JH : Technical Analysis - The Women in Black (Watkins, 2012)

Shot Duration	Camera	Mise-en-scene	Sound
00:00-00:11	----------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------
00:12-00:22	Close up of china cups, establishing shot.	Two china cups are sitting on a small table. We can tell from the size of the cups and the fact that nothing comes out that its a child playing.	Eerie background noises, quiet chink of china hitting china.
00:23-00:25	Close up of doll.	Girl pretends to let her doll drink the “drink”.	Background noise continues. A new instrument joins the already creepy mix.
00:25-00:28	Close up of male-doll.	Same as before girl pretends to let her doll drink the “drink”.	Eerie Background noise continues.
00:28-00:33	Mid-shot taken from a low angle with girls at same level.	Three girls having a fake tea party in a child’s bedroom.	Eerie Background noise continues.
00:33-00:35	Close up of doll.	Doll having hair brushed in the background. Out of focus doll close to camera.	Eerie Background noise continues.
00:36-00:38	Close up of doll lying down.	Doll being tucked into a small bed.	Eerie Background noise continues.
00:38-00:40	Two young girls in shot. Mid-shot.	Two girls smile at the other girl and keep pretending to pour tea.	Eerie Background noise continues.
00:41-00:42	Mid-shot of girl smiling back.	Other girl smiles back at the other two.	Eerie Background noise continues.
00:43-00:45	Low angle, mid-shot showing scene.	Three girls sitting round the tea set but no faces can be seen.	Eerie Background noise continues.
00:45-00:52	Higher angle shot showing full scene.	Three girls stop making tea and look towards the camera.	Background sound intensifies.
00:53-00:55	Low angle, mid-shot.	The girls all turn to look the left, towards the windows.	Eerie music continues.
00:55-00:58	Mid-shot that slowly zooms to windows.	Three windows for the three little girls.	Eerie music continues.
00:58- 01:00	Low angle, mid-shot.	Three girls begin to rise.	Eerie music continues.
01:00-01:01	Low angle, mid-shot.	Close up of left two girls rising.	Eerie music continues.
01:01-01:02	Low angle, close up of feet.	Close up of girls feet as she rises.	Eerie music continues.
01:03-01:05	Low angle, Close up of cup in hand and then feet.	Shows girls hand as she drops the cup and then it smash.	Eerie music continues.
01:06-01:11	Low angle close up of feet as they walk.	Showing them walk across china cups and dolls.	China being crushed and eerie music continues.
01:12-01:16	Girls eye heart medium shot , tracked backwards.	All of girls shown walking towards the windows.	Eerie music continues.
01:17-01:20	Medium long shot.	Girls step up onto window ledge. They all reach for handles.	Eerie music continues.
01:20-01:24	Close up of hand.	Close up showing one girl open the window.	Eerie music continues.
01:25-01:36	Medium-long shot.	Girls jump out the window in unison.	Music peaks as they jump then the scream of a women.
01:38-01:40	Close up	Shows dolls lifeless face.	Women screaming then says “my babies”
01:40-01:42	Medium long shot	Shot of the full room showing open windows.	Music returns but quieter and creepier.

 

Analysis of Findings

• None of the opening sequence shots show the protagonist. Only the three little girls are shown and a short glimpse of the antagonist
• The cutting rate of the shots are quite fast with lots of shots only lasting a few seconds. The majority of the shots last between 2-3 seconds. Some last over 10 seconds but this is only for dramatic effect.
• The camera is positioned at low angles most of the time as this is the same height as the girls as they sit on the ground.
• The pace is very slow which contrasts with the high cutting rate of the clip. The scare factor the opening is prolonged by the opening sequence having a slow pace.
• They decided not to use any effects on the scene but there is a very nice dolly shot away from the windows after the girls jump.

 
• The close up shots of the feet are very effective and act as a contrast to the previous calm seen as we see the china smashed by the small feet.
• The feet shots are also shot from a low angle which is very noticeable and adds depth to the scene.

In our production just like The Women in Black the protagonist will not be shown. It will use a fast cutting rate once inside the house but before that it will be relatively slow to build up suspense. We will be making good use of low angle shots and like the opening to The Women in Black our opening scene will use music as the opening soundtrack however this will dissolve into a small amount of dialogue near the end.