Analysis of thriller opening : The woman in black

Hey,

Introduction to 'The Woman in black';
Arthur Kips who is a lawyers recently became a widower, he grieves the loss he has suffered. He is sent to a remote village to put a deceased eccentric's affair in order. It eventually becomes clear that the villagers are hiding an awful secret. He discovers that the house he lives in is haunted by a woman who is trying to find something/someone that she has lost.

Here is a link to the movie opening:


Opening to The woman in black

 The opening to 'The woman In black':


We start with someone pouring a cup of tea, as the scene goes on we realise that nothing comes out of the pot so we can infer that it is children playing. There is a high pitch sound (backing music) which creates suspense and drama as it isn't a nice quiet piece of music but has a more sinister feel to it. The girls begin to play with their dolls and pretend to give them a drink. Non- diegetic chimes are then present in the background music, they are stereotypically associated with thrillers and horrors to add drama and make the audience nervous, scared or uncomfortable.

We then see a three person shot of all off the little girls. They continue to play with their dolls. They're a series of close up shots of the little girls to show their emotions, which of course are happy as they are playing, this is a contrast to what we are hearing compared to what we are seeing. This will confuse an audience as we don't know why the music is like this in this situation.

Suddenly the music changes and the girls attention is brought to the corner of the room. This creates suspense as we don't know what caught their eye. This shot creates a lot of suspense as we want to know whats happening. Their focus then shifts to the window. With the help of a three person long shot we can see all of the girls reactions and that they are all the same and in sync. The music and their body language/emotions could suggest that they are all possessed. 

The girls stand up, one girl drops and breaks a cup, another breaks a dolls face by standing on it. This shows how something has gone extremely wrong as the care that the girls were taking of them has completely changed, which is completely out of their nature. They all begin to walk toward the window all simultaneously. The walking is in slow motion to add drama and suspense to the shots. It allows the audience to process and imagine what is going on. Each of the girls then reaches for their window latch's and open the windows.  

We then see the three girls standing at the window on the ledge. This shot helps add suspense because we want to know what is going to happen to them. The music continues and gets increasingly louder and more intense. They all then jump from the window ledge. As they jump the music climaxes and then stops.  We then hear screams and the camera zooms out. The opening ends here. This leaves us with the question on who was screaming and what made the girls jump. This opening may be short but is extremely effective in creating a dramatic and scary atmosphere.