The Woman In BlackTrailer Review

The trailer begins with a smoky setting and red writing stating the production company of the film. There is the ambient sound of a train as one is shown on the screen. It creates a peaceful atmosphere because it has calm non diegetic music while they are explaining the protagonist’s situation and who he is. This briefly gives the audience an insight to the protagonist and creates sympathy for him because they don’t want anything bad to happen to him and for it to stay peaceful.

The house is shown along with other eerie clips of the surroundings, showing that the house is lonely and creates a sense of fear for the audience. The clips are all dreary and dark which signifies danger. A lonesome cross is shown in the middle of the marshland portraying that bad things have already gone on there. Isolation is a convention of horror films because it means that the characters are more vulnerable because there is no one there to help them.

The peaceful music stops as he walks into the dark house showing that the security is gone and bad things are going to happen in there. The music after is tense as he walks round the dark house with a light. This builds up to the crescendo, as it gets louder and tenser. It stops as he hits the toy that spins round. The audience’s mind is taken off what is going to happen as they watch the old fashioned toy go round with no music. A distorted eye then appears combined with a loud noise to show that the film has unexpected parts in it and will make people jump. The dialogue ‘please don’t go back to the house’ shows that there is something scary there and makes the audience associate that place with fear.

The trailer focuses on the house to show that it is dangerous there and to evoke questioning from the audience. A woman shakily pours a drink whilst saying ‘don’t go back to the house’. An image of the woman in black behind the protagonist is then shown to give the effect that she is the danger. A voice over then says ‘she’s there’. A crow is shown to signify death and fear. It lets the audience know that the film is dark and gothic. After the crow is shown there is a montage of death with fire and screaming. The music is tense and the montage flashes on quickly making the audience feel terror.

The music stops as the protagonist says ‘I can’t leave yet.’ This indicates to the audience that a lot more things are going to happen and keeps them wanting to know what he is going to do and why he can’t leave. The words ‘the most chilling ghost story of our time’ are shown which is used to persuade the audience of the trailer to see it because they think it will be worth while.

A theme of children is shown to show the vulnerability of the victims in the film. Because the children are vulnerable it also makes the audience sympathise with them and want to find out what happens to them. The 3 girls looked possessed and step on one of their toys, cracking it’s head. They open their windows as if they are going to jump out and a man shouts ‘you should of left. You should of gone when we told you to’ to the protagonist. This makes the audience ask questions because they would wonder why he had to leave and if he has anything to do with it. A montage of children covered in mud and in the rain, a child’s footsteps , the protagonist with his own son, a nursery with bloody writing on the walls and a child’s toy are shown. This shows a clear theme of children throughout the film which shows a loss of innocence. Fear and childhood aren’t meant to be associated so it shows the audience that something is very wrong and scary with the film. The derelict nursery with the toys playing on their own and blood on the walls makes the audience wonder what has gone on there and curious to find out.

The fast paced music and low key lighting throughout the trailer show that it is a dark and tense watch and has to be portrayed well through the trailer to show the film’s potential to scare the audience. It is trying to persuade the audience to watch at all times and does this by putting the name of the main actor because he is well known already and people may want to watch it because it has him in it. After his name is shown it fades out to flash up clips him being scared and looking around to evoke emotion for him from the audience. To seem like he is being watch or running away from something the montage also includes a woman’s face in the window, the turning of a door handle and a hand on the glass of the door. The audience wouldn’t want him being harmed if they know who he is. The theme of isolation is also reiterated through showing the house on a surrounded by water to show there’s no way of him escaping.

The words ‘Fear’ ‘Her’ ‘Curse’ are shown at alternate times in the middle of another fast paced montage of the film. The font is bold, in sans serif and capital letters to show the dominance the woman in black has over the people in the film. The font gets bigger each time as if it is getting closer which might make the audience feel more scared and intimidated because it is as if she is coming towards the screen subliminally.

The setting is old fashioned which is associated with horror films because that time period is dark and eerie. In the montage at the end it shows fear because the music is very loud and tense and the clips flash on the screen really quickly. It shows the protagonist running away frantically and another with him holding an axe and candle to show he is fearful. There is a rocking chair rocking with nobody in it showing a supernatural presence in the house. The trailer uses a lot of quick montages to show a tense atmosphere and the end of the trailer compared to the beginning is a lot more edgy, which shows how the film progresses.

After the quick montage at the end the name of the film ‘The Woman In Black’ is shown to remind the audience of the title and help them remember the name of the film. It then fades out to the dialogue of a woman saying ‘she’s always there’. A clip is shown of the protagonist looking out of the window and a hand appearing. He touches the hand slowly and a face of a woman appears screaming. The clip quickly turns off to reveal when the film is out in the cinema. This last clip shows the connection of the two main characters and gives the audience one last fright, reminding them that is scary and has unexpected parts in it.