Opening of a Thriller film - Women in Black

Women in Black:

The Women in Black is a horror and thriller film that was released in 2012. David Radcliffe who stars as the main character in the film who is a real estate agent and he comes to the house as a person who lied in the house had recently died. However, when he comes to the house he realises that the house is very isolated and something isn't quite right. He soon realises that the house is haunted and that a women wearing black haunts the house which is why people don't visit the deserted house. The film opens with the names and logos of the production company, EntertainmentOne.

The scene starts off with a fade from a black screen to a shot of two cups and somebody imagining to pour "tea" into two cups. This suggests to the audience that it is children who is pouring the tea into the cups as children play imaginary games like having tea parties. The child then goes to let her doll take a sip from the cup suggesting that they're in fact playing a game. The cups that the children are playing with, look quite old suggesting that they were from the olden days. This makes the audience think about if this may be foreshadowing something that it has and if it links to the haunting  and eeriness of the house. There is non diegetic music in the background of clocks ticking to suggest that time is precious and that the time may be ticking down to something that is about to happen. Also, their is the non diegetic sound of nursery rhyme and a musical box in the background to suggest to the audience that something is about to happen and the tense music is building up to this. This creates suspense and an eerie feel to the house that the children are playing in and to make the audience wonder if something is happening that they are unaware of. The non diegetic sound increases in volume as the girls start to brush the dolls hair to suggest that something is going to soon happen. The doll is something that most people would find scary, and builds suspense up as they wonder why a little girl would play with a toy like that. The non-diegetic music, the diegetic clanking of the teacups and the creepy toys all help build suspense and add to the dark idea that something terrible and sinister is about to happen.

The shot then changes to a three person shot to show the children sitting around with their dolls still playing smiling and having fun. However, this doesn't make the audience feel comfortable and on edge as the build up of the non diegetic sound of a jewellery box makes the audience feel that something bad is going to happen to the children.
 


The shot then changes to a high angle shot to show the children playing happily and then changes to a point of view shot from the door to show the children quickly look up at the camera. This creates the sense that someone has walked into the house that has huge amounts of power as the camera is at a high angle compared to the children to show that something bad is going to happen to the children. This makes the audience question who has walked into the room that they're almost scared and startled to see. The shot then cuts to a three person mid shot of the children all facing the window all together at the same time. This creates a huge amount of suspense for the audience as they wonder what the children are looking at or have been shown.


The shot then quickly changes to a mid shot of three windows in the distance to suggest that this is what the children are looking at. This is well thought out as the three windows panels link to the 3 children that their is to suggest that their is one for each of them.


The shot then cuts to a mid shot of the girls which gives the audience a chance to see each of their facial expressions to get any clues they can about what is happening to them. However, each of the children's faces are emotionless to suggest that they're unaware and are possessed by someone to doing something that they are unaware of. Furthermore, the shot changes to a close up of one of the girls shoe and her dropping one of the cups onto the floor making it smash and also the dolls head to suggest that they're each china. This could foreshadow to the audience what is about to happen to the children and that they're vulnerable and unaware of what is happening to them like the dolls are fragile and for children linking to vulnerability. A cut is then used again to a three person shot where the girls are shown slowly moving towards the window. As the children are seen moving closer and closer to the window the camera is zoomed outside of the window to show them coming up to the window ledge. The audience instantly feel worried as to what the girls are going to do and the non diegetic music adds to the suspense of what is happening and the question of what is going to happen. The zoom out that is used to show the three girls walking up to the window shows that they're being completely controlled through their body and somehow and they're unaware of what is happening to them. A close up is used to show the girl opening the window and putting her knee on the ledge as if to jump. The audience are shocked by what has happened and feel worried as to if someone is going to help them. However, the eerie music reinforces that it may not end well for the girls.

As the girls walk out of the window the non diegetic music increases in speed and volume to show the audience that this is a very significant part and is shown through the music being at a climax. Then a women's scream is heard when a close up is shown of one of the dolls and in the background "my baby". This is significant as it shows the audience that the children had in fact died and makes the audience want to continue watching to find out how it happened.

After this a long shot of the room is shown almost as if the person who was in the room is looking. A black veil and a women's head can be seen on the right to suggest that it was a girl who did this. This creates various different questions for the audience as they want to know why and how this women did what she did.


The Women in Black was a very good film to analyse as a result of analysing it I have seen that suspense can not only be seen through dialogue but can be shown just as good through images and suspenseful music. This has made me think about the choice of music that we decide to use in our thriller opening as the music is a very significant part in making the opening suspenseful. This will help my group and I look at the different ways in which we can create suspense not just through dialogue.