Women In Black-Opening Analysis

Women in Black 

The Women in black is a horror film, which is about a solicitor who has to go to a house and go through the women's paperwork. What he doesn't know is that a women is haunting that house and anyone who sees her will have something bad happen to her, which is the death of their children.

Characters
In the women in Black opening scene there are 4 characters which are showed, the three girls and the main antagonist The Women in Black. The scene is first introduced with three girls who look innocent and are playing with their toys. They are having a tea party, this is used to make the audience think that they are innocent girls and the audience is made to think that they are cute and adorable like most girls. They are dressed in white dresses which are usually seen as rich clothing, so they could be daughters of noble people who live in rich houses. After they are shown playing with the tea party set it shows them looking behind the camera like there is a person there, it then shows them standing up and look towards the windows. This shows them as innocent, weak and helpless characters who are being controlled by someone. It is like they are being told what to do by an adult and they are following what they are being told.  After they jump out of the window the camera then pans backwards and shows a dark figure in the corner of the room, which is the women in black. She is portrayed as someone to be scared of because she looks scary, this can be shown by the color she is wearing which is black and black is one of the colors of death. Also she looks like she is just staring at the window after they jump, its like she is a ghost who uses paranormal powers to control them and gets them to do what ever she says. When the Women in  Black is shown the audience immediately knows that she is the main antagonist because it shows that she is in a black dress hence the title of the film, and she looks scary so the audience is made to feel as if she is powerful and or to be messed with.

Sound

The sound which is used in the women in black is made to sound scary, so that the audience knows it is a scary film. The main sound that you can hear is the music which is non-diegetic sound. You cannot here diegetic sound until later on during the scene. The music in the scene is made to sound very scary so the audience feels nervous and scared and they think something is going to happen.  The music is like a old jack in the box song, it is made very creepy and gives it a good atmosphere when the dolls are being showed. You think that the dolls are going to move their eyes or their heads to make you jump accept they don't. As the girls see the women in black the music starts to get more intense as they start to walk towards the window. This is used to make the scene more intense and to make the audience feel more scared. When they jump out the window there is a sudden bang type noise to show that the girls had hit the ground, then there is a scream from the mother saying "My Baby", the scream is used to emphasize the atmosphere. The diegetic sound which is used in the scene is the cup and the dolls breaking, this used to show that they are being controlled and do not care what they are doing, notice this because the girl drops the cup out of her hand like she has just died. This is used to make the scene scary because when the doll gets crushed you think that something bad is going to happen like a jump scare. Also the doll looks very scary so it should make the audience nervous when the doll is crushed.

Camera Angles

There camera angles which are used in the Women in Black are used very well. For example they get a close up in the doll and the doll looks really creepy, like one of the old ones which you think look at you as you walk by them. This is used to bring a creepy atmosphere to the audience while the music plays and also makes the audience feel like they are being watched. Another good example of a shot is when the girls are looking behind the camera and you think there is something there, then later on when the camera is panning back when the girls are walking towards the camera, there is nothing there. This is supposed to make the audience feel scared and confused because nothing is there. After that when the girls jump out of the window the camera pans back and then the women is there. This is a good way to make people feel scared and confused because they know that she is a ghost, so people should be more scared into the film because ghosts usually jump out later on to make people jump. Overall the camera angles used in the scene are used to make it look more scary, and bring out the feeling of loss and being scared.

Props/Costumes

The props that are used in the scene are very creepy, for example the dolls which are at the tea party they are shown like old dolls which are stereo typically known to be scary to be people just because of the way they look. This is a good prop to use in the shot because this can scare a lot of people and they could think that the doll would have to do with something later on in the film. Also the cups and the tea set make it a little bit more creepy, because usually you wouldn't think that little girls would play with dolls which look a little bit evil. Also the dresses that they are wearing make them look cute and adorable. It makes them look like they are helpless and can not do anything to stop themselves from jumping out of the window. Also the Women in Black has a costume which makes her look very scary, it is a dress that a person wears to a funeral so it does show a little bit of background. With the netting bit down covering her face it makes it look like she doesn't want you to see her face so that she looks more intimidating to the children.

Cliche

There is a lot of good cliches in the Women in Black, for example people always go and check out what the noise is when they shouldn't because it always results with them being dead. Another cliche is that there is a murder at the beginning to introduce the main antagonist, for example the Women in Black who kills the children. Another example is Scream, when he kills the girl introducing the murderer it makes people excited to see what else is going to happen in the movie.