Documentary Film Preproduction

International Documentary Pre-pro

(Blacksmith Business)

1.Purpose: The intent of this piece is to show a how differently a business is manage in a different country.

2.Contacts: My aunt

3.Interview Questions:

What do you sell? And do you manufacture it?
How do you run your business?
How do you set up every Sunday morning?
What factors contribute to a high sales?
Is this a business from generations?
How do you deal with haggle on prices?
How do you win over clients?
Do you depend on this business?
What’s the most difficult part of selling in a market? Only selling one day a week?
What are some the regulations you go through for having this business in the market?

4.Shot List-

Shot#	Shot	Description
1	FS	the entire location, the stations next to it
2	CU	the products (blacksmith tools)
3	MS	of the interviewee
4	MS	people buying
5	CU	Interviewee
6	MS	Station set-up
7	FS	their station
8	MS	End of the day, picking their station and putting everything back
9	MS	Market getting empty and dark
10	FS	The entire street alone and fading to black

5.General Flow:
Beginning: FS of the street tracking down to the station of the business. VO introducing the place and the business
Middle: The interviewee explaining her business, the way it progresses throughout the entire day
End: People leaving the place and the business putting back their stuff and leaving the Street empty, just like it is in weekdays

6. Scripts:
Intro: “It’s a Sunday in Tlacolula, Oaxaca, Mexico, but unlike the other days of the week, it’s a great opportunity for Nancy Ramirez to sell blacksmith in the traditional market”
Closing: “And just like the beginning, the streets are empty again, Nancy has worked her business and wait for next Sunday to sell again”

7. Production Schedule- Dates for interviews/b-roll
Dec 2nd- Interview and B-ROLL

Short Film (Story Elements)

Character- talented female painter, doesn’t give up, works hard

Setting- Painting room

Obstacle- her mother doesn’t support her, discouraging her

Relationship- mother daughter

Time- present, flashbacks

Backstory- her mother used to be a painter but she wasn’t successful, resents art and now believes is a waste of time

Unknown- why her mother doesn’t support her

Discovery- daughter discovers her mother’s past

Goal- get her mother to support her

Mood- frustrated, depressed, but inspired

Scene	Dramatic Intent
1) she’s painting in her room and when her mother enters and sees her painting, she gets upset and tells her to do something productive. Throws the artwork to the garbage and leaves.	To show that her mother is against her painting and believes it’s a waste of time
2)the daughter takes her artwork out of the garbage can and looks at it. It seems wrinkled, then puts it under her bed and we see she has many more wrinkled artworks under the bed.	To demonstrate that this is not the first time she has to rescue her artwork from the garbage. But also to portray the character as passive and calm.
3) At Dinning table, they don’t talk, the sound only comes from the dishes. They don’t look in the eye.	show their relationship
4)The daughter finds an article about her mother where it says how at an art gallery exhibition no showed up, it was empty	Reveal why her mother doesn’t like her painting.
5) We go back to that moment (flashback). We live the moment.	To connect with the audience and male them care for these characters.
6) Shot of the mother when she was young and she was adjusting the latest details before her exhibition. Her face shows happiness, excitement. Hours go by and almost no one shows up. Her face now shows disappointment. She starts to rip off her paints and desperately cries.	Show the pain her mother went through and understand her position.
7) We go back to actual time period. Her mother sees her with the article. She confronts her and they talk about that event. The daughter tries to convince her to accept her art, but the mother just rips off the article indicating that she will never accept it.	Realize that some events hurt too much to let them go and move on. Not every story has a happy ending.

Soviet Montage and Realism

Both the Man with a Movie Camera and the Bicycle Thief are an example of Tradition of Formalism, however, they different in the techniques used. The Man with a Moving Camera is an example of Pudovkin and Eisenstein's idea of Constructive editing in formalism. They believed that the meaning was created by the juxtaposition rather than the shots. In their perspective the artistry lies not on the materials, but in the way they are taken apart and put back together. For example from 1:23 to 1:56 the empty chairs is one concept and the people coming into the theater is another. 

By contrasting the two a new meaning is created. It emphasizes that the people like going to the theater because all the chairs are being used, one by one, but eventually the theater is full.

 This scene also shows how the chairs and people are not what create the meaning, but the edit is. By putting together these shots you are creating something beyond the images; you are putting meaning to the scene.  In addition, the close-up shots obligate the audience to look at a specific shot provoking a particular emotion. For instance, 3:42 to 4:19 you see young kids sleeping on the street and later the contrast shot of the houses tell a story, provoking sadness in the audience. It shows how even though there are many houses innocent young kids have no where to sleep, which is an example of reality.







However,  Andre Bazin disapproved of constructive cutting because he believed it destroyed the effectiveness of the scene. He thought reality in film was accomplished through long shots, wide screen, lengthy takes, and deep focus, instead of individual shots. For example, (0:00 to 0:15) shows the man walking with his son, there are no cuts, the camera follows them creating a sense of realism.

Another lengthy take (1:02-1:21) shows the indecision going through the man's head; he doesn't know if he should go for the bicycle or not and decides to sit for a moment. The audience understands the confusion without any cutting or use of different angles. In addition, when he's sitting down the audience has the power to choose who to focus on; the man or the boy. This concept of allowing the audience to chose who to look at relates more to realism because that's what people do when they're on the street.
The wide shot is not forcing an emotion, on the contrary it gives freedom to feel different emotions. Although in most of the film there almost no individual shots, the few individual shots like in 6:18 to 6:40 are so powerful. Bazin says it's okay to use individual shots only if you need to portray an emotion of isolation, sadness. In this case the shot of the father shows his shame and sorrow and then the shot of the kid demonstrates his emotions, mostly sadness. But the moment the kids grabs his father's hand it creates a strong meaning. It implies that he's not alone; he supports his father no matter what. And then it goes back to a full shot to close the scene.

Realism/Classicism/Formalism Paradigm

Matrix Reloaded (click title to watch clip)
Formalism- This clip is a clear example of formalism because it manipulates time and space several times during this scene. For instance, at 1:10; when he jumps on the hood of the car. Everything slows down, it seems unreal but it’s purpose it to highlight the impact of the jump. Then everything suddenly speed up and that's putting back what was taken away previously which is speed. Furthermore, after he jumps to the car we see a reaction shot of a passenger indicating how scare he is. This is called constructive cutting because the meaning is creating through juxtaposition. Continuing with the scene, next we see the first car he jumped crashed in slow motion, in an unrealistic time period and space.

Spider Man (click title to watch clip)
Classicism- this concept is about cutting to continuity (type of editing that tries to show fluidity of an event without literary showing it. For this scene, when spider-man tells the girl to get out of there because the monster is coming, several shots from different angles are shown. These shots combined form a bigger picture and show what is really happening without using an extreme long shot to show it. It's cut and put it together to explain the scene.There is also classical cutting, which is cutting for dramatically intensity and emotional emphasis rather than just physical reasons. The shots of the girl hidden in the closest and the shots of the monster outside the closest emphasize the panic she feels. It's not just cutting to change angle, but it's purpose it to portray emotion. 

God Loves Admiration (click title to watch clip)
Realism- is a continues shot. It's all about sequence edit meaning there are no edits or cuts at all. The purpose of this is to create a sense of reality. In this video the two women are having a conversation while walking around. The camera just follows them and provides on single perspective, which is the only perspective anyone in real life can have. This shots is long and slow which fits the tone of the conversion. 

Blog Characterization

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntb6Kbh3NI8&feature=related

Film: Black Swan

Character: Nina Sayers

The film is about a ballet dancer named Nina Sayer who goes mad because she’s obsess with reaching perfection on her number as the black swan. The precise scene I will be focusing on it’s consider the climax of the story. Nina’s passion for the number of the black swan has made her insane to the point where she has been hallucinating. But now she discovers that she has stabbed herself and despite this she decides to continue with the scene and dance as the black swan.

The wardrobe of Nina is just like any ballet dances, but with a dominant color, white, which represents afterlife, peace, pureness. In addition, the body language in this scene is similar to the one throughout the entire film. She is tensed at first but suddenly she changes and relaxes because she realizes that she has a number next and that’s what matter the most to her. Her actions show the obsession Nina has with perfection because it’s part of her persona. The fact that she decides to ignore her condition and consciously puts her life at risk demonstrates how mentally affected she is by the desire of perfection.

The goal in this scene is to overcome the obstacle in order to give the performance of her life in the black swan number.

The character’s flaw is her obsession for perfection because as said once in the film perfection can’t be naturally reached. The obstacle is her mental and physical health; she’s literally bleeding and this could prevent her from going on stage and perform. Furthermore, her mental issues could intervene in her performance and make it a disaster.

The way Nina overcomes these obstacles is through the desire of performance and gives up her life. First, she forgets about the blood and what she’s going though, she concentrates on the performance and never loses focus of what her goal is. Finally, she chooses performing over her own life; she’s aware of the fact that if she doesn’t receive medical attention she could die, but she’s prepare to face the consequences and she is pleased at the end of the performance because in her perspective she “reached perfection”.

Reader Blog Post

Emerging Talent — The Surreal Imagery of Martin Marcisovsky

Chase Jarvis Blog Post http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2012/09/emerging-talent-the-surreal-imagery-of-martin-marcisovsky/

I read a blog post of Chase Jarvis about a photograph of Martin Marcisovsky and I found the interpretations very interesting . First of all the picture is very unique, but what I liked the most is that Jarvis talks about the photograph showing either isolation or complete connection with oneself. The dark elements support the claim of isolation, but in a different perspective the fact that there is no on else around implies the idea of self center moment. Additionally, Jarvis talks about how this image relates to science-fiction. Personally I think the graphics of the image portray this interpretation as well as the depth of the image. Overall I thought that Jarvis did a good simply, but effective analysis of this photograph because every interpretation has evidence to support such claim.

When You Find Me-Ten Themes

Character:

In this short-film the character of Lisle is presented a young innocent girl. She doesn't understand what is happening for that reason she believes she can find her mother. She's a good person who never meant to harm anyone, but her childish games kept her sister from saying goodbye to her mom. Her character remains the same as she grows up and that's why she understands that even though many years have happened it's her duty to tell her sister what happened that night.

Setting:

This story takes place in more than one setting, but in my opinion the setting of the airplane in the cemetery is key because that's where Lisle finds her mother. She finds an airplane, but she thinks is a star-ship that will take her to heaven. Additionally, when she and her sister are older they come back to this place and Aurora confesses what she told her mother. After this confession, she feel better and together they find peace.
Backstory:
The Backstory of this short-film is that Aurora is not really upset with her sister for not saying goodbye to their mom, but she's upset because she didn't apologize to her for the horrible things she said previously. In this picture you can see that there is a person in the middle, between her and her mother, which suggest their relationships was not the best at such time.

Goal:

The goal for both girls was to find their mother. For Lisle she wanted to find her because she couldn't accept that she was gone and that she would never be back. As for Aurora, she wanted to find her mother because she needed to ask for forgiveness and find peace to her soul. Both needed to see her for the last time and say goodbye. In the imagine to the right shows the two girls running towards the tree where their mother stands waiting for them.
Time:
The time of this story is out of this world. Since the plot focuses on the after life; Lisle thinks her mother went to heaven and she imagines how to get there at the picture to the left. Her sister explains that she doesn't really know where heaven is, she just know is far. This suggest that time exists beyond planet earth and that's what the director tries to portray through Lisle's imagination.

Relationship:

The relations between Aurora and Lisle is a sisterhood. They used to be very close when they were younger, but after their mother's death, they fell apart and until Lisle confesses what happened the night she got lost, they come closer again. On the picture to the right they're walking towards their mom's grave and there is light but shadows remain demonstrating how their relationship has been. They have had good and bad moments.
Obstacle:
On the image to the left we can appreciate the object that is in between Aurora and Lisle. The director uses it to highlight that there is an obstacle between them and it's Aurora's anger towards what at first seem her sister, but in reality towards herself. Aurora can't find peace because she didn't apologize to her mother, and Lisle can't find peace because she feels Aurora blames her for not saying goodbye to their mom.

Mood:

The mood of in the story is anger and pain. Aurora's character shows anger when she's a child, but what she really feels is pain and we discover that later when she's older. While Lisle only shows pain for losing her mom and making Aurora resent her. The mood of anger and pain dominate the entire short-film


Unknown:
The element of unknown is strongly used in the short-film as heaven. No one really knows where we go after we die or what is heaven, but in this story the tree represent heaven. Since it's a white big tree I think of it as the tree from where Eve got the apple of sin. Before biting the apple she was in a place full of love, peace, no evil and I think the director's view of heaven is returning to the place that existed before Eve committed the sin. This place called heaven is unknown.

 Discovery

This shot of Aurora shows the moment of discovery. She discovers that her mom heard what she told her that day at the hospital. But she also discovers that her mom knew she loved her. This moment of discovery is reflected on the medium shot of Aurora. 

10 Themes of Story Telling

Discovery
The woman in this image is discovering things as she is walking down the road. The darkness emphasizes that there are things to discover, for example how long is the road. It is a straight, direct angle which doesn't show the entire picture, but that's the idea. She is located in the middle of the rule of thirds and the reason for this is because she is not the main attention of the image, but what she's discovering is more important.









Mood
This image shows a happy mood. The lighting is bright and the color texture is dominated by a smooth white. This helps portray the content mood as well as the position of the camera. Since it's locate to the side of the baby it creates a side-angle allowing the image to have the baby's reflection too. The mirror is said to be a reflection of how people truly feel and the smile on the baby's face indicates her happiness. Finally there are no shadows suggesting there is no negativity vibe into the baby's life.

Backstory
The color represents the exact
situation in this image. The obscurity has a double entendre, it is dark because it's probably in the afternoon, but the backstory is that she is barring her mistreated dolls. She is probably going through some tough times, depression or even mental illness. The lighting show many shadows that tell the backstory of this image, which is well set up by the long shot.

Character
The colors of this picture is basically the element that helps define the character of the child. All the bright colors represent the spirit of a child; they're full of energy and fun. However, the lighting implies that there is a darkest side to this child, the shadow on the half of the face plus all the obscurity behind her indicate she's not completely pure, innocent. The Medium Close up and the way she's looking at the camera describe her unique character as well as all that was mention previously.

Goal
The dog is scared of the bubbles and his goal is to run away from them. The medium shot captures perfectly his emotions. There is rack focus, the dog and the bubbles are on focus while the background is blurry. There entire image is lighted evenly creating the sense that it's day time.

Obstacle
The obstacle in this image is the loneliness this baby turtle faces. He's alone in the beach and since he looks small and baby turtle he could be in danger. The long shot provokes the sense of how big the beach is and how small the turtle is.
There is low lighting indicating the night is about to take over. Everything is on focus.

Relationship

The relationship is with oneself. The water us used a mirror that shows you a reflection of yourself. Your relationship with your own persona. The lighting is interesting because it creates some shadows, but it's bright at the same time. The water in the image distorts the image and add a different perspective.

Setting
The lighting strongly dominated the setting of this picture. The bright white light illuminates the image, but similarly it brings darkness. It is contrasting white and black colors and creates a balanced setting. Only two colors, two options; good or evil.  Also given that is located in nature, the setting of the forest is different from the ideal forest people create in their heads.

Time
This image shows contrasts may elements such as light, focus,  and speed of time. The focus is in the man, but also in the train. The speed of the train is faster than the man's and even though they are so close, he missed the train by a small period of time. Time can go so fast (the train), but at the same time it can go slow (man). Additionally there light and darkness in this picture.

Unknown
The lighting dominates this image, it creates a deep meaning. The white light behind the woman is an unknown and the plants around her do not help solve the mystery. She's centered in the rule of thirds and the front angle suggest she's into nature.

Film Review-Blog Post on The Black Hole

http://www.thesmalls.com/film/black-hole1) The Short Film is based on an original play. The idea is about an office worker who finds a “black hole”, meaning a portal which he can use it to obtain what he wants. The “black hole” helps himto go through doors, walls, glass or any physical object that usually keeps people from entering. I consider this a very unique and refreshing idea because it combines a science fiction concept in arealistic scenario.

2) There protagonist is the only character; his performance is enough to make the film successful. He’s the typical man who works in the office and seems to be tired of his job; this characterization makes his character believable.

3) In my opinion the cast of the protagonist was well done because he has the physical appearance and adequate attitude for such role.

4) The theme of the film is ambition. The plot, acting and setting lead me to this theme. From the plot the audience predicts that the protagonist will take advantage of the black hole and use to improve his life style.In beginning when he founds the black hole he wants to experiment with it, but then he realizes he could do more with it and decides to take a snack out of the bending machine by using the black hole. This action foreshadows the rest of the plot; the audience perceives the magnitude of his upcoming action. In addition to this, the acting implies that the protagonist doesn’t likehis job very much; the body language suggests he’s tired and he just wants to finish the job so he can go home. Similarly the setting help the audience understand what type of job he hasand why it’s not his dream job. From the background it seems that the building has many office cubicles and he’s probably one more employee who doesn’t have his own office. These threefactors combine demonstrate the ambition theme and explain the reasons behind it. Since the protagonists had a miserable job and he found the black which helps you to literary go throughany object, it is logical that he would want to still his boss to improve his life style.

5) As I mentioned before the setting is appropriate because it supports the storyline and helps the audience to understand the character’s motive.

6) The cinematography is effective in every area. For instance the lighting helps determine around what this films is taking place. Since it’s obscure, mostly dark, the audience knows it’s very late at night and part of this idea is because of the consistency of the dark lighting. Similarly the color of the shots reflects the mood the protagonist is in and relates to the storyline.

7) The track is very important and crucial to the short film. Given that there is no dialogue the track dictates the mood of the film and helps indicate if the protagonist’s actions would have a good ending.

8) One of the purposes of the camera angles is to establish an upcoming action/scene. The full shot angles are used to give the audience an entire picture of the situation in the storyline. And theClose-ups set the purpose of showing emotion and exposing important details.

9) There are special effects, and they are needed in order to make the short film work. Since the black hole is the fiction part of the story, special effects are required to show the audience what is going on and how the black hole can be used. Without the effect of the hand going into the whole, the short would have no credibility and would seem unrealistic.

10) An interesting symbol is the black hole itself. It might seem as a tool to get the things he desires, but it represents the ending of the story. He got trapped in a black hole. In the literary term, he can’t get out until someone comes and pulls him out of there. In the figurative term, he’s in a black hole because he didn’t steal the money; he’s life is still miserable and he’s probably going to be in trouble once people find out what he was doing.

Treatment

Treatment

There are a lot of bear cans and cigarettes on the floor close to the couch. On the background the Tv is on and the news are on. There is the sound of the Tv.

Next we see Elena’s back and next to her is her phone. Suddenly her phones rings, but all we see is Elena opening her eyes as soon as the phone rang. From her expression we know she was sleeping. She grabs her head as if she had a headache.

Now we she her entire body and her hair is a mess. Her makeup is ruined and her eyeliner is drained. She reaches for her phone. In the screen of the phone says “Rebecca”, she reads the text that says “hey Elena, can u check in ur car if I left my purse there cuz I can’t find it, thnx girl” Then we see Elena’s face like ugh.

She Stands up and grabs the remote to turn off the Tv, but then the reporter says “in breaking news tonight we have been informwed that a psycho killer is loose in san Bruno, if anyone see him call (650-772-8868) and we recommend people to lock their doors and don’t go out alone late at night”.

Elena’s face is like yeah right (sarcastically). Then she makes fun by saying “how scary”

she turns off the tv and starts to walk, but she kicks a bear can and says “damn it”.


She walks out the door and closes it. The street is alone no people are walking. As she opens the door of her car, we see a shadow passing behind her. There is scary music.

She is looking for the purse in the car and everything is silent.

Suddenly someone puts a hand on her back and we see Elena’s face, she’s scare.

Then we hear a voice saying “what are you doing Elena”. She breaths and looks calmed now. Now we see the face of the guy and Elena turns around and she says “you scared me damn it”.

He says “sorry, but what are you doing out here in the street?” as he says this Elena turns around and starts to look again for the purse then she says “I’m looking for my friend’s purse but it looks like it’s not here” She stops looking and closes the door of her car.

Then from a window inside the house we see Elena and her friend saying goodnight. There is still scary music.

She is about to enter her house and notices her door slightly open.

She looks surprised but doesn't really care. Once she’s in she locks the door and everything looks normal.

Walks back to the couch and stars texting, then from a corner we see Elena, she writes “sorry Rebecca but ur” then suddenly we hear a noise as if something fall down.

Elena’s reaction is to turn her head in the direction the noise came. She puts the phone down and starts walking towards the kitchen (which is where the noise came).

The music in the background provides suspense. When she gets there she sees a vase is on the floor and the window is open, the wind is blowing. She feels relaxed and there is silence.

Suddenly she turns around and the killer is in front of her. He shuts her mouth and she tries to scream. Then she punches him and she’s able to run to another room.

As she’s running the killer is grabbing his face.


She stops in another room and her heart is beating so fast and her faces shows fear.

Then she remembers that she has call for help. She looks in her cloths for her phone, but is not there. Now her face is like I know where I left it, she says “the couch”.

Then we see the killer walking looking for her. She opens the door and looks in the hall to see if the killer is close.

The hall is empty and she walks out the room and goes towards the couch. She gets there safe and starts dialing. She’s shaking and there is scary music in the background.

We see the killer behind her, but she doesn’t. The pitch of the music increases.

He walks towards her and tries to strangle her. Then she drops the phone. As she’s dying, he starts to smile, but then she nudges him in the stomach and he lets go of her.

She coughs. He grabs his stomach. As she walks away, he walks behind her and pushes her to the wall. Her head impact the wall and she fall on the floor, he hits Elena’s head against the floor and now she’s dead. 

The killer drags her and everything fades to black.

Oral Presentation Part 5

V. Film Language and Representation

How are characters and issues represented?  
In this scene we see Nina’s transformation, from the white swan to the true and real black swan. In the beginning of the scene, Nina comes in crying about her performance, which shows her personality, but when she sees Lily dressed up as the black swan she explodes. She’s tied of being threatened by someone taking her spot. From the moment her neck grows taller and her skin changes, we know the black swan took over Nina. She eventually destroyed herself in the pursuit of perfection. The film’s themes was the price of perfection and this issue is addressed in this scene by Nina’s actions. In her head, Nina believed she was good enough to play the black swan, she was insecure about her capability and she felt that the only way to achieve perfection was by killing the only person that was standing on her way, herself. This the implicit ideology of the film, Darren(the director) wanted to show this fight with her double in order to imply that the price of perfection is dangerous and in this case it was at the expense of a life.

What is the style and effect of acting and performance?     
It’s contemporary acting, Natalie Portman stays in character all the time and shows emotions that Nina would have. Portman won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role of Nina. Her performance in this scene is critical; she plays two characters at the same time. Being the evil Nina creates fear in the audience because we fear she might kill the real Nina. Additionally, by this point of the scene the audience didn’t know it if it was real or not. This shows Portman did a great job making the audience believe it could be real despite the fact you’re seeing two Ninas. And once real Nina stabs the double, the delivery of the line “no, it’s my turn” is so powerful that the audience truly believes is her turn.

Then when she sees it’s Lily the one that’s dead she starts to cry. For a moment she goes back to being the innocent girl and uncertain of what to do she decides to hide the corpse. Then she breaths deeply and the black swan takes over again. Her eyes remain the audience that this character would do anything in order to get what she wants, perfection. This performance makes the audience fear for Nina because she is mentally affected.

How is meaning created by camera angles, shots, and camera movement?  
Darren decide to show action and reaction through Nina’s character. The camera uses mostly CUs during the entire movie and this scene is not the exception. In the fight with her double, there is only CUs. This creates the feeling of suspense, the audience doesn’t know which one is goin to survive and after the the real Nina survives and  there is a extreme long shot, the audience feel fear because her eyes and what she just did was scary. Then when she starts crying we feel frightened just like she does. However there are MS and about 2 LS.  All this shots make the audience share the Nina’s feeling and doesn’t allow us to explore different emotions because we have Nina in CUs. In addition the angles are from the side given to the mirrors. They show the reflection of Nina and contribute to the idea of Nina seeing another Nina. Finally the camera movement is very important through the entire film. It gives the audience to feel more closer to Nina because most of the time follows Nina. In this scene it follows Nina when she’s dragging Lily to the shower, then we only see  Lily from Nina’s perspective making the audience see through Nina’s eyes. 

How is meaning created through proxemics, territorial design, or open and closed forms?(theme, genre)
Do to the fact that it’s a psychological thriller, Nina’s dressing room is so small and is close because it represents how Nina feels about her life,  trapped. She never had freedom because she was controlled by her mother in the sense that her mother was living her dream of ballerina through Nina’s career. Nina didn’t have freedom to make her own decisions and the dressing room represents that.

How is meaning created by editing and sequencing?
It is formalism because the editing tries to manipulate the audience by showing a CU of Nina’s face after killing Lily. Darren doesn’t allow the audience to decide who to look at because there is only CUs. There is Action match, movement match, eye-line match, 180 degree rule and the shot/ reverse shot is important here and reaction shot as well. This two last concepts of editing continuity are massive because they create emotions in the audience by holding those shots longer. They have a sequence and it starts slow with few cuts and then it picks up the pace of cutting and it creates adrenalin.

How is meaning created by lighting, shade and color?  
There is a good amount of lighting, but not as much as in other scenes, which implies that there is not a bright side for Nina. There are shadows in Nina’s face while fighting and it represents her dark side; Darren emphasizes darkness. This helps the audience to fear for Nina’s future and the consequences of her actions.   

Color is very important; white, black and pink are dominant not only in this scene, but through the  entire film. Deprez, the set designer intentionally decided to emphasize the meainig of the colors. White is for pureness and innocence, while black is the danger, evilness and darkness. Finally pink represents Nina’s childhood, how she never grew up because her mom didn’t allowed her to.

How is meaning created by sound and music?(genre)
The sound is digetic; when the door shuts, when the mirror breaks and when Nina drags the corpse. Everything is something you would hear in a real situation. The effect has an impact in the audience it creates reality to the scene, the audience gets more into it and understand the degree of the fight. As for the music is by Tchaikovsky and The Chemical Brothers. It goes with the the scene, there is high pitch right when Nina stabs the double. Then it changes to Lower frequency sound right when Nina starts crying. Then there is a sound bridge when Nina takes a deep breath and right before the scene changes to a dancing scene. Finally there is also tempo and it’s significant in this scene. It goes with the fighting and it makes it relevant to the audience. It increases the intensity and highlights Nina’s feelings. It causes the audience care for Nina.

How is meaning created by location, set design and mis en scene.?
The set design has a purpose, it implies her childhood through the pink color and in other scenes such as the her apartment the details are part of Nina’s childhood. The location represents how she feels; trapped.

Does the film make use of symbols, metaphors, or allegories? Share are they and how do they work within the context of the film?
Mirrors represent a symbol; they stand for what Nina sees.  In almost every scene there are mirrors because she’s a ballerina and they need to sees their movements . Also, mirrors show the reflection of one’s self. In this case Nina never liked what she saw in the mirror, she felt she didn’t have the black swan and her reflection tortured her because she wasn’t perfect. Additionally, a piece of a mirror is what she uses to stab the other Nina. It’s ironic how a mirror reminded Nina what she was missing, but yet helped her to find her her inner black swan.  

There is also metaphor in Lily’s character; she represents the opposite of Nina. Nina is all about perfect technique and no passion while Lily is about passion and sloppy technique. It makes total sense that Lily would replace Nina as the swan queen because they are different but have something in common and that is the desire to be the swan queen.

How is meaning created by technical elements such as production design, mise en scene, composition, special effects (matte paintings, models or animation, computer generated images….etc.)
There is great special effects in the entire film and it’s showed a little bit of it in this scene. When Nina’s neck grows taller is a special effect and foreshadows the black swan. Nina’s skin also changes and that is an effect that is used in other sequences especially in the dancing scenes. The meaning created by this effect is first disturbing, but secondly and most important, is to understand the transformation of Nina into the black swan. She is a real swan, she owns that role and she’s truly perfect.   

11. What emotional information is conveyed through the filmmaking process?
Well this scene was shot with only one camera and it really focuses on Nina’s emotions and how tired she is of living and behaving as the perfect good girl. The filmmaking captures those feelings that were experienced before and in this scene show the effect they have on Nina.