Darren Aronfsky, Black Swan resembles an American psychological thriller that is essentially a horror film. The plot resolves around the production of Swan Lake Ballet, which is a competitive dance company. Natalie Portman’s character, Nina takes on this role as an innocent White Swan. But conflicts arise pushing Nina to be more like the sensual Black Swan, where she does not fit in. These two contradictory roles slowly cause Nina to lose her mind, forgetting her own identity.
Aronfsky’s lack of color’s sets the overall mood for the plot. It is symbolizing good versus evil. The color choice is mostly blacks and whites, with little color use. The era throughout Black Swan is dark and mysterious; it keeps the viewer on edge. The extraordinary ballet clothing and phenomenal makeup on the ballerina’s draws attention by itself. During performances there was a ray of light reflected on the ballerina, which drew the viewer that much closer into curiosity . The use of body language on stage was perfect. Everything down to the tips of fingers is perfectly aligned with the rest of the body. The most powerful element used is the inner and external struggles between being the White Swan versus the Black Swan. Nina is being pushed to become something she is not, the Black Swan. But the Black Swan takes over her, and her reality. Which leads to her ultimate demise as the protagonist.
The visual and auditory effects are what bring the film together. There are musical hints of terror. The soundtrack is mixed to perfectly match the visual element and emotion that takes place during that specific scene. This gives the audience a sense of getting lost within the music. We see this in Nina throughout the film, a disturbed and lost ballerina. Even in the trailer the overall mood of darkness in intertwined by the soundtrack. Black Swan is the epitome of psychological thriller
The Official Blog of WRTG 3007, Summer 2012 
Several people have mentioned the importance of the music throughout the movie and that was something that I paid little attention to. I think that I was so caught up in paying attention to the light and dark color effects that I paid little attention to the music. But you are right in the sense that it a a lot like a thriller film because the music always cresendos at an intense moment. Looking back on the movie now this is something that occured often. When I re watch it I will be paying attention to this. I like the term psychological thriller (I think I will have to use this in my paper).
I liked the way you chose to highlight black/white and light/dark in this blog entry. You’re right, there is not much color used. I didn’t like this at first, but as a watched further, I began to see how essential it really was to the mood of the movie and the overall message of the story line. It is interesting that you bring up body language too, Although maybe not explicitly, I think this works hand in hand with the coloring, or lack of it. I definitely noticed the music in the movie too, which I loved! It made the character expressions and the film as a whole much more powerful.
I agree that the scenery of black and white represents good vs. evil and I think it is really cool that the director was able to carry that throughout the entire film. Everything from the lighting, the characters, and the make-up represent good vs. evil and the pull between the two of them. The music is the most powerful thing in the movie that heightens the drama and tension in the movie. Without the music in the movie, it would not be as dark.
Nina’s character is definitely portrayed as being innocent and naive, as shown through her bedroom, clothing, stuffed animals, ect. This naivety allows for her character to be easily controlled and manipulated. Interesting breakdown of the symbolic meaning of the colors throughout the movie. Besides the obvious black/white meaning and the girlish nature of the pink, I had not thought about the color red, did you?