Opening analysis for The Woman in Black

Opening analysis for The Woman in Black

The woman in black opens with eerie and unsettling non-diegetic sound combined with a close-up shot of a children's tea party, this highlights to the audience that the film is a part of the horror genre. This scene creates several enigma codes for the audience as the music creates a  sinister atmosphere whereby the audience suspect that something dramatic and unsettling is going to happen at the tea party.

The mise-en-send includes a playful, innocent image of three young girls having a tea party which turns into something creepy and conventional of horror films, as they approach the three windows at the end of the room. The audience follow the girls through a tracking shot. This further creates an enigma as the audience want to know what the girls are looking at and doing. Match-on-action is used to show that the girls open the window, this creates tension and suspense as this is highlighted as a significant action.

The three girls jump out of the window and shockingly die, this is conventional of a horror film. This is followed by a medium shot of the empty bedroom, creating an eerie unsettling scene. The sequence is silent, except for the non-diegetic horror score that drives the scene, until we hear the off-screen sound of a scream of the children's mother, as we cut to a startlingly quick close-up shot of a creepy looking doll.