The opening sequence of The Woman in Black establishes it as a horror film through several conventions. It shows three girls playing with dolls, then acting strangely after seeing something unseen. They destroy the dolls and jump out a window, hinting at a supernatural force causing their deaths. Close-ups of the dolls and girls, and an unsettling camera angle, make the audience feel personally involved. A sinister soundtrack also sets the tone as horror from the beginning.

1. Horror
About Genre

2. From the opening sequence of Woman in black, we can predict that the rest of
the film is about something supernatural. This is suggested to us through the
hint of supernatural elements and that there was something that made the
three girls kill themselves.
From this we can also predict that there will be more deaths later in the film as
we see that this spirit is evil by killing three girls and have the ability to kill.
There would also possibly have a man seeking revenge for the death of the
three little girls.

3. Based from the opening sequence, the target audience of this film are people
of all ages except from young children who enjoy horror and paranormal
Stories. This is because there is a clear indication of a horror narrative at the
beginning sequence of the film which will immediately draw in any audience
who are interested in the supernatural.
We can also note that the target audience will not be young children because at
the end of the opening sequence we see three young girls jump off the window.
Although there are no gory scene which means it is likely to be targeting
teenagers as well, the scene is still inappropriate for young children.

4. The main genre of the woman in black is Horror, this is presented in the
beginning sequence and titles. The title - “ woman in black” hints that this
would be a horror film as dressing in black have connotations of going to the
funeral. This gives a supernatural tone to the movie. Further more, black
clothing have negative connotation such as goth, evil and darkness which
suggests the horror genre of the film.

5. There are also a lot of conventions for the genre horror that is shown in the
opening sequence of the woman in black. One example is the use of dolls.
Haunted / creepy toys such as dolls are a narrative convention for the genre
horror - seen in movies such as The Boy and Annabelle.

7. A lot of close up and extreme closeup is used at
the beginning of the opening sequence of the dolls
and the girls manipulating them to do things such
as drinking tea. This focus of the creepy dolls gives
a sense of presence from the dolls which creates
an uncomfortable and ghostly atmosphere.
The close up continues after the girls saw something
in the room as the camera follows them this time
destroying the dolls. This close up contrasts with the
loving close up of the girls playing with the dolls at the
beginning. The use of the close up emphasis the
juxtaposition of attitude of the girls after they got
influenced.

9. The wild shot used from the corner of the room looking at the girls as they are
staring back involves the audience. In this shot. The shot puts the audience at
the perspective of “something” that is also in the room. This is shown as all of
the girls looked towards the camera as if there is something there.
This is used to make the audience feel personally involved in the scene which helps
the draw the audience in for the rest of the movie. It also suggests to the audience a
supernatural presence that made the girls jump off the building.

10. A running non diegetic sound of a sinister sound track indicates to the
audience that this is a horror genre. It is also a contrapuntal sound at the
beginning as the scene is of three girls peacefully playing with toys, it gets a
creepy tone to the scene. This foreshadows that something is going to happen
to the characters. The contrapuntal sound at the beginning however
transitions to parallel sound later in the opening sequence as the girls
destroys their toys and jump off the building. This gives a creepy and
horrifying atmosphere through out the sequence and further proves it’s genre

11. Diegetic pleonastic sound is also used as the girls starts to act strangely. The
highlighted sound of the ceramics breaking makes the destruction appears to
be more sinister than it already was.
The focus on the breaking fo the ceramics also helps communicate the narrative of
the film. The hint of destruction foreshadows to the audience further damage and
even killing down the rest of the story line. This helps to create an unsettling mood
which creates tension for the audience and help to convey the horror genre of the
film.