Film annotation two - The women in Black

Name

The Women in black

Release Date

3rd February 2012

Awards

Empire award for best horror

Main Actors 

Daniel Radcliffe, Janet Mcteer, Ciaran Hinds, Liz White, Sophie Stuckey, Jessica Raine and Shaun Dooley

Director

James Watkins

Narrative

There are three young girls playing happily in a room, with their toy dolls and tea set. Until they see a strange object behind the camera. They then look towards the window before standing and trapiling all over their toys and jumping out the window. You hear their mum screaming as the camera zooms back to the room with an outline of the women in black.

Characters in opening scene

Three young girls and a clip of the women in black.

Setting 

An old attic that had been turned unto a children play room.


Technical analysis

Technique (Camera, setting, people, props).	What, how and when is this shown	Meaning and what it suggests to the audience
Music	Throughout the first scene	The music with a very scary, old fashioned filmed and as soon as you heard it new that the film was on the line with horror and to scare you. This mad the audience know that the film is going to be scary.
Setting	An old Victorian attic that had been changed into a children’s playroom.	The old Victorian setting came across creepy in its own way and the old fashioned furniture and children’s toys made it seem very freaky. This was a hint the film is a horror.
Emotions (children’s expressions)	When playing and when they saw the women in black.	When the children were happy and playing they still looked quite creepy, but when they saw the women in black they changed into ghost looking girls, with no emotions and looked like dead dolls.
Girls	The three girls, dressed in Victorian clothing	The Victorian clothing gave off a creepy and unsettling feel about the girls and gave a clue to the story line and its gender.
Toy dolls	They toy dolls the girls were playing with	The dolls right from the start looked creepy so would have made the audience think that the film is going to be scary.
Outline of the women in black	At the end when the camera comes back to the room and does an over the shoulder shot of the women in black.	This tells the audience that the film is the horror and this is the bad scary main character.
Close up	At the beginning there is lots of close up of the children’s toys	This is setting the scene and showing the audience the old Victorian scary feeling of the creepy dolls. Could be a clue of what the girls turn into.
Medium long shot	This was when it zoomed out from the toys and showed the audience the three girls playing. Also had a medium shot of the girls looking at the women in black and then to the window.	This shot set the scene and let the audience get a feeling from these young girls. The medium shot of the girls looking at the women in black (which the audience couldn’t see) and then to the window built up tension and made the audience think this is a horror film.
Long shot/medium long shot	When the camera came back to the room with the women in black in the corner.	This made the audience feel like the women in black was behind them and definitely new that this was a horror film.

Shots 
1. Close up x 9
2. Medium close up x 6
3. Medium shot x 2
4. Tracking
5. Medium long shot
6. Zooming out

Sound
1. Soundtrack
2. Diegetic sound
3. Incidental music

Representation of character
The three little girls in this scene are shown as both stereotypical and non stereotypical women. This is because at first they are being shown playing and nurturing their toy dolls (acting like mother to them), but when they see the women in black and change and no longer care for this dolls. You can tell this as they turn to violence by standing and breaking these dolls.