The Woman in Black Intro Evaluation

 The first film that I have chosen to evaluate is ‘The Woman in Black’, a Supernatural Thriller, directed by James Watkins. The very first shot in the scene is a close up of a teapot being tilted as if it’s contents are going to be poured into a cup, however nothing comes out of the teapot, already giving the viewer the sense that something is wrong or abnormal. After this, the teapot is brought over to another cup beside it and the same thing happens. To make this shot more eerie still, a piece of ambient, spooky music is introduced at the start. Following this shot, we see a small child’s hand lift one of the empty cups to the faces of two dolls, as if to pour the non-existent drink into their mouths. By seeing the small child’s hand we feel some reassurance as a viewer, as we speculate that it is just a child playing – having a ‘tea party’. This is confirmed by the following shot, a long shot of three children sitting with a collection of dolls having a ‘tea party’. This acts as an establishing shot, proposing to us that these three children are going to be prominent characters in the remainder of the movie as they are introduced so early on. After this we see an array of close up shots of the children playing with their toys (brushing their hair etc.) By using close ups in this instance, we get a good look at the facial expressions of the dolls, which are very unnerving – dissimilar to the types of toys that you would generally associate with young girls (cute and cuddly.) However, we can tell by the way in which the characters are dressed that it may be set some time ago. The next essential thing that we observe as a viewer is at 0:45 of the clip, when there is a slight change in the composition of the background music. We hear a small fade followed by the introduction of a synth-like instrument, giving the music a further ambient effect. I feel that this slight change of music represents the change of mood/atmosphere in the room, as precisely as it takes place, the camera cuts to a long shot, looking down upon the girls sitting in the centre of the floor. By looking down on the girls, we make the assumption that they are vulnerable, as they appear smaller and more insignificant than they have previously in the scene. During this shot, the three girls simultaneously move their heads and look curiously straight at the camera, positioned high above them, as if they can see something that we cannot as a viewer, making us eager to know what it is. This feeling is intensified as the shot is sustained for an uncomfortable period of time. Shortly after this, the scene cuts to a shot of the girls once again moving their heads simultaneously to look at the opposite side of the room. After this we see a shot of a window to the left of the girls, showing us that this is what we are looking at. As this shot is presented there is a deep percussive sound, which once again adds to the suspense that we feel, as we do not know why the window is being focussed on. To further reinforce this, the camera slowly zooms into the window intensifying the feeling of curiosity. Next, we see the girls stand from their seated position, and head towards the window that was just focussed on. The way that they all move together in time with one another feels very unnatural and gives us the sense that they are all almost not in control of their selves, but that there is a larger entity in control of them all. This is further reinforced when we see the following series of shots. We observe close ups of one of the girl’s dropping her cup in slow motion. The use of this slow motion shot adds impact to the shot. Also after this we see close ups of the girls’ feet as they stand, and recklessly, they stand on whatever is in their paths – breaking the cups and standing on their dolls, also giving us the idea that they have been possessed. Following on from this, there is a shot of the girls walking slowly together towards the camera – arranged in a line. This makes us feel unsettled as a viewer, as this makes us feel like they are coming towards us personally. Also, the way in which the camera zooms out as they come closer makes us subconsciously feel that we are trying to get away from them, but the zoom eventually halts – giving us the impression that we have failed. Eventually, the girls make their way to the window, where we see a slow motion close up of one of their hands opening the window, followed by a long shot taken from behind them stepping up onto the window ledge and once again (making the scene feel very consistent) they move in time and jump out the window. As this happens there is a change in music, making the build up to this feel hugely dramatic and making the viewer feel apprehensive about what is about to unfold. After they jump, the camera zooms out slowly and we hear a big scream coming from out of the window. This makes us feel extremely sympathetic to those affected by the deaths of the girls and this gives us an idea of the emotion being felt by the person screaming. Strangely, the camera cuts to a close up shot of the dolls face after this, giving us the impression that it is responsible for what has happened. The sequence ends with a shot taken from high in the room that the girls were sitting in and holds for a moment, emphasising the emptiness of the room without the girls.