Task 2.1: Horror Analysis (The Woman In Black)

The opening scene of 'The Woman In Black' opens with a close up of a small child's tea cups, when the girl is pouring the pretend tea, her actions are all very slow and smooth representing ghost like movement on top of the slow spooky music in the back ground. Also when the teapot reaches the teacup it makes a clash sound which tells the audience that possibly something bad is about to happen.

The second shot is an extreme close up of a dolls face, as the little girl force feeds the pretend tea to it showing power and control over the dolls. Also in a horror film dolls and children's toys always represent ghost and paranormal activity which already tells the audience the type of horror they will be watching.

 The third shot is a wide shot of the 3 girls and there play set, this shows the innocence and helplessness of the girls. There clothes are very old fashioned which is a convention of horror, there are other horrors set in the more Victorian times like the Women in White and these are the types of clothes that a ghost would most likely wear showing the audience that these girls might about to be possessed.

In this mid-shot, we are given the impression of two little girls enjoying their time playing 'dolls' however this is shortly contradicted by possession from the Woman In Black, furthermore, the facial expressions of the two little girls imply that nothing can come in-between their enjoyment; however this is not the case.

 In this long-shot, we are now given the impression that the little girls have spotted something and look as if they are losing there self control, the audience now probably know that the girls have seen the Women In Black and now may know what will happen if they have read the film description.

This long-shot of the girls looking at the window implies that the girls have begun to lose control of themselves and that The Woman In Black is controlling them like the girls were controlling the dolls back in the second shot. Also the music has started to increase its pace which implies something bad is about to happen.

This close-up shows the possession or the girls, as they have gone from playing with there tea-set to mindlessly walking over it whilst still keeping the slow ghost like movement and breaking it which they wouldn't do if they was in their own self control. Again the music tempo has increased showing conventions of horror.

By the time of this long-shot of the girls the audience knows exactly what is about to happen that they have been possessed and are about to commit suicide by jumping out of the window because they clearly have no self control and the possession is making it happen. The music on top of this has added some high pitch screeches which makes it less comforting for the audience. Shortly after we hear a scream from the mother of the children and the words 'No my babies' which makes the audience feel sympathy.

 This over the shoulder shot of the Woman In Black works well as it scares the audience as it shows them her power and that nothing can really out-power her.