Use of sound in 'Black Swan'

The music in the film Black Swan is used to create effect. The film’s score is mostly ballet music, composed by Clint Mansell and based off of the music of Tchaikovsky. This style of music is significant in the film because it is about ballet; this idea is furthered through the continued use of diegetic music. The diegetic music help tie the film together, by showing the sources of the music in the film intermittently. It is specifically about Tchaikovsky’s ballet, Swan Lake, it then follows that the music in film ought to be similar to that of Tchaikovsky. The music is performed sometimes with a full orchestra and other times stripped down with just one or two instruments; the violin and the piano. However, despite the sometimes raw nature of the score, the music is always dramatic. The violent music reflects the intense tone present throughout the whole film. The film gives us break when there is no music, but when there is music it is theatrical. There is never any cheery light hearted music. The use of such music gives the audience a heightened sense of drama. It reinforces the tense tone of the film, making the actions of the characters’ actions seems more important. For example, at 5:19, Nina riding the subway and she sees a girl, she watches hers briefly. The dramatic repetitive music score, combined with creepy sound effects and Portman’s worried face, makes the scene seem very dramatic when in fact all she is doing is watching a stranger on a train. Nina feels this way all the time, and the depiction allows the audience to be brought into her viewpoint.

The classical music contrasts with the modern, sleek style and the violent content of the film in a very interesting way. The two components juxtapose with each other at times, which makes the film feel disjointed and incohesive. This mirrors Nina’s lack of mental stability and her increasingly disjointed and incohesive mind. However, in other parts of the film, the music blends very nicely into the scene. The most obvious example of this is at 1:30:50 when Nina performs as the black swan. The way the music flows with the scene is representative of the main character, Nina’s, feelings. She is her most comfortable when she is performing on stage, because she can be perfect. Nina strives the whole film to be perfect and when she is on stage she can be, so the music reflects that. Nina’s desire to be perfect presumably comes from her controlling mother’s high expectations of her. As a result of her perfectionism she is highly strung and has a lot of anxiety. I think Arronofsky may be using this as a cautionary tale, informing the viewer of the dangers of perfectionism in a highly stylized and dramatic way.

The film’s score is interrupted from the classical music when Nina goes to a nightclub at 01:50 by some electronic dance music. The loud thumping house music is thundering rude interruption to the classical music in the rest. This huge contrast immediately informs the audience that something has changed. The crude new music makes the audience very uncomfortable, it makes the scene seem eerie and frightening, because it is so different to the rest of the film. Instead of seeing Nina out having fun for the first time, we see her in a grungy club, having sexual times with men with her mind foggy and unclear from drugs. This portrayal shows Nina’s paranoia leaking into her night on the town. She isn’t enjoying herself like Lily, she is anxious and overwhelmed. The scene makes that distinction clear and it makes the audience feel the same way as her, through the use of music. The nightclub scene is really the beginning of Nina’s swift dramatic transformation into the black swan, and the music is representative of that change. The transformation itself signifies Nina’s commitment to the role and how her paranoia and hallucinations have consumed her.

Sound effects in the film create a suspenseful feeling in the whole film. The film uses low rumblings and slightly high pitched screeches both simultaneously and separately in the film. The noises are very vague and hard to hear. This, however, does not make them any more ominous. The frightening sounds imply to the audience impending doom, as though something bad will happen. This makes the audience anxious as they fear some upcoming terrible action; thusly they feel paranoid like Nina does in the film. The film also uses sound effect to produce a creepy feeling in the film. It uses eerie sound effects, like rattling sounds while showing oversized goose bumps, to make the audience feel frightened. The sounds are peculiar and strange, it implies something supernatural or horrific. But the queer unknown sound makes the audience quiver, they are unsure of the nature of the scene. One example is at 01:06:36, where Nina is performing her black swan dance. This particular scene also uses the sound effect of a bird flapping its wings when she dances. This sound effect is just as symbolic as it is creepy, it compares the motion of Nina’s dancing to a swan flapping it wings. This furthers the idea of Nina actually becoming the black swan, of becoming her evil shadow. This is frightening to the viewer, Nina has become insane, she is out of control and her and turning into her dark doppelganger. The uses of sound effect in the film also tease the audience. Such as at 4:38 when Nina’s mother sees scratches on her back, she questions her about it but Nina but Nina dismisses it. The tease is when Erica sees the scratches; she makes a solemn face and stares coldly at her daughter. When this happens a low rumbling comes into the background, it hints at the strange and cruel relationship the mother has with her daughter. But also it makes the scene suddenly change its tone. The scene now feels sinister and dark, a total contrast to the pleasantries earlier in the scene. However, Nina dismisses it, the rumbling stops and things return to balance. But the lasting effect was that it made the audience nervous.  From that point on the film is able to control the audience with its sound effects, audience members are on the edge of their seats for the rest of the film due to the use of sound effects.