Opening scene research on a Horror film 'The Woman in Black'

The Horror Film opening sequence I'm going to be analysing is from the film 'The Woman in Black' which was released in 2012, directed by James Watkins and wrote by Susan Hill who wrote the novel and the screenplay was done by Jane Goldman Starring actors including Daniel Radcliffe. The Film had a budget of $15 million USD. At the box office it received good profit making $129 million USD worldwide.

'The Woman in Black' is a ghost story by Susan Hill, in which Arthur Kipps relates his haunting experiences at Eel Marsh House. It follows a young and widowed lawyer who travels to a remote village where he discovers that the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorising the locals. 

The opening begins begins with a close-up shot of small tea cups with little girls pretending to drink imaginary tea whilst grooming dolls. We can tell this is period film because of how the way the girls are dressed in very old fashioned clothes. The close ups manage to show the characters laughing and smiling at one another giving off the impression this may be a happy family film, but the contrasts with the music and the creepy atmosphere surrounding the characters. 

It demonstrates the innocence of the girls, the foreshadowing eery non diegetic music makes us feel even more worried and suspenseful about what might happen to them. The non-diegetic music can be heard throughout in the background, it is quiet and light but still gives of a creepy atmosphere, immediately giving us insight that we are watching a horror film. The shots are all very slow paced to match the music and the atmosphere that sets up the film.

The non-diegetic music pauses momentarily allowing a wide shot of all the girls heads turning towards the camera in a way to make the audience feel as if they are breaking the fourth wall or looking at something which we cannot see, leaving the audience in suspense as we want to know what these girls look so scared by. At this time in the opening the music becomes slightly lighter and quieter to convey how something has changed in the tone of the scene, the music has now become more intense and dark. We see the girls, again, all turn their heads to look at the window in the complete opposite direction to where they looked. The camera then cuts to the point of view of where the girls were looking, three big windows at a slight low angle shot making the windows looks demeaning and scary and to make us look small and scared of what is to come next.

we then see various shots of the girls standing up, with the camera maintaining focus on their shoes, all three of the girls are wearing black boots. The shoes manage to contrast strongly between the white dresses that they are wearing, the light dresses represent their purity and their innocence but then the black boots show death and darkness, maybe danger. 

The shots of them walking focus on their shoes as we see them focus on their shoes as we see them walking and crushing the dolls and tea cups which earlier in the scene they were taking very good care of them. This now suggests to us that they are not in the right mindset as they were in before. This difference makes the audience wonder what could have taken over them to change their characters so quickly. The camera movement follows the girls walking towards the windows, we can see they all have no expressions as they are walking at the same time as each other in the shot.

The shot continues to move to show the frames of the window continuing the same shot following the three girls, at this point the audience can guess what is about to happen. The same use of a wide shot allows us to see all three girls jump off the edge window sill. they do this is in a calm way emphasising how odd something is here, as we do not know who made these innocent girls do this. The diegetic sound pauses, no diegetic sound is heard until we hear a woman scream of camera, we can assume their mother as she refers them as her "babies". As these screams are being heard the shot slowly on a tracking shot moves backwards as though whatever caused them to do this is is now leaving and going away. 

Suddenly we switch to a shot of a creepy doll that looks somewhat deranged. This sudden change of shot after the earlier shot is surprising, and scares the audience. The non-diegetic music makes a slight sudden noise, which makes us jump. 

In the last shot, as it is again tracking out of the room the audience can just see over the shoulder of 'The Woman in Black', it is very quick at the end on the right side of the camera, giving the audience just enough time to know it was her. We only see the front of her hat and the veil in front of her face, the audience are left in suspense and want to know more about her and why she did this letting them be hooked into the story.

We can see how this opening sequence clearly establishes the genre as the eerie atmosphere here suggests to the audience that this is a horror film. Having the use of creepy props and clothing, along with the non-diegetic music convey what the genre is to the audience. The way the that something that the audience cannot see convinces these three young girls to kill themselves shows us that there could also be a supernatural aspect in this film, also that this again is a horror film, as we are briefly given an insight into the plot and what it might be about this woman. Although we do not seem to meet any of the protagonists, it seems that we do learn about the antagonist. Despite not being able to see much of 'The Woman in Black' herself, we get a glimpse of her clothing, which seem to be quite old. We do not know much about her but we know she can force kids to kill themselves without hesitation. This idea tells the audience that the protagonist of this film will be the one to take on this sinister force. So the narrative will probably be about the hauntings of the Woman and the protagonists attempts to get rid of her.

The camera shots compliment the music by making certain points in the opening very intense to the audience. The shots of the toys at the beginning of the scene, present
ent the dolls in a manner that they look very sinister like voodoo dolls and takes away the innocence of the girls with the dolls, and instantly sets the tone and theme to the audience. The camera shot remains focused on the girls as they interact in some way with 'The Woman in Black', the audience are left wondering what they are looking art and what will happen next in this story, as we don't know what to expect. The way the camera follows the girls in a slow paced type as they approach the window which creates a menacing atmosphere. Briefly

 seeing 'The Woman in Black' leaves the audience with many questions. The editing is slow paced, to make it feel calm and comfortable although something very twisted is actually going to happen. The order and timing at which the shots cut between them again compliments the music and sound, making the atmosphere more tense than it is.