Analysing the opening scene of 'The Woman In Black'

Analysing the opening scene of 'The Woman In Black':

The woman in black opens with eerie and unsettling music which is non-diegetic sound, combined with a close-up shot of a children's tea party, this highlights to the audience that the film is part of the horror genre. The scene creates several enigma codes for the audience as 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 a playful innocent image of three young girls having a tea party which turns into something creepy, and conventional of horror films, as they approach three windows at the end of the room. The audience follows the girls through a tracking shot. This further creates an enigma as the audience wants to know what the girls are looking at and doing. Match-on-action 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 of the window and shockingly die, this is conventional of a horror film. This is followed by a medium shot of the empty bedroom creating an eerie and unsettling scene. The sequence is silent, except for the non-diegetic horror score that drives the scene, until we hear the off-screen diegetic sound, a scream of the children's mother, as we cut to a startlingly quick close-up shot of a creepy looking doll.