The Woman In Black - Opening Sequence Analysis

The Woman In Black

The Woman In Black is a British horror film directed by James Watkins. The movie is about a young lawyer that has travelled to a remote village that soon discovers that there is a ghost of a scorned woman that is terrorizing the locals.

This genre is the same genre as our opening sequence idea for our film.

The movie begins with an extreme close up of someone pretending to fill up two cups of tea. This can immediately make the audience assume that it is a little girl playing with her tea cups. During this, the audience can hear non-diegetic music which is eerie, mysterious and dark. The music is used to make the audience feel uncomfortable and on edge, wanting to know what may happen next.

After this, there is then another extreme close up shot of a doll with dark eyes and a smile, pretending to drink tea. The use of mise-en-scene suggests to the audience that the children playing with the dolls may have a darker side to them.

Another shot is of the three girls acting out a tea party together. The long shot enables the audience to get a better sense of the setting. The audience can see that this is a play room from the old fashioned Victorian style pram and toy baby chairs in the background. This is effective as it clearly represents the time period that is being portrayed. In addition, the natural lighting from the window can highlight the mood of the characters. Therefore it displays that the children are happy and makes the scene more realistic.

After this the music becomes deeper and the young girls all turn and face the window at the same time. This can make the audience feel as if the young girls are like puppets which suggests that the characters are no longer in control.

The music increasingly becomes louder and deeper as the camera zooms towards the windows, emphasising that something may happen.

The camera then faces the girls again and there is a close up shot of the girls stepping on their dolls and dropping the tea cups, making them smash. These shots suggest to the audience that the children have changed about caring for their dolls and almost give the impression that they are possessed.

The next shot is a tracking shot of the three girls walking towards the window. This suggests to the audience that the girls are getting told what to do by something near the window. This is effective as it can make the audience want to know what is making the girls act like they are being pulled like a magnet. This can create a sense of imagery in the audience's heads. In addition to this, the girls faces are emotionless which can demonstrate how beforehand they were happy playing with their dolls and suddenly they are now emotionless, suggesting that what they are being possessed by is taking away their happiness.

We then see a close up shot of one of the young girl's hands, opening the window, this builds suspense on to what may happen next. We then get a shot of the three girls walking up to the last step, getting closer to the windows. This builds tension for the audience and we now know that something upsetting may happen.

 The next shot that the audience see is of the three girls jumping out of the window. While this is happening the non-diegetic music in the background becomes lounder, making it even more unsettling for the audience. The non-diegetic sound suddenly stops and the sound becomes silent for a second. Then we suddenly hear another non-diegetic sound but of a woman screaming and then shouting 'my babies'. This could represent a distressed mother who had witnessed three of her children dying.

The camera then turns to a close up shot of one of the dolls. The doll is smiling with wide eyes. This may suggest that the doll influenced the girls to jump out of the window. This is clear through the mise-en-scene which suggested the doll being evil and mysterious since the beginning.

The last shot is of a womanly figure dressed all in black, looking at the play room and the window. This suggests to the audience that the woman was the one that made the girls jump from the window. This can create a gloomy, dark and eerie feeling for the audience, emphasising the genre of horror.