Opening sequence of The Woman In Black

The woman in black is a supernatural thriller with an effectual opening sequence due to the use of the micro elements such as cinematography, editing, sound and mise-en scene.

The sequence starts with a close up shot of 2 mini cups and a tea pot which a girl is pretending to pour some kind of drink into the cups to give to her dolls. There are 3 girls all having a pretend tea party with there dolls. In the middle of their tea party they all look around the room. The camera goes to a long shot of all 3 of the girls sitting on the floor looking towards the camera as if they have seen something horrifying. This suggests the girls are scared which conforms to a thriller as it creates enigma codes, as the audience want to know what the girls have seen and start questioning themselves.

Throughout this sequence there is slow, spooky music playing in the background. the use of this non diagetic sound creates a sense of disturbance and makes us feel something isn't right or that something bad is going to take place creating suspense. non diagetic sound is very important in thrillers as it is a way to get the audience frightened. 

The use of the match on action when the girls all look at the window before getting up creates theatre of the mind as the audience don't actually know what the girls have seen or are seeing so we start to imagine what could be happening. Theatre of the mind is a very important thriller convention. As the girls get up we can see through their performance that they are frightened as one of the girls holding a cup drops it as she stands up, letting it smash to the ground. they all ignore this and carry on walking towards the window. This suggests the girls are nervous.

As the girls are walking to the window they all walk in sink in slow pace building up tension for the audience. The camera then gets the girls in a long shot all standing by the windows  The girls then open the windows and all jump out at the same time leaving the audience confused as to what just happened. This is very typical of a thriller as thrillers like to leave their audience in suspense