The woman in black opening analysis - camera framing

Camera framing and movement 
The woman in black opening scene

In the Woman in Black opening scene, the very first thing that is shown to the audience is a close up image of the children playing with tea cups and dolls, which makes these normal everyday children's toys seem very creepy and gives quite an unnatural and unnerving feel. Added with the background music, we know that this is not an ordinary "tea party". This also gives the audience a rough idea of the time period that the movie is set in; the Victorian era.

There is a medium close up and a lot of concentration on the dolls, which is intended to frighten the audience as dolls are very frequently used in horror movies because they can make something as ordinary as playing with toys seem very eerie. Then the next few shots switch to medium close ups, which in a way, reassures the audience that nothing is going to happen and lures them into a false sense of security because it is simply the girls playing and enjoying themselves. The shot is then a medium of all of the three girls staring in the same direction, which creates a feeling of paranormal activity because the way they all turn at the same time suggests there is some kind of ghostly presence.

Throughout all of this scene, the camera has stuck to the 180 degree rule but then the camera slowly zooms in on the window, foreshadowing what is about to happen and then a long shot is used to show the three girls walking towards the window. The close ups of them crushing their toys suggests that they've all been possessed and don't know what they're doing, which is upsetting for the audience because we know that the innocent girls are about to die, but this also keeps the audience enticed because they want to see what is about to happen.

Georgia Heria-Warrick