Woman in Black analysis

1. The Woman In Black analysis

2. Mise-en-Scene
The opening scene of The Woman in Black sets the mood for the entire film, gruesome and disturbing. The scene
starts with a close up of a tea set which has happy looking birds printed on them in front of a white background, which
completely contrasts from the miserable, dull, dark lighting of the room we can see behind. This is followed by images
of scary looking dolls, the dolls have no facial expression and look rather unhappy, which is everything a doll shouldn’t
be as it should make children happy, therefore foreshadowing that the this is potentially the mood of the film. The
following image is a shot of three young girls playing with a tea set, controlling their dolls, forcing what they do, which I
also deem as foreshadowing because maybe at some point these three characters will get controlled by
someone/something else, just like they are doing to these dolls. The mood of the room is still disturbing just from the
lighting, it has remained dull and dark, setting a abnormal mood and keeping us on edge. The room is decorated very
plainly, there is no ‘children’ décor, thus referring that the children we are looking at don’t have childish minds, and in
fact have deep thoughts, how typically adults a known to have, especially in thrillers. However the costumes on the
three characters completely fit with the stereotype of a young girl in this time. So maybe they are normal young girls,
that like to dress pretty, but in fact are surrounded by bad thoughts and actions, the smile on their faces also back this
point up. Suddenly the three children look at the camera with blank faces, showing how quickly their mood can
change, and it makes the viewer think, what is it that changes a child's thought process so quickly? At this point, all of
the happiness within the girls wipes away, the teacups shatter, the dolls are dropped and kicked, the girls at this point
jump out of the window which clearly is something no young girl is known to do, especially three at the same time.
Which then goes back to the point that the girls are being controlled by something. After they had jumped, the final
shot we see is of the whole room, which becomes even more grey and dull, maybe the lighting represents the thing
that controls the girls because deeper into the scene the more dull it gets, it controls the scene, making the viewer feel
venerable that they have been left with the dull lighting all alone now the girls are gone.

3. Mise-en-scene
images

4. Editing
The woman in Black opening provides us with elements of editing that manipulates the
audience and gives of a sense of fear when watching, but it makes you want to watch more
and more, the invisible art comes to our attention. 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, I believe the producers done this effect in order to set the calm before the
storm and slowly introduce the fear that is about to come. At this point, as the scene dwells
deeper we come to realise that the entire scene is put in slow motion, in order to set a kind of
unrealistic, abnormal scene to manipulate the viewer. Shot reverse shot is also used within the
scene between the three girl characters and the dolls that they are playing with. The dolls get
as much time on the camera as the girls, therefore coming to our attention that the dolls will
play a significant part within the film and are as important as the human characters. During
these shot reverse shots, there is no dialect, meaning that it is left to the viewer to imagine
what is going on in their head, this is the power of shot reverse shot.

5. cinematography
The cinematography involved in this scene manipulates the viewer, almost making them feel as though
they are in the scene seeing it for themselves rather than behind a screen. The key piece of
cinematography for me is a shot of the girls looking up to the camera with a scared look on their face,
and because they were staring straight at the camera it felt as though they were looking at us, they also
looked up to the camera, making the viewer feel in control of the girls actions and above them. However
in contrast to this there are a number of shots that make us feel like we are one of the girls as the camera
comes down to their same level making us feel like we are playing with them, it makes the viewer
question what side they should be on, which is good and which is bad? The close ups of the dolls make
the viewer almost want to shut their eyes, purely because of the fact the dolls are scary looking, not the
typical young girls doll. The extreme close up of the dolls has been put in place in purpose because you
almost feel as though the dolls are alive and are going to move or frighten the viewer. The zoom of the
window at the end of the clip also manipulates the audience, it scares the viewer and the zoom on this
particular window makes us think that this is going to be a significant part of the film, because the camera
slowly makes its way towards the window, making the viewer feel controlled by it and we cant do
anything about it.

6. sound
The sound within the opening scene of The Woman in Black stay frequent throughout most of the first two
minutes, the sound puts you on edge, a tense soundtrack that builds up with the scene, manipulating the
viewer, making them feel as though they are on the edge of their seat but makes you want to watch more.
The soundtrack in fact has a childish element to it, but has an added sound of tension and fear, this is done
to show that the core of the movie is around children, the scenes and storyline will be caused because of
young children, in fact it could be these three we are given in the first scene. As the scene develops further,
and the tension has raised much more, the girls start to give us the diegetic sound, all of the sound we can
hear up to this point has been no-diegetic, meaning that the girls are now coming into their roles by
providing us with sound. As they stand and make their way to the window, they cause sound such as
smashing the teacups, and the shatter of the cups acts as the music sting, up to this point the sound has
flowed and remained the same. Now the noise of the shatter has come to our attention and we now know it
is the beginning of the build up to the climax which will then set the rest of the film. Once the girls have
reached the window and make their way to jump out, the sound is now at its highest point, leaving the
viewers feeling very tense and questioning what is about to happen. At this point the girls have jumped out
of the window and the music comes to a dramatic pause, it is silent which grabs the viewers attention to
look at what is happening because they cannot hear anything. The final element of sound we hear is the
scream of what is presumably the mother of the children, she covers up the silence, this is the first element
of dialect we hear. She screams “No, my babies”, letting the viewer know that it was a close family and was
out of the girls character to do the deed that have just completed.