Melyssa Armstrong

The Woman In Black Opening Sequence

It starts with a close up of an old china tea set and old dolls; which tells
the audience that the story takes place in England in the early 1800s. The
lack of any characters in this first part makes the audience curious as to
who will appear. We then see a wide shot of three young girls playing with
these toys, who then in sync, all look up towards the camera with a blank
expression then towards the window, as if they were taking orders from
someone. After this there is a cut away to the window, providing the
audience with a sense of dread as we do not know what will happen but
know it will be bad as the eerie music becomes louder. A series of
cutaways of the girls hands, feet walking and the toys being stepped on
follows this until they reach the window, then we are provided with a wide
shot showing them stepping up to the windows. We then have a cutaway
of an extreme close up of a hand opening the window then cut back to the
wide shot and see the girls jumping out of the windows. Once they have
jumped, the soundtrack stops suddenly and we hear a scream. This
creates a feeling of dread straight away as the first thing we see in the
film is of young girls taking orders from someone who isnt there and
jumping out of a window.
Throughout the scene, there is a contrapuntal soundtrack playing; this
makes the audience feel tension as it connotes that something bad will
happen. The fact that this plays over the scene showing children makes
the feeling of tension more significant as children are often used in films
as a sense of security but just from the soundtrack we are aware that this
security will be taken from us. This, in effect, will make the audience feel
more dread and fear, making it a successful opening scene of a horror as
the audience already feels frightened within the first few minutes.
The costumes of the girls create an eerie atmosphere as it is very old
fashioned and not something an audience would expect to see young
children wearing. As well as this, the makeup gives the girls very pale
faces, almost ghostly, which makes the audience feel uneasy as
stereotypically children are very bright.
In the wide shot of the girls playing, it has been edited so it plays in slow
motion; this gives the impression that the girls are playing slowly. Again,
this is not typical of children in a modern society and creates a sense of
unease within the audience as children are typically used to make people
feel safe but we are presented with this uncommon and frightening image
of the children which makes the audience feel weary.
The use of props makes the audience feel uneasy as the toys in which the
girls are playing with look as though they are from the 1800s and as they

Melyssa Armstrong

are so old and different to the toys that are stereotypical of our
generation, it will make us uncomfortable. As well as this, in the
background we can see a rocking horse which has connotations of horror
as they are known to be creepy and are often seen in horror films.

The Gallows Opening Sequence

The Gallows starts with a dark scene shown from the point of view of a
hand held camera, giving the impression that it is a parent filming their
child in a play. It is all rather dark but we can see a stage and some people
on it. One of the characters in the play repeats dont do it, which makes
the audience believe something negative is about to happen as it is
foreshadowing the next event. It then cuts to another scene of the play
where someone is about to be hung and the people in the audience are
whispering. This releases some of the tension for the audience as it seems
as though nothing out of the ordinary is going to happen but suddenly
part of the stage drops and the boy is actually hung. We hear lots of
screams and the camera becomes shakier and pans around the audience,
but it is mainly showing the black silhouettes of the audience, which
makes the audience tense as we do not know who is there. When the
stage drops and the boy is hung, there is a loud, high pitch sound which
makes the audience jump and makes them uncomfortable. We see people
running towards the stage to help but can only really see the red
background of the stage.
There are multiple points in the opening scene where there are jump cuts
that are used to make it appear as if the camera is broken and thus makes
the audience aware that something isnt right. To a superstitious audience,
it could imply that there are ghosts, and make them even more on edge.
The cuts become more prolonged and jumpy as the scene plays on, giving
the impression that its building up to the climax or that someone has
tampered with the film; both of these possibilities are distressing to an
audience as we are unaware of what is about to happen.
The use of props is significant in the opening scene of The Gallows as they
create the most tension for the audience. The trees in the backdrop look
creepy as their branches look much like fingers, reaching towards the
characters. As well as this, having the silhouettes of the trees adds more
tension as we cannot make out anything but the outline of them. The
noose creates the most fear for the audience as it connotes death and
violence, which are common themes in this genre. This therefore means
that whilst the audience is scared, they are automatically intrigued as
they understand that the film will be scary as it has conventions of horror.

Melyssa Armstrong

The Conjuring Opening Sequence

Until 8 seconds into the opening, all we see is a black screen, but we hear
non-diegetic sound of a woman speaking. Suddenly we hear a man telling
her to tell him something and a loud click, much like that of a tape
recorder being turned on, and an extreme close up of a dolls eye is
shown. This informs the audience that the story the woman is about to tell
is about this doll. We then are shown a wide shot of three people sitting on
a sofa which soon cuts to an over the shoulder shot to show how they are
talking to someone who we havent yet seen, making the audience
curious as to who else is in the scene. We are then shown a wide shot
zooming in on the doll, who is sitting between two sofas, symbolising that
it is the cause of conversation. When one of the characters says things
got worse we are shown a close up of their face tilted towards the doll,
this alongside her facial expression demonstrates how the doll is the
source of her fear. It then cuts to a new scene of two of the characters
walking through a door into a low key lit hallway, which highly juxtaposes
with the higher key lighting when they are talking about what has
happened, implying that the people who the audience have not seen yet
are their saviours. We then see an over the shoulder shot that shows the
long hallway with the doll sitting at the end of it and hear off key music
play louder, making the audience aware that something is wrong with the
doll and that it is sinister. We are then shown a Steadicam shot going
towards the doll, making the audience feel as though they are in the film
and heightening their fear. We are then shown a cut away of the dolls
hand which has red crayons in and around it, connoting that it has in some
way come to life or possessed the ways of a child. After this is a panning
shot of a room which has been destroyed and has red crayon all over the
walls. During this, the non-diegetic sound becomes higher pitched and
louder to show how bad the situation really is. We then see a close up of
both the characters looking up then slowly moving their heads down when
a sound of something falling is heard, which is then revealed in the next
shot, a cutaway of a red crayon rolling across the floor. We see a long shot
of the characters in a hallway and hear a loud high pitched sound as one
of them picks up the doll and runs out the door, followed by an aerial shot
of the character running into a low lit alley and throwing the doll in a bin.
The use of the red crayon is significant in this opening sequence as the
colour connotes the evil of the doll and the power it possesses. As well as
this, crayons and dolls are stereotypically associated with children, which
are meant to be innocent and pure and strongly contrasts with the
representation of the doll. It also makes the audience feel more on edge

Melyssa Armstrong

as the idea of a child possessing the doll (as one of the characters had
said was what happened) seems more sinister than most ideas of children
are. The doll has crack in its eye which is symbolic as it is said that eyes
are the windows to the soul but this dolls eye is broken and black which
implies that whatever possesses has no soul.
The costumes are clearly meant to be brightly coloured but due to the low
key lighting look dull and worn, this demonstrates how the doll has taken
the good from their lives and how even the simplest things have lost their
life to the doll. The clothes of the main characters contrasts with those
shown of the two characters whom we were not shown as we could tell
they were dressed formally, implying that being at this house is for their
work and further informs the audience that the film is about people who
investigate hauntings.