Women In Black & Jeepers Creepers

My first film beginning analysis for the horror genre is Women in Black

Usually in a horror film there is silence when something bad is going to happen. This was evident when the girls jump out of the window at the end of the first scene in Women in Black. You know that something terrible is about to happen because suddenly the music stops. The sound in the scene made by the girls playing is very muffle which gives it a feel of the past. Also it creates an eerie feel to the scene not being able to clearly hear the girls.

Near the end of the first scene, there is a point of view shot of the women in black however not yet seeing the character creates a mysterious atmosphere and not yet knowing who this character is makes the audience fearful of what’s to come. There are a lot of close ups of the china dolls looking emotionless, most people have Pediophobia (fear of dolls) which is why they are heavily associated with horror films. At the very end of the scene, there is an over the shoulder shot of the women in black which only shows her black veil. The fact that we weren't entirely sure there was a character watching the girls, this shot confirms that there is someone there manipulating the girls. This shows us that the film is a horror because of the mystery and the suicide of the girls.

The scene is set in a creepy old house with the girls wearing dirty, old fashioned clothes. This is a typical setting for a ghostly horror movie; you usually see this kind of location associated with haunted houses. The colours throughout the scene are dark and dull which create a sad, sinister atmosphere throughout. The props used are china dolls, which are associated with Pediophobia, and old china sets which are typical to children’s play in the olden days. This scene shows the girls being very happy, playing and having fun as friends, which is why the audience is so shocked when they jump out the window. This is usually what happens in horror movies, the characters are all very, overly happy and then something terrible happens. The audience can usually tell that something bad is about to happen because the characters overplay their happiness.

JEEPERS CREEPERS

In this opening scene of Jeepers Creepers everything is happy and jolly with the characters very chatty and excited. This portrays an almost overly happy atmosphere, leaving the audience to anticipate something bad about to happen. The sound of the van is very loud and overpowers the rest of the scene causing the audience to jump because the sound is so unexpected. I’ve noticed a lot that the opening shot of a horror movie is usually an establishing shot. In Jeepers Creepers the establishing shot is of a long twisting road, surrounded by empty fields. The location is very much in the middle of nowhere, suggesting that if something bad was to happen there would be no one to help them.