BBK: The Woman in Black (Watkins 2012) Technical Analysis

Camera	Duration	Mise-en-scene	Audience Effect
ECU Shallow focus	0:00-0:10	Miniature tea set prop	Associated with childhood innocence
ECU Shallow focus	0:10-0:13	Stuffed doll expressionless with minimal facial resemblance	‘Uncanny Valley’ effect along with audience association with innocence
CU Shallow focus	0:13-0:16	Victorian expressionless china doll	Period revealed, eerie nature of children’s toys makes audience uneasy
MS Three shot	0:16-0:21	Young girls introduced, Victorian dresses	Introduction of young girls, sense of vulnerability
ECU	0:21-0:23	Victorian doll (expressionless), theme of girls hands	Representation of youthful caring (brushing the dolls hair)
ECU	0:23-0:25	Victorian doll sleeping	Representation of kindness and innocence of children
MS	0:25-0:28	Two shot girls smiling and playing	Continued representation of playful innocence
CU	0:28-0:30	One shot girl smiling	Connoted children’s innocence
CU	0:30-0:33	Doll tea party	Theme of control over the dolls
MLS	0:33-0:40	Girls positioned in high angle	Their gaze connotes a presence within the room with the high angle showing their vulnerability to it.
MS	0:40-0:43	Body language as they turn away provokes motivated shot	Their unity connotes that they are being controlled by a singular force
MLS Track in shot	0:43-0:46	Exterior shows they are not on ground level	As the volume turns up the audience are made uneasy due to the girls controlled nature and attention to the window
MS	0:46-0:48	Three shot girls start to stand	Connotes control
CU	0:48-0:49	Girls rise into shot	Connoted control
CU	0:49-0:50	Shot of shoe	Shows audience they are now standing
CU	0:50-0:51	Miniature teas cup falls from shot	Sudden lack of care for surrounding connotes control from external force
CU	0:51-0:53	Cup smashes at girls feet	No diegetic sound or body language reactions connotes no awareness of surroundings
CU	0:53-0:0:55	Shot of feet start to walk	Doll left behind connotes innocence lost
CU	0:55-0:56	Foot steps on tea pot smashing it	Connotes innocence lost
CU	0:56-0:59	Foot steps on doll	Connotes innocence lost
MS	0:59-1:04	Three shot girls walk in line expressionless toward window
MLS	1:04-1:08	Three shot each girl stands a one window
CU	1:08-1:12	Girls hand opens window	Audience feels unable to stop inevitable
LS Tracks backward	1:12-1:24	Girls step from ledge into the light	Audience shock at the childrens murder/ suicide
CU Zooms out	1:24-1:27	Dolls expressional face	The dolls expressionless face reflects that of the girls
LS Track backward reveal shot	1:27-1:32	Empty room tracks back to reveal silloutte in black vail	Figure connotes the force that was controlling the girls.

CONTENT

• In the Extract we see three girls who are playing with a tea set as they are 'possessed', forcing them to commit suicide, 
• The symbolism of the girls control over the expressionless dolls is replicated as they themselves are controlled later in the sequence.
• A theme of motherhood and innocence is prevalent as the girls care for there toys without any knowledge of the evil that awaits
• The audience are shown that the girls have been controlled in some way by depicting them as losing all interest in their surrounding to the point that they are stepping on their own toy

WHAT COULD WE TAKE FROM THIS?

• I particularly like the use of vulnerability and ideologies surrounding children in order to evoke emotional reaction and maternal/paternal instincts of the audience
• The use of close up to show actions without revealing character is a concept worth exploring