Research:The Woman In Black

Background and brief plot-

The Woman in Black is a 1983 horror by Susan Hill, written in the style of a traditional Gothic novel. The plot concerns a mysterious spectre that haunts a small English town, heralding the death of children. A the main character, a lawyer played by Daniel Radcliffe visits the English town to sell a haunted and abandoned house where he soon discovers a mystery. A television film based on the story, also called The Woman in Black, was produced in 1989, with a screenplay by Nigel Kneale. In 2012, a film adaptation of the same name was released, starring Daniel Radcliffe which this is the opening for. The movie was directed by James Watkins and written by Jane Goldman. It was produced by Hammer Films Production and distributed by Momentum Pictures(uk), CBS Films(US), Alliance Films(Canada).The movie was released in the US and Canada on the 3rd february 2012 with lots of positive reviews and then in the UK on the 10 february 2012. The movie had a budget of $15 million and made box office profits of $127,730,736. The movie won and were nominated for many awards for best horror movie e.g Empire Awards UK and Awards for best Sound Editing by Golden Trailer.

Representation from the clip-
At the start of the opening scene there is an extreme close up of a little pretending to tip tea into a cup and then a switch to another extreme close up of the girl giving it to the doll. They are using saucers and tea cups it instantly informs the audience that theses icons represents the location of England as this country is stereotyped to be 'posh'and are linked to theses items. This tells the audience that the film maybe set in England.

We can also workout that the film is showing the time period through the Mise en scent of'; the old fashion dolls the girls are playing with and the clothes. This makes the audience go back to the 1930s instantly. Dolls are known to be antiques and they use them as toys so 1930s to 1920s is the sort of time period the producers wanted to show the audience.

The non-diegetic sound as the film takes a close-up shot of the teapot sounds dark and funeral like because of the bells, instantly telling the audience this maybe a story about death. So we can establish this is a movie based on the horror genre. We also get a mid-shot of three girl starring at nothing which instantly shows the audience there maybe some type of paranormal ghost activity in this movie. As they need turn around and walk towards the window whilst crushing their dolls this tells the audience this is a negative aspect warns the audience the paranormal features maybe negative and dangerous instead of good which instantly shows the stereotype of a classic horror movie due to the sense of danger and a negative atmosphere.
As the girls star at nothing looking at a ghost, they jump out the window, falling to their deaths which instantly makes the audience feel sorry for the girls and go against the ghost acting like the enemy of the narrative.

Connections with my own ideas-
The idea of linking the time period and location in a movie is what I might consider including in my film through mise en scent. The idea of a mystery ghost or a paranormal activity to create tension and an atmosphere towards the audience.