The woman in black

Charles Harris

The trailer starts with a sign saying the trailer is age approved, this is a

convention for most trailers, as it shows what ages are restricted to watching it.

The companies involved with making the film get displayed, this is to

attract people to watch the film who know and trust the company. This means that a viewer who has seen

the film before can assume it will be of a good standard, and that they will like the film, meaning that they will

be willing to pay to watch it. The logo look like there’s a dripping fog

effects, this is reminiscent to the London smug in Victorian times,

posing a fear of not being able to see 10 ft in front of you, and also places

on a fear of the uncontrollable. The dark background makes the logos stand out. This can also partly scare the viewer if they

know about the antagonist, the character hides in the dark, the abundances of black can

unsettle the view (which is a horror convention). the shadows convers most of the screen, this

makes the viewer’s eye drawn to the screen, so that people not paying attention to the trailer,

will start paying attention and watch the trailer.

The logos are placed off-centre, this follows the rule-of-thirds,

meaning the viewers eye will be drawn to the logos. It also looks

slightly wrong, this helps to unsettle the viewer, which is the

point of horror films

There’s an establishing shot of a kids play room using low key

lighting, the use of shadows plays into peoples fear of the

dark, which also relates to how the antagonist has her power.

This is followed by clips shots consisting of close ups of children toys playing and moving on their own. This gives

an unnerving feeling to the viewer as THINGS DON’T MOVE ON THEIR OWN. This could be pragmatics to the toy story franchise, who have toys moving when no ones around,

which means the director is focusing on the theme of child endangerment and psychopathic actions. This creates a

level of fear in its self as it goes against human instinct of protecting children and survival of the species.

The synchronous sound is high pitch and off key at a disjointed rhythm, this is

atmospheric and creates a chilling effect for the viewer.

The next shot in the sequence shows a long shot of characters on a carriage ride, by doing a long shot, the director is trying to convey the

isolation that the protagonist is going to be going through (a convention in horror films)

Throughout the trailer, there are three girls who commit suicide. Girls walking out the window is shown

in little bits through out in order to keep the viewers interested in what's happening and have them build

concern and distress about watching 3 8 year old girls killing them selves – making them want to see the film.

One of the children steps on a dolls head, this conveys a sadistic homicidal tendency which from an 8 year old is scary. This shows the hypnotic powers of the

antagonist, and how powerful it is – making the viewer watching the text want to see the film.

The very high angle shot conveys how helpless the

protagonist is, this matched up with the loose frame shot showing nothing around him

conveys his isolation and aloneness. This makes the consumer feel for him as

they understand that weak the protagonist is compared

to the antagonist.

The shot has a picture in it, however the eyes in the picture have scratched

out. This is significant as it is commonly believed that the eyes are

the window to the sole, so by removing the eyes, it’s showing that

the normal looking upper class Victorian family have been ‘doomed’ in

some way.

The high angle, shallow focus long shot is used to show of the set to further convey the time period to the viewer or at least that the house is old fashioned. This helps to create

the feeling of mystery and adventure that come with a house of this size and era for a viewer. This shot could be a point of view shot from the antagonist, which would

empathise her power and authority with the high angle shot.

The shallow focused long shot has the protagonists eyes

shut. This conveys him to be not connected to society and

in a vulnerable position, which puts the viewer on edge with

the antagonist walking up behind him.

The body language of the actor is very relaxed and clam, this

contrasts and is in binary opposition (Strauss) to the

antagonist behind him putting the protagonist in danger.

The use of low key lighting helps to convey the sense of fear and danger as the viewer can’t see everything that’s happening on screen, this also plays into a viewers fear of the dark meaning that fear could be projected onto the film – making it even scarier for some people.

The protagonist has his back turned to the viewer, this leaves

him to be exposed and vulnerable, as he can’t see what’s

behind him.

The writing “you could have saved him,” uses a mode of address that gets the

reader thinking, who’s you? Who’s him and what happened to him? What could

have been done? This intrigues the viewer, making them want to see the film.

The writing is in red which looks like its blood. This gets the viewer to be concerned

as why there was blood shed and who’s blood it is?

The close up on the actors face helps to show his emotion –

fear – which will resonate with a

viewer. When they see that the main

character is scared, they know to be

scared also, making them to see the film.

The actor is looking slightly off camera. This shows that something big is happening off screen which mean he is too preoccupied to be looking directly at the viewer. This means the viewer can’t make eye contact with him, which means

they won’t have as much of a connection with the character, meaning they will see the film to try and get that connection.

There’s a montage of action and drama happening witch each clip being around 1

second long and intercut with blackouts. The short clips only provide a tiny snapshot about what is happening, and builds excitement with

the viewer as they want to know the whole story so will see the film.

Daniel Radcliffe is already a world renound actor and is the

star of the film so by advertising that he is in the film, the viewer

will be drawn to watching to the film to see him.

The last shot from the film in the trailer has the protagonist looking out the window while the antagonist stands behind him. This is

done so that the last thing the viewer see and will remember is the protagonist is trapped and unaware of it in what seems to be an

unescapable position. This means the viewer will walk away from the trailer wondering if and how the protagonist got out of the

situation, and want to watch the film to find out how.

The last screens shown contain the films name, and a ‘coming soon’ complete with web address for the film. The web address

means that a viewer who is interested in the film can go to the website to get more

information like the plot, a cast and crew list, picture form the film, links to buy the film

and the ability to sign up for email updates for even more information which keeps the

film in viewers mind’s so they will see it.

The model in the poster is in a defensive pose conveying that he is being haunted and is standing his ground, this conveys the films plot to the viewer. The model is making direct eye contact with the viewer

which engages them with the poster. By having half of the model

in shadows, it is being conveyed that the character has a darker side and

a troubled past, making the consumer want to know what it is

and see the film. The models costume is reminiscent of the

Victorian era, this conveys to the viewer that the text is set in the past

and it’s a period horror film.

The poster follows the rule of thirds by having the protagonist in the middle third, attracting the viewers attention because he is the focus

point of the poster and is also famous, then to his right is the antagonist (in her costume of a long black coat meaning that she is not show

herself which attracts the viewer to see the film to find out who she is), and on the left is a tree and darkness. This minimalistic layout uses

space to guide the readers eye to the important aspects on the poster.

The films title is place in the middle of the poster, slightly off centre. The typography of the title makes it look like the text is glowing, and looks like a ghost. This helps to convey the plot of the film as the protagonist is being haunted. This connection is further shown as the text is touching the

model implying a direct connection.

The poster has a green/ blue tinge to it. The use of colour correction is good at conveying the sense of unnatural. It makes the poster more iconic and

memorable, meaning that a consumer is more likely to see the film, or even share the poster turning them into prosumers.

The film’s slogan “fear her curse” is creates a sense of ore about the antagonist. The slogan alludes to the antagonists power making the viewer want to see the film to see her. This creates a positive

representation of woman as it conveying woman aren’t powerless (defying horror conventions) and will attract feminists to see the film. The mode of address has direct address to the viewer, warning them about the woman in black, the direct address engages the viewer, making them see the film.

There is only one name mentioned at the top which is the start, Daniel Radcliffe,

who success in films before this one acts as a unique selling point for this film,

getting viewers to see the film.

The house in the far background conveys the films setting. The viewer can see it’s a big old

fashioned, and they can understand it’s a stereotypical horror setting.

The background for the main image is a large house, it looks run down and covered in overgrown shrubs

and ivy conveying its been abandoned, its presence on the

magazine cover implies it’s where the film is set – a setting like this is a

common horror convention – it’s the only house shown in the

background which implies that character will be isolated, this

exited the viewer making them want to see the film.

The model has been shot at a low angle conveying his importance to the film. He isn’t looking at the viewer which implies that

something in the film so important is happening that he is too busy to look at the reader. It gives the character an element of mystery as

he won’t look the viewer in the eye, making them want to see the film to find out more about him. The models costume gives an idea of when the film is set, and helps the film to stand out from other

horror films.

The masterhead is big and bold, it’s typography puts it on a curved angle which helps to make it stand out, and implies that the magazine won’t be a normal magazine conforming to all conventions. The secondary images behind the

masterhead uses iconic horror characters to inforce the magazine’s genre to the viewer.

The colour scheme contains a lot of blue. This defies

horror conventions as blue is considered peaceful

compared to the stereotypical red and black colour scheme. The colours match the models costume which helps to tie the film to the magazine. The blue

has connotations of intelligence, but presenting

the character of being smart, the film is defying

conventions by not having a ‘blond idiot’ doing

unrealistic and stupid things and getting killed, making the viewer think it will be

an interesting film and want to see it.