The Woman In Black Trailer Analysis

The trailer begins with a wide shot, establishing the scene of an old nursery. The colours are dull, and dark, and made up of blues, greens and greys. The colours connote sadness and remorse, which help set the tone of the film, and also add to the gothic horror element of it. Everything is silent at this point other than the sound of howling wind, which also sets the scene of the fact it is set in the marshes. The sound of howling wind is also a typical sound you will find in horror films. Suddenly, on top of the howling wind, we hear the sound of a chime, along with a close up of an old Victorian toy monkey strumming a harp. More toys begin to make noise, and up to this point we had just been given lots of close ups of other toys such as a china doll, who’s hair is in a state and has cracks and dirt on her face. Dolls are a popular child’s toy, thus symbolising innocence. However, the fact she is broken and not well looked after makes it less innocent and scarier. The toys begin to move as they play the music and chimes as they are part of a music box. The fact the toys each have vacant expressions add to the creepiness. We see a shot of the house from outside- it looks abandoned, dark and creepy. With broken gates, ivy on the walls and smashed windows. Quick shots of the horse and cart carrying him over the marshes are squeezed in between the shots of the toys. In the foreground of one of these shots we see a grave. There is also a shot from someone’s point of view as they walk down the dark corridor. We also see a few more quick shots around the dark mansion, such as the huge lobby room which appears to be abandoned as all the furniture is covered in white sheets, the stair case and chandeliers are all black adding a sense of darkness to the room, making the house seem creepy.

We then hear an almost ghostly sounding breathe, or a very quiet scream. As we hear this we are shown an old black and white photograph of a family as they stand in front of the mansion. There is also dialogue on top of the other sounds in the trailer at this point, as a young girl begins to recite a rhyme about ‘The Woman In Black.’

“During afternoon tea, there’s a shift in the air. A bone- trembling chill that tells you she’s there. There are those who believe the whole town in cursed. But the house in the marsh is by far the worst. What she wants is unknown, but she always comes back. The spectre of darkness, the woman in black.”  Having a child read the rhyme makes it seem much for terrifying, as if you understand the story, it is about the children killing themselves after they are cursed by the woman in black.

We then see a shot of three little girls playing with their toys, all turning and looking into the camera as if they have seen something. The fact their toys are all in good condition contrasts with the previous shots of broken toys. The girls are all wearing pink and white dresses, and their room is filled with sunlight, making them seem very innocent.

At the line ‘A bone trembling chill…’ we see a shot of another toy as it bends backwards in time with the chimes of music. The abnormal movement of the toy shocks the audience. Straight after this is another shot of the black and white photograph we saw of the family stood in front of the house, however this time, their eyes have been scratched out and the photo has been torn.

Zooming in on the photo, it becomes an extreme close up on one of the windows in the house. We hear the line ‘…that tells you she’s there.’ Looking closely at the window we can see the faint silhouette of a woman stood at the window, the dark space of her eyes visible, making it obvious she is watching them. This cuts straight to a shot of some children watching as Arthur drives past. They look shocked and scared. We see Arthur look around as he is driving as see more children watching him as he passes the houses. There is an establishing shot of the whole country town as we hear the line ‘…there are those who believe, the whole town is cursed…’ We see a shot of a mother screaming and crying, which makes sense if we listen to what the rhyme is about.

‘But the house on the marsh is by far the worst.’ As we hear this line we see an establishing shot of the house and the surrounding marshes. From this point on the tempo on the trailer begins to get much faster, as we hear the noises the toys are making getting faster and faster too. The nature of the clips are also less innocent and become more scary. A toy turns it’s head and looks directly into the camera, this then cuts to the man being asleep, and over his shoulder we see a woman dressed in black slowly walk towards him. As this happens, we hear a loud screeching noise which is very common in horror trailers to create atmosphere.

We then see Arthur looking through the window at night. We see that it is raining, and he is lit up by a flash of lightning. We can also hear thunder- a thunderstorm is a common symbol for the horror genre. As he looks out the window he sees a child crawling out of the mud and towards the house. This makes no sense until we see the next clip which is him ripping the wallpaper off the wall and discovering writing painted on the wall written in what appears to be blood. We assume it is about the child we saw in the marsh: ‘You could have saved him.’  In the foreground of this shot, the monkey toy with maracas we saw at the start of the trailer sits there still, but as Arthur pulls the paper off the wall, it suddenly starts moving as if it’s been wound up.

‘What she wants is unknown…’ The rhyme continues as we see a shot of Arthur looking lost in the fog, which then cuts to a quick shot of him diving into the marsh and then another quick shot of him sprinting through a forest at night. ‘…But she always comes back…’  We then see another clip of the three girls we saw playing innocently previously. Except this time they are all walking towards the window in a trance, throwing down their toys and standing on them, completely forgetting how much they were enjoying delicately playing with them a moment ago. We see the girls look like they’re about to jump out the window. ‘…The spectre of darkness…’  It then cuts to a clip of Arthur as he sprints down the old dark corridor in the house, and locks himself in a room, where the muddy body of the child we saw in the marsh appears to grown from the bed. As this happens, the music suddenly cuts off and we are shown a clip of the monkey again, but this time it suddenly stops too, building suspense. We start to hear slow chimes, and between each chime, we see a quick shot; a fire, Arthur sprinting, and lots of ghostly looking children standing in the rain in the forest outside the house.

The last shot is a typical shot to scare the audience and make them want to see the film even more. Arthur looks out the window and watches as the only road to escape the house is flooded over with water, thus trapping him. As he stands watching this, along with a loud bang, a ghoulish face appears over his shoulder.