The opening title sequence of 'The Women in Black' sets an ominous and disturbing tone through its visuals and audio. Close-up shots of creepy dolls and dim lighting in a plain room establish an unsettling mood. Three young girls are shown playing with dolls until suddenly changing and jumping from a window. Slow, dark music plays throughout, becoming more ominous as the girls' behavior changes. Their screams and a woman crying "my baby" leave the audience unsettled about what will happen in the mysterious story to come.

1. ANALYSIS OF AN OPENING TITLE
SEQUENCE –
‘THE WOMEN IN BLACK’
-(3:22)

2. HTTP://123MOVIES.CZ/FILM/THE-WOMAN-IN-BLACK-2300/WATCHING.HTML
NARRATIVE
Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a lawyer, is recently widowed and grieving the loss of his wife when he is sent to a
remote village to put a deceased eccentric's affairs in order. Soon after his arrival, it becomes clear that the villagers
are hiding a terrible secret. Kipps discovers that his late client's house is haunted by the spirit of a woman who is
trying to find someone and something she lost, and that no one, not even the children, is safe from her terrible wrath.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
The first thing to appear in the opening sequence is the name of the production company. ‘CBS Films’ is an American
film production and distribution company founded in 2007, as a division of CBS corporation, and is considered a mini
major studio. Unlike other production company's such as, ‘Blumhouse’ productions, CBS Films produces a large
variety of different movie genres, such as: action, crime, thriller and Horror. This is a convention of most opening title
sequences to address to the audience the production company at the very start. However, other senior positions are
not displayed at the start during this opening sequence, which would be considered as an anti stereotype, also the
names of stars are not introduced and neither is the director.

3. MISE-EN-SCENE
After the scene is finished, the rest of the production credits are
shown. When the production credits are first shown, the
typography used is capitalized shown in a faded black color,
which stands out against the bright white background color.
This binary opposition (Levi Strauss) links to the narrative of
the film as the color black connotes evil, whilst the color white
connotes innocence, communicating the theme of this movie,
where something evil and sinister can power over the innocent
and naive. Also, the fading in and out of the black graphics also
link with the genre, as it is creating an eerie and mysterious
tone to the movie.
When the title of the movie first appears, it is capitalized and in black,
again, standing out against the white background. This time the typography
is a lot bigger, than the previous typography shown, as it is emphasizing
the genre of the movie, and is for the first time addressing the title of the
film to the audience. When the title is displayed on the screen, the words :
‘WOMEN’ and ‘BLACK’ are both enlarged compared to the words, ‘The’
and ‘In’. This is because these two words that have been enlarged are both
the most important and relate back to the genre of the film. The word
Women signifies that the subject of the movie is about a women and the
word Black just creates a strange, unusual feeling in the audience. The
fading in and out of the title also adds to the mysteriousness of the movie.

4. After the Production Company is displayed, the audience are shown a brief scene which
is used to signify the genre as well as set the mood and tone for the rest of the movie.
The mood of the room is very disturbing, just from the lighting, it has remained dull and
dark, setting an abnormal mood and keeping the audience on edge. The room is
decorated very plainly, as there is no ‘children’ decoration or ornaments, therefore
referring that the children the audience are observing are not child like and do not have
childish minds. Rather, they like to carry out adult activities like prepare food and drinks
or dressing the dolls and tucking them into bed, just as typical parents would do for their
children. This also shows the juxtaposition between the young girls carrying out adult like
duties. The props presented within this scene also signify their age, as young children
play with dolls and not adults. Most of these props shown are home made, such as the
dolls. This could suggest the old time period they live in and the class they are in. The
clothing of the girls may also be used as a huge hint as to what time period they are in.
The lighting through out the sequence appears to be natural and subtle until the girls are facing the windows
where the lighting is then low key. This allows objects to hide within the shadows behind them which is typical to
horror genres because its hidden to what we can not see and therefore creates a scary effect to the unknown.
The light shining on the girls is coming through the windows and gives off a heavenly shine to them because
they are approaching their death, so the sky outside could represent heaven, and that they are entering their
death. At this point, the girls jump out the window which is clearly something no young girl would obviously do,
especially all three at the same time. This then reminds the audience that the girls are being controlled by
something. After they had jumped, the final shot we see is of the room, which becomes even more grey and
dull. The lighting could maybe represent the who or what that is controlling the girls, and the deeper it gets into
the scene, the more dull it gets and it in a way starts to control the scene, making the audience feel vulnerable
and unprotected that they have been left with the dull lighting all alone now that the girls are gone.
Suddenly the three children face their heads towards the camera with blank faces, showing how quickly their
mood can change, and this creates the audience to question as to what causes the children to change their
thought process so quickly. At this point, all of the happiness within the girls is taken away. This is clearly
shown when their facial expressions change, the teacups shatter, and the dolls are dropped and kicked. This
then creates a dramatic effect on the audience.

5. CAMERWORK USES
The camera is carefully utilized throughout the opening scene. This opening scene sets a
gruesome and disturbing mood for the entire film. The camera shots were very carefully used in
order to follow the conventions of a horror film opening sequence. A number of close up shots
were used widely at the start. The scene starts with a close up of a tea set followed by close up
shots of scary looking dolls. This was used on the fake teacup set and dolls. The close up of
the tea set shows happy looking birds printed on them which stands out against the white
background. This therefore, contrasts from the miserable dull lighting in the room that the
audience can see behind. The scary looking dolls have no facial expression and look very
unhappy, which is the opposite of what a doll should be, as dolls are made to make children
happy. This may then foreshadow the potential mood of the film.
The camera then switches to a wide, three in one shot, in order to set the scene. The following
shot is of three young girls playing with a tea set, controlling their dolls, and also forcing what
they do. This may also foreshadow that maybe at some point, these three characters may get
controlled or overpowered by someone or something else, just as the girls are doing to these
dolls. This camera shot also shows the audience the actual location and setting of the place,
which is a house. This is also very stereotypical of the horror genre, as most horror movies take
place in a typical urban house. The fact that this is the opening sequence also signifies to the
audience that this may be the actual house, where the horror will take place.
The camera uses a mid two in one shot of two of the three young girls. This mid shot shows
that the girls are happy and are having a good time playing with their dolls. This causes the
audience to feel sympathy for the characters in this film, as the juxtaposition reminds them of
the innocence and vulnerable being taken away and controlled by something evil and sinister.

6. SOUNDING / EFFECTS
There is no dialogue in the opening scene but the music that plays throughout, starts off high pitched but as the tension bui lds,
the music starts to slow down and towards the end, church bell sounds are introduced with an echo.
At the very start of the scene when it showed the three girls playing with their dolls and tea set, there was a calm child’s
lullaby playing over the top, which is the diegetic sound, however this music changed when the three girls looked up at The
Women in Black or at this stage, the unknown figure and the music began to slow down and add a lot lower and darker beats.
This change in music may have given off the impression of the presence of a very dark and evil being.
Another use of sound, was the sound of the tea cups shattering as the girl dropped it upon standing up. This was effective, a s
the shattering sound could have symbolized the shattering of the girls lives and what would happen to them in the future.
Therefore, this also foreshadows what is to come.
After the girls jump out of the window, a scream followed by “my baby” is heard, which is upsetting for the audience. The word
“baby” further stresses the theme of innocence, and the use of this dialogue also suggests that the girls are dead but also
leads the audience to believe that the people within the movie, such as the locals, will never know the real reason as to wha t
happened and the reason for their death. This also adds to the mysteriousness of the movie.

7. EDITING
Throughout the opening of the sequence, a variety of editing techniques were used. The fade at the very beginning
introduces the scene, giving a sense of calm instead of rapidly entering the film sharply setting the mood within
seconds, this was done in order to set the calmness slowly before introducing the fear that is about to come.
A cutaway technique was mostly used at the start of this opening. This was used to cutaway from each girl to them
making their dolls drink out of an empty cup. The use of cutaways here is very affective as it is the first thing you see
in the opening and it creates this very intense atmosphere as to what could happen to the three girls and what the
dolls have to do with it such as whether the dolls symbolize the girls fate or if the dolls have an impact on what might
happen to them, as at this point the audience are completely unaware. The dolls get the most attention on camera
and are shown before anything else, therefore suggesting that the dolls play a significant part within the film and are
just as important as the human characters.
At the end of the opening scene, there is a slow fade so that the audience can understand and absorb the event that
just took place in the sequence.