AS G321: Film Opening Deconstruction: The Woman in Black (2012)

The Woman in Black

Summary:

"A young lawyer, struggling with work after the death of his wife, is sent to a remote village to settle the estate of a deceased eccentric woman who owns a Manor House. The village residents want his to leave as they are trying to conceal a deadly secret. But he refuses, and soon discovers that the house of his client is haunted by the vengeful ghost of a woman dressed in black."

In Imdb.com Retrieved 8th November 2016 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596365/plotsummary

Production:

"Hammer Films or Hammer Pictures is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies — and, in later years, television series. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was due, in part, to distribution partnerships with major United States studios, such as Warner Bros."

"Simon Oakes, who took over as CEO of Hammer, said: "Hammer is a great British brand — we intend to take it back into production and develop its global potential. The brand is still alive but no one has invested in it for a long time".Since then it has produced several films, including Let Me In (2010), The Resident (2011), The Woman in Black (2012) and The Quiet Ones (2014)."

Hammer Film Productions n.d In Wikipedia Retrieved 8th November 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_Film_Productions

Production's of note include:

Hammer pictures have produced many movies therefore, I will note the films made within the hour genre:

Let me In (2010) written and directed by Matt Reeves. Distributor: Paramount Pictures and Icon Film Distribution. Budget: $20 million. Gross: $12.1 million.

Wake Wood (2011) written and directed by David Keating. Distributor: Hammer Film Productions. 

The Quiet Ones (2014) written and directed by John Progue. Distributor: Lionsgate. Budget: $200,000. Gross: $8.5 million.

Distributors:

Momentum Pictures is a film distributor owned by Entertainment One. Prior to 2013, Momentum was a brand of Canadian distributor Alliance Films used for its releases in the United Kingdom, and was one of the leading independent distributors in the UK and Ireland; following eOne's purchase of the company, Alliance and its divisions were folded under the eOne brand. The Momentum brand was revived in 2015 as part of a venture with Orion Pictures to jointly acquire films for distribution in North America and international markets.

Momentum Pictures n.d In Wikipedia Retrieved 8th November 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momentum_Pictures

Timeline

00.00-00.15: The film begins with a black screen which slowly fades to present a porcelain tea set being used with a bird design. High pitched music is being played in the background to create a tense atmosphere. The scene shows three young girls playing with the tea set and with creepy vintage dolls made of rags & porcelain. 

00.15-00.25: This transitions to a mid shot of the 3 little girls playing with the dolls and the tea set, they are not communicating with each other neither laughing, simply caring for the  dolls. The high pitched music box sound continues to play in the background. 

00.25-00.35: The footage has been slowed down with post production editing when the girls are shown in a two shot, laughing and smiling at each other. Their actions and expressions look very stiff. The girl shown last looks down where the camera then displays the dolls and porcelain tea set. At 00.35, a wide shot is presented of the decrepit room which has very old furniture of dull colour. The room looks like an attic therefore is on high ground.

00.35-00.45: The three girls look towards the camera at the same time which breaks the fourth rule. This creates an unsettling atmosphere for the audience as this continues for 9 seconds. The music box sound slowly increases in volume.

00.45-01.30: The three girls walk towards the three large windows and as they do they break the porcelain tea set and dolls by stepping on them, which creates a deep dramatic sound. Each girl opens one of the three windows and jumps out of it. As this happens a loud high pitched scream is played which leaves the audience in full attention.

Film Deconstruction - The Woman in Black Analysis:

In this section I will be analysing certain areas of the film opening in depth to see how the director portrays the horror genre and draws the audiences attention. The certain areas I will be focussing on include:

1. Setting - Lighting/Setting and Colour
2. Motifs/Reoccurring Imagery
3. Costume/Makeup
4. Effective Transitions/Camera Movements/Shots
5. Credits/Typography
6. Music/Sounds 

Once I have fully deconstructed the film opening against these 6 areas, I will be further concluding my analysis with feedback from our focus group and discussing what I will be taking from this deconstruction further onwards in my main task. 

Setting Analysis

The initial thoughts from the audience may infer that the first scene in specific isn’t set in a modern time due to the decrepit furniture and old fashioned dolls. Their inference is correct however, the family are wealthy people in this period of time which is made clear with what the girls are wearing. An example of a similar movie that is set in the same time period is Oliver Twist. 

This image shows the china glazed tea set with a vintage design

As the scene starts there is an extreme close up of a ‘play’ tea party where the girl is pretending to tip tea into a cup. Due to the use of teapot, cups and saucers, it gives the impression that the film is set in England, the audience may notice this as that’s where teapot were made. As this film was released in 2012 and is set around the 1930’s, it’s as if the director wants the audience to go back in time with the characters. They may have set the film within this time period to emphasise how dangerous situations were back then contrasting to how they are in present day. 

Lighting/Colour

The opening scene is presented as relatively dull and colourless with little natural light coming from the three large windows. The light bounces on the pale green walls to produce a dim off coloured lighting which emphasises the distressed furniture. 

The girls playroom in a very dark light just before the woman in black is shown - supports the horror theme (low key lighting)

Further to this, the natural light coming from the windows shows that it is not a sunny day, more of an overcast outlook. The director has specifically not chosen to use the sun as the direct source of light as research states, that cloudy days alter peoples mood by making them feel more unhappy and uncomfortable. For this reason, the audience  continue to view the scene in a gloomy manner. 

A gif to show the girls jumping out the window

Watkins may have chosen not to focus the camera on the outside setting so that the audience can give their undivided attention to when the girls jump out the window. This part of the scene is very haunting and unexpected which alarms the audience and implies the horror genre. 

Motif/Reoccuring Imagery

In the opening scene the dolls are over represented possibly to create a ghoulish atmosphere and be used to show the similarity between the girls and the dolls. Further to this, porcelain is considered to be a delicate material therefore, easily breakable and is again a reoccurring object (tea set). 

Costumes/Makeup

The conventions of a horror film generally revolve around creepy little girls, this is exactly what The Woman in Black conforms too, having the girls wear old-fashioned clothes with long hair and bows neatly placed on the sides, suggests perfection. The audience may think that the girls portray the image of the dolls clothing and hair as it is very neat and tidy unlike the setting they’re in. Further in the scene when the girls walk to the window, they step on the porcelain dolls therefore, breaking them. From this, we may gather that the dolls are foreshadowing the events that are going to occur.

Before the girls break the dolls, their overly happy expressions on their face fit in with the pretence of their actions, but is very robot-like, adding to the horror film.

A gif to show the girls stiff movement and expressions

Camera Shots/Angles/transitions

The creepy rag doll

In the opening sequence many close ups are used to focus the audiences attention on the subject. The scene begins with a close up of the children’s tea set where no liquid is being poured therefore, indicating they are imagining it. The rag doll that is shown next with a close up is very creepy with black eyes and this is where the scene starts to reflect the genre of the film. The three girls are sat around the dolls on the floor where a low angle, medium close up is used to show this. 

The colour of the doll that is shown with a close up, looks very vintage and grey and on the left you can see the out of focus image of the rag doll which makes the scene much more eerie once again. 

The blurred out rag doll looks as if it has no face when out of focus, this adds to the horror theme

POV of one of the dolls

The continuous jumps between the girls normal situation and the creepiness of the dolls, is intentional as it allows the viewer to unravel the narrative themselves and be left in confusion about what’s about to happen. Further on, a medium close up of the tea party is shown as if the camera was placed in the dolls point of view which is unnerving. 

The girls then look up directly at the camera which breaks the fourth rule. The director may have decided to incorporate this within the opening scene to shock the audience and make them feel uncomfortable. After this, the girls look to the audiences right, towards the windows where a medium tracking shot shows us the girls POV which is the windows. Many extreme close ups are used to present the impact created from breaking the toys, this shows they no longer care about them. 

The girls looking directly the camera, which is supposedly placed in the POV of The Woman in Black

The Woman in Black is revealed 

The next shot is a fixed three person medium shot from behind the girls showing them reaching for the handles and opening the windows before they step off the ledge. Once the girls had fallen to their death, the camera starts to track backwards slowly while a woman screams ‘my babies’. Once the camera reveals the attic in a dark light, The Woman in Black is stood on the right of the camera facing the windows as if she was the reason the girls jumped.

Credits/Typography

'The Woman in Black' slowly fades in where it is capitalised in black

After the woman and black had been revealed the scene quickly fades with fog. The credits are shown on top of footage that looks as if it were in the past and is significant to the movie. The typography is very standard and looks bold on top of the light background which creates a pleasant contrast. The audience may gather that the juxtaposition between the colour of the two scenes may leave the audience in confusion therefore, will continue watching.

Music/Sounds

As the scene begins with the close up of the china tea set, the non-diegetic music is played quietly in the background. The music resembles a music box children used to play with in that period of time, it can be considered very creepy as it is used to represent the dolls tea party. The music is synchronous to the girl’s actions, and the low volume fits in well with the representation of the innocent girls, further to this the pace of the music is slow and delayed and fits in well with the stereotypical horror movie.

The creepy vintage doll shown with an extreme close up

On top of the music diegetic sound such as, clinking of the china ware and muffling is heard to create tension for the theme of the film. The director may have decided to increase the volume of the diegetic sound so that the audience focus on the girls actions rather than anything else. 

The contrast between each scene

As the girls continue to play with the dolls the music soon gets softer and could possibly be described as magical, this however subverts to the horror genre because the music is slow in pace and not building tension. The music ties in well with the girl robotic actions which helps bring back the horror theme.

Wedding bells are played as the girls look directly at the camera which juxtaposes with when they jump out the window, this is surprising as wedding bells have a positive representation. The scene ends with a loud scream from a woman shouting ‘my babies’, this scream is very haunting and leaves the audience in complete shock.

Focus Group

Amy: The opening of this movie is very effective and creepy due tot he dull colours used in the room and the costumes the little girls are wearing.

Rebecca: The scene where the girls jump out of the window shocks the audience because it very unexpected. Just after that The Woman in Black is shown from the side, which indicates she is a very scary character as her face is not revealed. 

Isabel: The dolls and tea set are made of a very delicate material indicating that they are easily broken and damaged - sharp sounds used when they are broken which is perfect for the horror genre. 

Francesca: This is my favourite horror film particularly because of the effective and scary opening that continues to thrill the audience with the jumpscares and camera techniques. 

What I have Learnt

Throughout the analysis of the opening scene of The Woman in Black, I have learnt many key techniques that are used in within a film of the horror genre. This includes aspects such as lighting, colour and music, in specific I will be attempting to set the time period of my peer and I's main task similar to this. This is because it makes the situation much more eerie and this is perfect when trying to produce an opening from the horror genre.