The Woman in Black (2012)
The Woman in Black
Production:
Production:
"Hammer Films or Hammer Pictures is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies — and, in later years, television series. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was due, in part, to distribution partnerships with major United States studios, such as Warner Bros."
"Simon Oakes, who took over as CEO of Hammer, said: "Hammer is a great British brand — we intend to take it back into production and develop its global potential. The brand is still alive but no one has invested in it for a long time".Since then it has produced several films, including Let Me In (2010), The Resident (2011), The Woman in Black (2012) and The Quiet Ones (2014)."
*Hammer Film Productions n.d In Wikipedia Retrieved 8th November 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_Film_Productions
Production's of note include:
Hammer pictures have produced many movies such as:
Let me In (2010)
Written and directed by: Matt Reeves.
Distributor: Paramount Pictures and Icon Film Distribution.
Budget: $20 million.
Gross: $12.1 million.
Wake Wood (2011)
Written and directed by: David Keating.
Distributor: Hammer Film Productions.
The Quiet Ones (2014)
Written and directed by: John Progue.
Distributor: Lionsgate.
Budget: $200,000.
Gross: $8.5 million.
Distributors:
Momentum Pictures is a film distributor owned by Entertainment One. Prior to 2013, Momentum was a brand of Canadian distributor Alliance Films used for its releases in the United Kingdom, and was one of the leading independent distributors in the UK and Ireland; following eOne's purchase of the company, Alliance and its divisions were folded under the eOne brand. The Momentum brand was revived in 2015 as part of a venture with Orion Pictures to jointly acquire films for distribution in North America and international markets.
*Momentum Pictures n.d In Wikipedia Retrieved 8th November 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momentum_Pictures
Plot
"The story begins with Arthur Kipps, a retired solicitor who formerly worked for Mr. Bentley. One night he is at home with his wife Esme and four stepchildren, who are telling ghost stories. When he is asked to tell a story, he becomes irritated and leaves the room, and begins to write of his horrific experiences several years in the past.
Many years earlier, whilst still a junior solicitor for Bentley, Kipps was summoned to Crythin Gifford, a small market town on the north east coast of England, to attend the funeral of Mrs. Alice Drablow. Kipps is reluctant to leave his fiancée, Stella, but he is eager to leave the London smog. The late Drablow was an elderly and reclusive widow who lived alone in the desolate and secluded Eel Marsh House.
The house is situated on Nine Lives Causeway. At high tide, it is completely cut off from the mainland, surrounded only by marshes and sea frets. Kipps soon realises there is more to Alice Drablow than he originally thought. At the funeral, he sees a woman dressed in black and with a pale face and dark eyes, whom a group of children are silently watching. While sorting through Mrs Drablow's papers at Eel Marsh House over the course of several days, he endures an increasingly terrifying sequence of unexplained noises, chilling events and appearances by the Woman in Black. In one of these instances, he hears the sound of a horse and carriage in distress, closely followed by the screams of a young child and his maid, coming from the direction of the marshes.
Most of the people in Crythin Gifford are reluctant to reveal information about Mrs Drablow and the mysterious woman in black. Any attempts by Kipps to find out the truth causes pained and fearful reactions. From various sources, Kipps learns that Mrs Drablow's sister, Jennet Humfrye, gave birth to a child, Nathaniel. Because she was unmarried, she was forced to give the child to her sister. Mrs Drablow and her husband adopted the boy, and insisted that he should never know that Jennet was his mother. The child's screams that Kipps heard were those of Nathaniel's ghost. Jennet went away for a year. When realising she could not be parted for long from her son, she made an agreement to stay at Eel Marsh House with him as long as she never revealed her true identity to him. She secretly planned to abscond from the house with her son. One day, a horse and carriage carrying the boy across the causeway became lost and sank into the marshes, killing all aboard, while Jennet looked on helplessly from the window.
After Jennet died, she returned to haunt Eel Marsh House and the town of Crythin Gifford, as the malevolent Woman in Black. According to local tales, a sighting of the Woman in Black presaged the death of a child.
After some time (but still years before the beginning of the story), Kipps returns to London, marries Stella, has a child of his own, and tries to put the events at Crythin Gifford behind him. At a fair, while his wife and child are enjoying a horse and carriage ride, Kipps sees the Woman in Black. She steps out in front of the horse and startles it, causing it to bolt and wreck the carriage against a tree, killing the child instantly and fatally injuring Stella."
Development
The film was
announced in 2009, with Jane Goldman as screenwriter and later James Watkins as
director. Daniel Radcliffe was announced as the actor playing the part of Arthur
Kipps on 19 July 2010. Two months later, it was announced that Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows Part 2 co-star Ciarán Hinds would join Radcliffe along with
Janet McTeer as Mr and Mrs Daily respectively. Before filming, Radcliffe saw a
psychologist so he could better understand his character. The part of Joseph
Kipps was played by Misha Handley, who is Radcliffe's real life godson.
Filming
The film was
planned to be shot in 3D, but the idea was later scrapped. Principal
photography officially started on 26 September 2010. The next day, Radcliffe
was pictured in costume just outside Peterborough, England. In early October
the crew was filming in Layer Marney Tower. Filming officially ended on 4
December 2010.
The exterior
shots of Eel Marsh House were filmed at Cotterstock Hall near Oundle in central
England. The fictional Nine Lives Causeway leading to it was filmed at Osea
Island in Essex. The village of Crythin Gifford was filmed at Halton Gill,
north of Settle in the Yorkshire Dales.
Post-production
At the Kapow!
Comic Con in London during April 2011, director James Watkins confirmed filming
had been completed in December 2010 and post-production would go on until June
2011. For its British release, several changes were made in order to qualify
for a 12A certificate: Momentum Theatrical, the distributor, arranged to have
six seconds cut and for changes to other shots, with some scenes darkened and
the sound level reduced on some others.
Despite the
cuts, the 12A certificate was seen as highly controversial in the United
Kingdom, and the British Board of Film Classification received 134 complaints
from individuals that the rating was too low, the most complained-about film of
2012 according to BBFC figures. A cinematic re-release in October 2014,
including a short clip from the forthcoming sequel The Woman in Black: Angel of
Death, was given a higher rating of 15.
*Productions n.d In Wikipedia Retrieved 8th November 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woman_in_Black_(2012_film)
Plot
"The story begins with Arthur Kipps, a retired solicitor who formerly worked for Mr. Bentley. One night he is at home with his wife Esme and four stepchildren, who are telling ghost stories. When he is asked to tell a story, he becomes irritated and leaves the room, and begins to write of his horrific experiences several years in the past.
Many years earlier, whilst still a junior solicitor for Bentley, Kipps was summoned to Crythin Gifford, a small market town on the north east coast of England, to attend the funeral of Mrs. Alice Drablow. Kipps is reluctant to leave his fiancée, Stella, but he is eager to leave the London smog. The late Drablow was an elderly and reclusive widow who lived alone in the desolate and secluded Eel Marsh House.
The house is situated on Nine Lives Causeway. At high tide, it is completely cut off from the mainland, surrounded only by marshes and sea frets. Kipps soon realises there is more to Alice Drablow than he originally thought. At the funeral, he sees a woman dressed in black and with a pale face and dark eyes, whom a group of children are silently watching. While sorting through Mrs Drablow's papers at Eel Marsh House over the course of several days, he endures an increasingly terrifying sequence of unexplained noises, chilling events and appearances by the Woman in Black. In one of these instances, he hears the sound of a horse and carriage in distress, closely followed by the screams of a young child and his maid, coming from the direction of the marshes.
Most of the people in Crythin Gifford are reluctant to reveal information about Mrs Drablow and the mysterious woman in black. Any attempts by Kipps to find out the truth causes pained and fearful reactions. From various sources, Kipps learns that Mrs Drablow's sister, Jennet Humfrye, gave birth to a child, Nathaniel. Because she was unmarried, she was forced to give the child to her sister. Mrs Drablow and her husband adopted the boy, and insisted that he should never know that Jennet was his mother. The child's screams that Kipps heard were those of Nathaniel's ghost. Jennet went away for a year. When realising she could not be parted for long from her son, she made an agreement to stay at Eel Marsh House with him as long as she never revealed her true identity to him. She secretly planned to abscond from the house with her son. One day, a horse and carriage carrying the boy across the causeway became lost and sank into the marshes, killing all aboard, while Jennet looked on helplessly from the window.
After Jennet died, she returned to haunt Eel Marsh House and the town of Crythin Gifford, as the malevolent Woman in Black. According to local tales, a sighting of the Woman in Black presaged the death of a child.
After some time (but still years before the beginning of the story), Kipps returns to London, marries Stella, has a child of his own, and tries to put the events at Crythin Gifford behind him. At a fair, while his wife and child are enjoying a horse and carriage ride, Kipps sees the Woman in Black. She steps out in front of the horse and startles it, causing it to bolt and wreck the carriage against a tree, killing the child instantly and fatally injuring Stella."
* Plot n. d in Wikipedia retrieved 8th November 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woman_in_Black
Timeline:
00.00-00.15: The film begins with a black screen which slowly fades to present a porcelain tea set being used with a bird design. High pitched music is being played in the background to create a tense atmosphere. The scene shows three young girls playing with the tea set and with creepy vintage dolls made of rags & porcelain.
00.15-00.25: This transitions to a mid shot of the 3 little girls playing with the dolls and the tea set, they are not communicating with each other neither laughing, simply caring for the dolls. The high pitched music box sound continues to play in the background.
00.25-00.35: The footage has been slowed down with post production editing when the girls are shown in a two shot, laughing and smiling at each other. Their actions and expressions look very stiff. The girl shown last looks down where the camera then displays the dolls and porcelain tea set. At 00.35, a wide shot is presented of the decrepit room which has very old furniture of dull colour. The room looks like an attic therefore is on high ground.
00.35-00.45: The three girls look towards the camera at the same time which breaks the fourth wall. This creates an unsettling atmosphere for the audience as this continues for 9 seconds. The music box sound slowly increases in volume.
00.45-01.30: The three girls walk towards the three large windows and as they do they break the porcelain tea set and dolls by stepping on them, which creates a deep dramatic sound. Each girl opens one of the three windows and jumps out of it. As this happens a loud high pitched scream is played which leaves the audience in full attention.
Film Deconstruction - The Woman in Black Analysis:
To see how the director captivates an audience portrays the horror genre, I will be analysing areas of the film opening in detail:
- Music/Sounds
- Effective Shots
- Setting - Lighting/Setting and Colour
- Motifs/Reoccurring Imagery
- Credits/Typography
- Effective Transitions/Camera Movements
Sinister
Development
Writer C.
Robert Cargill says that his inspiration for Sinister came from a nightmare he
experienced after seeing The Ring, in which he discovered a film in his attic
depicting the hanging of an entire family. This scenario became the setup for
the plot of Sinister. In creating a villain for the film, Cargill
conceptualized a new take on the Bogeyman, calling the entity "Mr.
Boogie". Cargill's idea was that the creature would be both terrifying and
seductive to children, luring them to their dooms as a sinister Willy Wonka-like
figure.
Cargill and
co-writer Scott Derrickson ultimately decided to downplay the creature's
alluring nature, only intimating how it manipulates the children into murder.
In further developing Mr. Boogie, the pair had lengthy discussions about its
nature, deciding not to make it a demon but rather a pagan deity, in order to
place it outside the conceptual scope of any one particular religion.
Consequently, the villain was given the proper name "Bughuul", with
only the child characters in the film referring to it as Mr. Boogie.
Design
In crafting a
look for Bughuul, Cargill initially kept to the idea of a sinister Willy Wonka
before realizing that audiences might find it "silly" and kill the
potential for the film becoming a series. Looking for inspiration, Derrickson
typed the word "horror" into flickr and searched through 500,000
images. He narrowed the images down to 15, including a photograph of a ghoul
which was tagged simply "Natalie". Cargill was particularly struck by
"Natalie" and decided: "What if it's just this guy?". He
and Derrickson contacted the photographer and purchased the rights to use the
image for $500. Derrickson explained that the image appealed to him because it
reminded him of the makeup and costumes worn by performers in black metal,
while remaining unique enough so as not to be directly linked to the genre;
Derrickson had previously researched black metal while looking for inspiration
for Bughuul's symbol, which is ritualistically painted at the scene of each of
the film's murder sequences.
Filming
Principal
photography for Sinister began in autumn of 2011, after Ethan Hawke and Juliet
Rylance signed on to star in the film. The super 8 segments were shot first,
using actual super 8 cameras and film stock, in order to maintain the aesthetic
authenticity of home-shot super 8 footage. Principal photography took place on
Long Island. In an interview with Bleeding Cool, screenwriter Cargill admitted
that Hawke's character got his name (Ellison Oswalt) from writer Harlan Ellison
and comedian/writer Patton Oswalt. Cargill keeps books by both men on his
shelves.
Angela Bettis
played the role of a next-door neighbor in the film, though her scenes were
deleted and her character is not present in the final product.
*Productions n.d In Wikipedia Retrieved 8th November 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinister_(film)
Plot
"The film opens with Super 8 footage depicting a family of four standing beneath a tree with sacks over their heads and nooses around their necks. An unseen figure pulls at a rope attached to a partially sawed-through branch of the tree, causing their deaths by hanging.
True crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Hawke) moves into a home with his wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance) and their two children: 7-year-old Ashley (Clare Foley), an artist who is allowed to paint on her walls and 12-year-old Trevor (Michael Hall D'Addario), who suffers from night terrors. The local sheriff pays a visit, indicating his dislike of Ellison and his career; his books have often criticized law enforcement for mistakes. Ellison has moved his family (unbeknownst to them) into a home where a family was murdered, all hung by ropes on a tree in the backyard. Ellison intends to use the case of the murdered family as the basis for his new book and hopes that his research will reveal the fate of the Stevenson family's fifth member, a 10-year-old girl named Stephanie who disappeared following the murders. Later that night Ellison discovers Trevor in a box, naked and screaming, having experienced another night terror.
Ellison finds a box in the attic that contains a projector and several reels of Super 8 mm footage that are each labeled as innocent home movies. Ellison discovers that the films are actually murder footage depicting different families being murdered in various ways by an unseen person holding the camera. Ellison notes the appearance of a mysterious symbol appears in the films, as well as a strange masked figure. Consulting a local deputy (James Ransone), Ellison discovers that the murders took place at different times, beginning in the 1960s and in different cities across the country. He also learns that a child from each family went missing following every murder. The deputy refers Ellison to Professor Jonas (Vincent D'Onofrio), whose expertise is the occult, to decipher the symbol in the films. Jonas tells Ellison that such symbols are that of a Pagan Babylonia deity named Bughuul (Nick King), who would kill entire families and then take one of their children in order to consume his/her soul, leaving the symbol behind.
One night, Ellison hears the film projector running and finds the missing children seated in the attic watching one of the films. Bughuul suddenly appears on camera before physically appearing before Ellison, causing him to fall off the ladder. Ellison takes the camera, projector and the films outside and burns them with petrol. His wife meets him outside and he tells her that they're moving back to their old house immediately.
At his old home, Ellison receives a video-message from Jonas, who sends him scans of historical images associated with Bughuul, including the symbol seen in the murder movies; the images have been partially destroyed by the early Christians, who believed that images of Bughuul served as a gateway for the demon to come from the spiritual realm to the mortal world; children who saw the images of Bughuul could be possessed and even abducted into the images.
Ellison discovers the projector and films (from the previous house) in his attic, along with an envelope of film labeled "extended cut endings". The deputy calls and informs him that every murdered family had previously lived in the house where the last murder took place and each new murder occurred shortly after the family moved from the crime scene into their new residence. By moving, Ellison has placed himself and his family in line to be the next victims.
The extra footage depicts the missing children coming onscreen following each murder, revealing themselves to be the killers, before suddenly disappearing. Ellison becomes light-headed, and notices a bright green liquid mixed with his coffee in the cup, along with a note reading "Good Night, Daddy" under the cup before losing consciousness. Ashley appears behind Ellison, revealing herself to be the drugger, under Bughuul's possession. Ellison awakens to find himself, Tracy and Trevor bound and gagged on the floor of the parlour next to the lit fire. Ashley approaches filming him with the 8 mm camera. Ashley then decapitates Ellison with an axe before killing Tracy and Trevor off screen, using their blood to paint images of cats, dogs and unicorns on the walls. Ashley then views the film of her murders while drawing the murder in the lid of the home movies box. The missing children stare at her through the camera, but flee when Bughuul appears. He lifts Ashley into his arms and disappears into the film with her.
The film concludes with an image of the box of films in the Oswalt family's attic, now accompanied by Ashley's reel, labeled "House Painting '12"."
True crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Hawke) moves into a home with his wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance) and their two children: 7-year-old Ashley (Clare Foley), an artist who is allowed to paint on her walls and 12-year-old Trevor (Michael Hall D'Addario), who suffers from night terrors. The local sheriff pays a visit, indicating his dislike of Ellison and his career; his books have often criticized law enforcement for mistakes. Ellison has moved his family (unbeknownst to them) into a home where a family was murdered, all hung by ropes on a tree in the backyard. Ellison intends to use the case of the murdered family as the basis for his new book and hopes that his research will reveal the fate of the Stevenson family's fifth member, a 10-year-old girl named Stephanie who disappeared following the murders. Later that night Ellison discovers Trevor in a box, naked and screaming, having experienced another night terror.
Ellison finds a box in the attic that contains a projector and several reels of Super 8 mm footage that are each labeled as innocent home movies. Ellison discovers that the films are actually murder footage depicting different families being murdered in various ways by an unseen person holding the camera. Ellison notes the appearance of a mysterious symbol appears in the films, as well as a strange masked figure. Consulting a local deputy (James Ransone), Ellison discovers that the murders took place at different times, beginning in the 1960s and in different cities across the country. He also learns that a child from each family went missing following every murder. The deputy refers Ellison to Professor Jonas (Vincent D'Onofrio), whose expertise is the occult, to decipher the symbol in the films. Jonas tells Ellison that such symbols are that of a Pagan Babylonia deity named Bughuul (Nick King), who would kill entire families and then take one of their children in order to consume his/her soul, leaving the symbol behind.
One night, Ellison hears the film projector running and finds the missing children seated in the attic watching one of the films. Bughuul suddenly appears on camera before physically appearing before Ellison, causing him to fall off the ladder. Ellison takes the camera, projector and the films outside and burns them with petrol. His wife meets him outside and he tells her that they're moving back to their old house immediately.
At his old home, Ellison receives a video-message from Jonas, who sends him scans of historical images associated with Bughuul, including the symbol seen in the murder movies; the images have been partially destroyed by the early Christians, who believed that images of Bughuul served as a gateway for the demon to come from the spiritual realm to the mortal world; children who saw the images of Bughuul could be possessed and even abducted into the images.
Ellison discovers the projector and films (from the previous house) in his attic, along with an envelope of film labeled "extended cut endings". The deputy calls and informs him that every murdered family had previously lived in the house where the last murder took place and each new murder occurred shortly after the family moved from the crime scene into their new residence. By moving, Ellison has placed himself and his family in line to be the next victims.
The extra footage depicts the missing children coming onscreen following each murder, revealing themselves to be the killers, before suddenly disappearing. Ellison becomes light-headed, and notices a bright green liquid mixed with his coffee in the cup, along with a note reading "Good Night, Daddy" under the cup before losing consciousness. Ashley appears behind Ellison, revealing herself to be the drugger, under Bughuul's possession. Ellison awakens to find himself, Tracy and Trevor bound and gagged on the floor of the parlour next to the lit fire. Ashley approaches filming him with the 8 mm camera. Ashley then decapitates Ellison with an axe before killing Tracy and Trevor off screen, using their blood to paint images of cats, dogs and unicorns on the walls. Ashley then views the film of her murders while drawing the murder in the lid of the home movies box. The missing children stare at her through the camera, but flee when Bughuul appears. He lifts Ashley into his arms and disappears into the film with her.
The film concludes with an image of the box of films in the Oswalt family's attic, now accompanied by Ashley's reel, labeled "House Painting '12"."
* Plot n. d in Wikipedia retrieved 8th November 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinister_(film)
Timeline:
0:00 - 0:06: There is a blank screen with non diegetic sound of a camera rolling, already telling us that the film was set a long time ago because they had rolling cameras.
0:06-0:27: This scene is outside in what appears to be a garden and its main motif is the big tree. There are 4 people, 2 clearly children, who have bags over their heads and are hung on the tree. Its set in a low key lighting area and the scene looks cold and links back to horror genre, because cold and dark emphasizes unhappiness. The periodic time markers show it was filmed along time ago because of the characters clothes and the camera rolling in the background. Also the temple markers show it was filmed in the evening around sunset.
0:27- 0:36: This bit shows the branch on the far left being cut by a saw and family are lifted one by one up on the tree by their heads. As he first character goes up the rest slowly follow afterwards.
0:36 - 0:46: The characters looked distressed and in pain by their erratic leg movements trying to escape and be let free. This is the only thing they can do as their heads are covered in sacks making it hard for them to scream or see what is happening and their arms are tied behind their backs so they cant touch anything.
0:46 - 0:55: This shows the 2 characters on the far lefts have stopped moving completely showing us that hey are dead, however the two closest to the branch are still moving about rapidly.
0:55- 1:00: The movements of the legs begin to stop, emphasising that they have all died because they have no movement what so ever and it shows they had a painful and quiet death because no one could hear there screams.
1:00- 1:02: There is something that falls off the tree in the far corner on the right
1:02- 1:08: Title screen appears at the bottom of the screen. its not big and alters the screen when it appears. 1:08- 1:11: The camera sound of the camera rolling stops as the scene ends into a wipe of a blank screen.
Setting:
The set is outdoors and uses colours that create cold a cold and unhappy atmosphere. There are 4 people with bags on their heads, what appears to be 2 adults and 2 children attached to a tree by rope, side by side. The branch of the tree is then cut with a saw then the family are hung one by one. The tree is surrounded by dense green bushes as far as you can see. The whole tree is not shown, but we can tell from what we can see that it is big and strong. The scene itself is very basic. So little happens at the beginning yet a high level of tension is reached.
Lighting:
Low-key lighting is a huge feature of this film. The lighting is all very dark as most of the film is filmed at sunset, meaning limited lighting which builds tension and gives the audience that uneasy feeling that you cant see what is going to happen, something/anything could appear from the background scenery at any point. There is a feeling of suspense built during the long wait before the 4 figures are hung and this leaves the audience on the edge of their seat and whenever lighting does appear there eyes are drawn to that. The colours used are all very cold colours (blues and greys) also adding to the unhappy atmosphere
This film opening uses non diegetic sound. The sound doesn't come from within the field of vision and is not from the world of the film, and so this creates an unpleasant feeling as the audience is unsure how to process and understand this information. There is the sound of an old fashioned camera rolling in the background which is a form of ambient sound. The background music throughout the opening scene is very slow and the low minor keys are very uneven and create a very uneasy feeling and give us the idea that something bad is about to happen. When the figures are lifted and hung on the tree the music starts to fade in and out, the only change in the sound throughout the scene.
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