Women in Black Opening Review

Women in Black Opening Review

   The women in black opens with eerie and unsettling non-diegetic sound combined with a close up shot of a children’s tea party this highlights the audience that the film is part of the horror genre. The scene creates several enigma codes for the audience as the music creates a sinister atmosphere whereby the audience suspects that something dramatic and unsettling is going to happen at the tea party.

The mise-en-scene includes playful, innocent image of the three girls having a tea party which turns into something creepy and conventional of horror films, as the approach the three windows at the end of the room. The audience follow the girls through a tracking shot. This further creates enigma as the audience want to know what the girls are looking at and doing. Match-on-actin is used to show that the girls open the window, this creates tension and suspense as this is highlighted as a significant action.

The three girls jump out the window and shockingly die, this is conventional of horror film. This is followed by a medium shot of the empty bedroom, creating an eerie unsettling scene. The sequence is silent, except for the non-diegetic horror score that drives the scene, until we hear the off screen sound of a scream of the children’s mother, as we cut to a startlingly quick close up shot of a creepy looking doll.