spot in the play. You can see her hatred in her eyes, as if she wants to spit on Nina.

4. Cut back to Nina. This shot establishes that Nina could see her enemy’s face, and that makes this whole scene even a bit more nerve-wracking. To Nina, it seems like the world wants her to fail.

5. Cut to a shot from behind the piano, this shows us the expansive rehearsal room. We can see mirrors all over every wall (making this entire film all the more outstanding), and this angle gives us a fantastic view of the piano, Nina getting ready to dance on our left, and we can see Thomas waiting in the distance. We can also see the other top dancers (all of the dancers in this scene were chosen as being the top dancers, meaning that they all have the opportunity to play the Swan Queen) off in the distance.

6. This cut re-establishes Nina’s constant focus on her goal. She’s as serious as a heart attack.

7. This small section is the first bit of Nina’s movement that we get to watch. The camera tracks forward as Nina spins with grace.

8. Here, we cut to a close up tracking shot of Nina’s feet as she dances, showing the meticulous and hard work that she puts in to be a great ballerina.

9. Cut to a close up shot of Thomas, looking not extremely pleased. This shot establishes even more pressure being put on Nina, making the scene even more suspenseful.

10. Cut to another tracking shot of Nina, she continues to spin gracefully while Thomas spouts more encouraging words at her.

11. Cut back to Thomas, a close-up. We can see that he is not very impressed with Nina’s dancing skills. He continues to shout “encouragingly”.

12. Cut back to Nina, she looks extremely focused and in the zone as she spins magnificently as ballerinas do.

13. We now cut to our previous shot from behind the piano, showing the entire room. This shot re-establishes that Nina is now standing directly in front of Thomas as she dances.

14. Cut to a close-up on Nina as she continues to dance. From this angle we can really see the nervousness in her eyes. This is her dream.

15. This is the coolest shot in the scene (in my opinion) – as Nina spins in front of Thomas, we cut from Thomas’ perspective on shot 14 to Nina’s perspective, but because she is spinning (rapidly), Aronofsky decided to have the camera spinning as well, because he’s just really cool like that. So it spins twice, stopping intermittently after a full spin to show Thomas shouting more at her.

16. We cut back to Thomas’ perspective and see the same thing repeated from a new perspective.

17. Cut again to Nina’s spinning perspective, and we can see that Thomas is now stopping his shouting as if to say that he has finally given up hope on Nina.

18. Cut to a slightly changed (by maybe 45 degrees) angle to show a medium shot of Nina as she continues to spin, but now she looks off as if she’s losing her concentration due to external stimuli.

19. We now cut to Nina’s perspective. Her gaze has shifted from Thomas to the door in the corner of the room; she’s distracted by someone entering the room.

20. Cut to a medium shot of Nina to show her losing her balance.

21. Cut to a lower angle shot of this, more focused on her legs/feet to show the source of the stumble/trip/fall/slip/whatever.

22. Cut to a medium shot of Nina looking in the direction of the door, supposedly to get a better look at the person responsible for distracting her in the middle of possibly the most important audition of her life.

23. Cut to Nina’s perspective, we see Mila Kunis’ character entering the room.

24. A continuation of shot 22 here, we see Nina look at Mila, then rub her head, showing her frustration.

25. Cut to a closer medium shot of Mila’s character quietly apologizing for her disruption while removing her earbuds.

26. Nina stares at Mila’s char., possibly building a “who is this” story.

I think this scene is a great example of more contemporary “auteur” film style, but even though this isn’t classical Hollywood style, and it does have some interesting shots, it’s executed in such a way that it doesn’t take the viewer out of the story in any way. Actually, for me, it helps submerge me, because I’m actually seeing things from different characters’ perspectives.