About Black Swan
Before beginning my review of the film, I wanted to collect general research on the plot summary of the film, general information and it's themes and messages.The film is directed by Darren Aronofsky of 'The Wrestler' and stars Natalie Portman as the main character, Nina.
In short, the film's plot can be described as:
"BLACK SWAN is a film about a young New York based prima ballerina, portraying her psychological deterioration while preparing for her first leading role." [1]
Another source describes the film's genre and the metaphor that the film portrays:
"Usually described as a psychological thriller, Black Swan can be also interpreted as a metaphor for achieving artistic perfection, with all the psychological and physical challenges one might encounter." [2]
The Editor
My main focus within the film when reviewing it was the editing styles and techniques explored by the editor. But before I started, I wanted to learn who the editor of the film was, and find out through research what their thoughts and process was on editing Black Swan.The film's editor is Andrew Weisblum, a successful editor that I found a large amount of information on when it comes to looking at his time editing the film. I firstly found an interview on editing Black Swan:
"Q: How did you prep for editing this movie?
A: Darren and I had some discussions about genre and editorial styles that would be applicable. We discussed psychological thrillers and horror films. With horror films, we were referencing scary moments to see how those moments were executed and what were the tricks of the trade. There was a mandate to always concern ourselves with Nina's subjectivity. We were concerned with when and how to cross the line between realism and impressionism and how to blur that line as much as possible." [3]
- I learned from this that even professional, industry standard editors will often find inspiration from other films to decide on their own style and approach to a film. As well as considering which techniques to use to blend reality and non reality without the audience being able to decide which is which.
"Q: I understand you were actually editing on the set. How did this work?
A: [I] spent more than half the shoot on the set using a laptop [with software-only Avid Media Composer] with FireWire drives. I was on set for all the dance sequences and all the horror beats. We did that because the schedule was so pressured and Darren wasn't storyboarding, so we wanted to make sure we were covering all the bases. I could try things out, make sure that things would time out in a way." [3]
- Although the circumstances and editing software would have been of a much higher quality, it was very interesting to learn that a professional editor remained on set and created dailies to ensure that the film was working and would cut together. Similar to my process of creating dailies off-set to ensure the same thing.
"Q: What ended up being the most challenging scene?
A: Technically, the most complicated scene was when Nina and Lily go clubbing. There's so much going on subliminally. There are 20 instances of Nina thinking she's seeing herself. We pushed it farther and went all out. Every image of that scene — which is 45 to 50 seconds with 1,000 images — is manipulated. Frame by frame, we manipulated the environment so the backgrounds were a selective mix of things from her reality and her imagination." [3]
- This is an area that shows a distinct difference between a low budget film in comparison to a Hollywood standard film. As they have the time, tools and experience to use special effects and manipulate images to explore the reality and non-reality based scenes. Where as for Double Exposure, I need to focus more so on shot types, lengths and cutting techniques to heighten this instead.
Also, in sources containing further information on Weisblum's experience in making Black Swan, I found the following:
"A guiding principle for Weisblum in constructing the “trajectory of her madness” was to “keep up tension, not give her any release or relief” — but as it was written and shot, a scene early in the film undermined this approach. After blowing an audition for the dual leads (the White Swan and the Black Swan) in Swan Lake, Portman’s character returns home and successfully attempts a difficult move from the piece, the “32 fouettes tournants.” Later she goes to the director to tell him she did it, and ask for the part. Weisblum ingeniously recut the scene so that she attempts the move, but fails: “It was more ‘Black Swan’ that she would go home and not be able to do it and go in [to the director] and lie.” This change had a ripple effect throughout the rest of the film, creating a throughline of tension that only finds release at the end, when she successfully completes the 32 fouettes tournant on stage — then (at least in her own mind) dies the death of the White Swan, achieving ultimate perfection." [4]
- I found this very interesting, that the editor could see the way that the tension that the character and the audience were experiencing needed to constantly build, instead of stop and start, so he manipulated a scene himself to achieve this. Although I'm aware that the editor doesn't take the film into their own hands, it's inspiring to learn that a film doesn't have to remain shot for shot in line with the script, and can begin to explore new ways of approaching the plot and themes.
"As an editor, he says his role was to continually escalate the unraveling of Portman’s Nina character, but in a way that viewers could relate to her point of view. “It had to be a gradual build,” he recalls. “She could not start out insane.” [5]
- This is very similar to the ways that Emily in Double Exposure needs to be portrayed in the edit, the audience needs to question her sanity and decide for themselves before she starts to change later in the film. If she was instantly unbalanced, there would be no twist in the film and the audience wouldn't connect with her.
"“I don’t like having rules, but I know it makes things stronger some times. It’s not a bad thing to have discipline.” [5]
- I feel the same about this when it comes to editing, that my creative approach may lack slightly if I'm following a rulebook throughout the process. However, some guidelines do need to be followed so that the project remains consistent and balanced.
My Film Review
It was very inspiring to learn about Weisblum's thoughts and processes before beginning my review on Black Swan. The information below now consists of the editing techniques that I noticed and analysed within the film...
General
- The first thing that I noticed was that the opening titles/film title were immediate, very basic and short to get straight into the film. Below is an example of this...
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| Title Card |
- The more the moments of Nina ripping off parts of her skin in her imagination occur, the more we seem to see of this, with uncomfortable close up shots that really make the audience almost feel what she's doing. We also then see that nothing actually happened, using the suddenly changing shots to portray her psychological state.
Editing for Suspense & Tension
- For almost all characters, when focusing on the look on their face, the shots selected are close-ups, keeping uncomfortably close.
- The first time Nina questions reality and her imagination is at around 15 minutes in. Cutting from one end of an alley on her face, to suddenly cutting to a more seductive looking Nina passing her from the opposite direction, then cutting back to the real Nina, with the real, ordinary woman passing her. All of which is very fast paced. This moment can be seen in the screengrabs below...
- In the intimate, sexual moments such as Nina alone, with Thomas, and with Lily, the cuts are quick, sticking with invasive close-ups of their actions.
- In more horror-like moments, we cut back and forth from Nina's POV (point of view), to seeing something unusual occur when looking at her, jumping back to a jump scare moment of her POV now having a version of herself leaning over her.
- Another horror moment/jump scare is created by holding on one shot, having the character turn of the lights, then when she turns them back on, a creepy character appears.
- From the moment we see that Nina has lost her mind and transformed into the 'black swan', a large part of the scene remains on one shot of her as we see her in her fantasy.
- One of the biggest moments in the films has us watch in one long shot of Nina realising that she hasn't killed Lily as she looks around her dressing from, moving to a terrified look on her face. The big reveal moment is a close up of her bleeding from her stomach, and we see that she in fact stabbed herself.
Editing for Drama & Emotion
- The shots often remain on Nina to keep us connected with her and feel her emotions, for example when she calls her mum, we don't see her mum at home talking back, we remain on one shot of Nina. As can be seen below...
- We are very often seeing Nina's point of view, even if from behind her. Cutting back and forth between what she's seeing (over should shots), and a close-up of the look on her face, to connect with her thoughts.
- In an emotional moment, the last two shots we see are Nina's face saying that she was perfect, and then her POV as she looks up at the lights, and the shot of her face fades to white as she dies.
Editing Techniques
Jump cuts, L & J cuts, cutting on action, match cuts, & POV
- Due to the large amount of dancing, right from the start of the film, all movements flow with the music.
- Although the first scene would have been manipulated to change the character's costumes, it appears as if it's one long shot.
- The editor often holds on one shot of a character talking, rather than cutting back and forth between the characters.
- Jump cuts are used as Nina prepares her shoes, speeding up the process and giving us a sense of her routine.
- Each scene jumps into the next to keep the story moving, however we're still able to keep our sense of surroundings due to other characters in the shots such as ballet dancers.
- Match cuts are used to have a character enter and leave a room through the door.
- L cuts and J cuts are frequently used as to be expected, to cut between dialogue.
- Cutting on action is used to an extreme standard, by using rapidly moving camera shots that stop at the same time as Nina stops, cutting between a static shot of her spinning and stopping, and the spinning camera shot from her POV, stopping on another character over and over. This can be seen in the clip below from 0:12 to to 0:21 seconds...
- An unusual method for the film of transitioning between one scene to another by cross-fading. The cross-fade techniques is used more further into the film to move time along.
- Slow motion is used to represent the precision of Nina's movements as we see her spin and land as she tries to correct her move.
- In a scene when Nina goes to bed, it fades to black to end the scene, and cuts straight to her on the train the following day, seemingly to show us her routine.
- Once Nina goes out dancing with Lily, the cuts rapidly cut back and forth between the characters and to black, to give the appearance of the flickering lights in a dance club. This also allows for jump cuts so that we can see Nina hallucinate as insert shots are added.
- There's the use of a lot of camera trickery and special effects to portray the idea that what we're seeing in those moments are all in Nina's mind. Especially when she transforms into the black swan towards the end of the film, as feathers appear, her eyes turn red and her legs snap and change their shape into that of a swan.
Pacing
- Even though the story and content of the film starts quite slow and calm, the pacing of the cuts are quick and almost uneasy, to already make the audience feel uncomfortable.
- Each time Nina dances, the editor makes sure not to cut away, and remains on the long, fluid, tracking shots of her movements for us to get lost in her dancing.
- When Nina finally starts to relax when she goes to a bar with Lily, we can see a noticeable change in the pacing, the cuts start to become relaxed with her. However they pick up the pace again from the dance club scene onward, rebuilding the tension.
Influences & Comparisons
By reviewing this film and noting down the overall editing style that Weisblum used, I learned a lot in how to approach editing a psychological thriller. One of the key things that stood out to me and helped me to understand was that not every scene needs a transition, such as a character leaving and entering a location or a shot. If what we're seeing feels familiar (e.g. same costume and time of day) we can understand that the next scene follows from the last.
I also took note on the fact that it's extremely effective have the pacing of the film match the mood or mindset of the main character within this type of genre. Even if the character isn't doing much, if they're tense then as an audience we should feel tense with them, if they're relaxed then we should become relaxed for that moment. And lastly, I found that one the main things that makes Black Swan feel so powerful, are the lingering close-up shots of Nina, to either build tension or to have us feel her emotion, I feel that they allow for a real connection to her character throughout.
I found a number of similarities between the approach to Black Swan and my planned approach to Double Exposure. Such as planning to have a simplistic opening titles sequence to not distract from the film itself (as agreed with the Director), to use a lot of quick cuts during tense or more 'thriller' styled moments, to make sure to linger on shots of Emily where necessary - either to heighten emotion or suspense for the audience, and to ensure that the pace of the film always matches with Emily's actions and mindset.
Researching, reviewing and comparing Black Swan to my own work on Double Exposure was extremely useful for me, especially as the themes, genre and protagonist character type match so well. This review and research taught me about the best ways to approach editing the film with genre and professional conventions, but also the unique feel that I want to bring to the film.
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