Independent Study- How does the camerawork create tension in The Women In Black?

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In a horror thriller, as The Women In Black is, it is important tension and suspense to draw the audience in before using methods of jump cuts, and dark narrative to provide a narrative hook for the audience. The general conventions of horror thrillers are that gore, jump cuts and ghosts, or murders and this sort of relevant to the story of the The Woman In Black. In order to create tension, horror films use many methods, like J cuts, or through the use of sound and editing to make an eerie underscore which builds up to a sudden piece of music that scares the audience. With editing, it can be used to make the scene a quicker pace through match on action, or short cuts to make the scene more frantic, but what about camera work? Is that used to create tension in a horror thriller? Using this montage here, I will analyse how camerawork is used to create tension.

The first piece of camerawork is a piece of movement that surveys the scene. The pan is used because not only does it survey the scene and set the scene, but it also provide connotations that there is something that is lurking in the space off camera, for the audience, it adds tension as the audience are waiting to be shocked and surprised by a moment of scare or horror, and instead, the action cuts to a mid shot of Daniel Radcliffe's character Arthur Kipps enters the room with a candle, and so this moment built up from the slow paced pan complimented with the underscore of a jack in the box creates an eerie atmosphere but this shot shows an anti climatic moment, which engages the audience as they are waiting for a moment of horror or to be made to jump by the action of screen and that is not present at this moment. The next piece of camera work is a close up on a doll, which is agreeing with the connotations of the horror thriller sub genre as a whole, so this shot is summing up the genre and also making this instantly recognisable to the audience that The Women In Black is enticing to consume the film, so it connotes the natural conventions of horror as a subgenre. The doll also foreshadows the youth that are going to be killed by The Woman In Black, as dolls are a toy but in this shot, it stands independently and is lonely, so that's a metaphorical shot foreshadowing the conclusion of the film. An overhead shot follows and shows Arthur Kipps entering the room with a candle, as an audience, we get a wider perspective of the film, and also to show at this point, there is nothing behind Arthur Kipps, so there is nothing to be to be afraid of, although for the audience, this shot lures them into a false sense of security and many may be more tense due to a moment of scaring being imminent. The next moment is a close up of the mirror, with an out of focus black figure to the right of the mirror, this is evidently a moment of high suspense, as the figure wasn't present when we saw an overhead shot with a birds eye view of the room, also, the shot is short and complimented with a sharp, sudden piece of music to build the tension further as the pace of the shot doesn't allow the audience to see this figure in any detail. The music that matches this shot is of a higher volume and this scares the audience, the movement of the figure only builds the tension further as the audience  see the figurine move away from the mirror which connotes the moment that Arthur Kipps feeling of security and safety leaves him as this figure dances away in a fashion that is fearful to the audience. The shots then cut back to the overhead shot seen previously, but this time, the black figure is present with in it, this shows her as a spirt with in the film as she jumps and hangs herself. The darkness and height of the shot shows the distance between the two characters due to the difference of humanity and spirit and how the relationship is distanced and the close up of the hanging shortly after blames humanity for the spirits being left behind on a planet in which they don't belong. Next we see a series of fast paced shots show the frantic mental state that Kipps experiences due to this altercation and also maintains the tension being experienced by the audience as The Women In Black is seen multiple times within a short period which is scary and shocking for the audience which is the objective of the character, also, it is a character seen by bothe the audience and Kipps, so there is a realtion of shared feelings such as anxiousness and feeling fearful regarding the situation. The closing scene goes back to the doll but this time in a change of position to provide the message that things aren't always as they seem, but the close provides intimacy and closeness that is awkward and uncomfortable but also shows the movement in an inanimate object which provides tension as it is clearly being orchestrated by The Woman In Black, which in itself provides tension as it shows power and magical essence. The transition of longer, wider shots into more intimate shots provides the impression that something is brewing and the close ups provide an intimacy with the protagonist.

In the second clip, we start with a mid shot of a bloody Arthur Kipps surveying the scene looking for something/someone, the cuts on his face show the physical suffering he has gone through in this fire, but also the mental torture that The Woman Of Black is putting him through during the film. This cuts to a POV shot, which puts us in the shoes of Arthur Kipps, as the audience, the pan of the camera allows us as an audience to see the scene from the characters perspective, and the tension is unbearable as we already know that there is a girl present in the building, so when we finally get a glimpse of her as the camera pans, that's a tense moment for us an an audience as the fire is blocking Kipps and the young girl, which is a distance being placed by the ghostly figure of The Woman In Black, so for the audience, the tension being built is as we discover the girl and the camera movement allows the location of the girl at the same time as the main character. The series of shot-reverse shot that follows builds tension as the possessed girl looks set to inigite the fire further, much to the agony of Kipps, and this series of shots is a close up to Kipps, to provide intimacy and show emotions are more detailed and interaction with the audience is in a closer proximity than the girl, who is further away in camerawork and this connotes how possessed she is but also how decisive she is in her decision making, this is tense for the audience, as the young girl is vulnerable and The Woman In Black is taking a young girls life and already the deed is already done, the guilt the audience feels is strong due a child being possessed and killed by a spiritual thing.

The third scene starts once more with a close up of Kipps, approaching a corridor of darkness, as is made evident to us as an audience by the POV shot that follows this, and for the audience, this is tense as we think The Woman In Black is lurking around the audience waiting to make us jump and scare the audience, so the tension builds higher and higher the more the camera moves around the corner, the darkness is foreshadowing the conclusion of the film, as no matter how much you face her or fight her, ultimately she will take your life, and that's being shown with the inclusion and emphasis on the dark space with in this shot. As we see the corridor in its entirety, this only cranks up the tension more, as The Woman In Black is nowhere to be seen, so where is she? For the audience this is a very tense moment created by a POV shot complimented with a pan movement. The same shot is kept as a darkness accelerates down the hall, but this time the shot is kept still and motionless, this is symbolic to how Kipps can't stop The Woman In Black getting what she wants, which is the death of children. The close up that follows provides further exclusivity of emotions and adds detail and texture to the sequence, as the lights turn off, only one thing is evitable. The next shot we see is a mid shot, but it complies with the rule of thirds, as Kipps is to left of the picture, and The Woman In Black to the right. With Kipps, although the shadow makes him look scary and intimidating, the fact his human features are visible means the audience don't fear him, as he is mearly mortal, however, The Woman In Black is in the corner and blends in with the darkness with hidden features, with is more intimidating and provides the connotations that her features aren't mortal or human like, it distances her from the audience which adds tension as we are already capable of her she operates and this, with her 1 on 1 in a room with Kipps, seems a sense of definity about it, particularly when she screams and floats towards Kipps, her features become visible and provide tension as she looks to hurt Kipps and enviably bring him to her form. Finally, the close up of Kipps eyes shows the mental torture and strain she is placing on him as a character as he ducks from the spirit, we then cut to a mid shot with the doll iun focus and the background being out of focus, the motif of the doll shows how The Woman In Black wants to capture youth and have it to herself.

To summarise, The Woman In Black uses a variety of shots and movement but ultimately, the shots comply with the conventions mentioned in the opening paragraph of this blog, and that makes it really obvious that horror thriller is the genre of this film and that makes it evident to the audience. In terms of how it creates tension, I think the use of fast editing, underscore and camera work all interlink to create tension and are like clockwork in the sense they all come together to create something greater. I will look to use some of the shots such as POV or close up to capture tension and create it, as we are aiming to create a Psychological Thriller, which is something wherethe creation of tension is vital.

Title Sequence of our Thriller

For our thriller, we decided it was important to play with a variety of fonts to see what best captured and reflected the messages we wanted our thriller to convey. In my research post, I discuss the typeface of Mission Impossible and how that shows the texture and detail, through typography, the sub genre of our film, and for our film, Torpidity, we want to have the same impact on the audience, where you can clearly tell the genre of the film through the typography featured at the start of the opening sequence.

The typography of the film gives it a clear basis in which to build the film upon, and in films such as Star Wars, it allows a whole franchise to be based around it, it becomes recognisable universally and is connected with your film, so in that aspect we had to ensure it was right, also, it has to share the feel and convey your intentions for your films, often the typography is vital in setting the genre of your film, as discussed in my research post, and we needed to get the typeface right as it can make or break an opening of a film. Using the website www.dafont.com, we reviewed a series of typefaces and what the font connotes etc.

Firstly, we looked through the list of 'Newly added fonts' to get a general consensus for the site.
We began by looking at the typeface that is pictured, called 'Infinite Strike'.  We analysed this typeface and decided why it wouldn't be great for our thriller. The cons of the typeface are really simple, it's delicate and elegant, and perhaps better suited to a romantic film, rather than a Psychological Thriller, or a film that uses Film Noir's femme fatale as a character type, as it best conveys key characteristics of this character type. The descenders are deep and finessed, it creates a connotations of femininity and class that is simply not present in Torpidity. Also, the kerning is too compact which would contrast the space shown through our location.

These are the main ideas we didn't select 'Infinite Strike' as our typeface of choice.

Another typeface we considered using for our film was 'Typographica'. This typeface was a candidate for our film, as it matched the intentions we were looking to portray through the typeface we eventually chose to open the film.

In terms of the connotations it has, it is a Sans Serif typeface, and this provides a clarity and intimidation that is required in a psychological thriller, it adds simplicity because of the clarity of each individual letter in the typeface as a whole. For this section, there is an air of clarity and individuality about the film, and it's present right at the beginning of the film, which contrasts the opening scene which is frantic and confusing, this contrast, along with the clarity and intimidating nature of the typeface made it a real strong candidate for our film.

In the end, we selected this font for our film, it is much like the 'Typographica' typeface however, it is more streamlined and more of a serif font. The connotations our font gives is clarity and simplicity to a scene of tension and drama. It plays on the mind as the line is representation of the divide between dream and reality, which is another inter textual reference to the film. The font is called Avenir Light.

Inter-textual References of Our Thriller

Di Caprio in Inception

For our film, we conducted loads of research on Psychological Thrillers and what has been successful, it was imperative for us as a production team to ensure that we drew inspiration for more successful films in this sub genre of film.

The first inter-textual reference of our film comes from the plot itself, as it based around the idea of questioning dream and reality, and with in that, having a reoccurring nightmare. The film Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan, was our inspiration for our narrative, and thus there are elements of that film present in our Thriller opening sequence. In the final scene of Inception, Leonardo Di Caprio is seen waking up and opening his eyes suddenly in this extreme close up, in our opening scene, we will replicate this shot to include an inter-textual reference early on, also, its helpful as it clearly distinguishes what is dream and what is reality and this is a successful piece of camerawork in a very successful film.

Another inter-textual reference in our film is the character of Xavier Martinelli. In the opening sequence, Martinelli is shown without a face, and sometimes he disappears altogether, which questions reality and dream and if it's different. His character is based on the 6ft3 Rabbit in 1950 film Harvey. The rabbit is only seen by the Elwood P. Dowd, the films main character, and the audience, which is qualities shared by Martinelli, because he is only seen by Josh Masterson and the audience, creating an illusion and an illusion between what is reality and what is in the dream being experience by the protagonist. We considered the message of the Rabbit as the protagonists best friend and how his characteristics can be channelled through an antagonist in a different genre of film, in terms of success, I think basing Martinelli on the Rabbit is a complex but clever idea from ourselves.

These inter-textual references allow us to show a knowledge of films through our film, but also can provide texture and understanding for our audience. As keen film lovers, our production team are allowed to add sections from successful films and that helps make the film more successful due to them being recognisable, particularly the reference from Inception.

Written by Connor Southwell

Soundscape of our Thriller

In our thriller, we would use sound to help create suspense and tension in our thriller, a psychological thriller is aimed to provoke the audiences thinking and I think it's important our soundscape replicates this as it would match the convention of a psychological thriller. This would be achieved through the use of different methods of sound, for example, opening the title sequence with a score that sets the scene, for our thriller, it would be a piece of score that could replicate a heart machine at a hospital, or a lullaby that is darkened to match with the theme of torpidity.

This would involve the use of underscore to whack up the tension, which would be present when Tom Rush's character enters a shot, to clearly match the intensity and really get the tension high. This score would be an intense piece of music to compliment the high intensity of this 'chase scene'. This is an underscore which will play when Rush enters a scene, it becomes associated with him as a character and thus provides connotations of him being a tense character who provides negative connotations, which matches the intentions of the character. With the use of an underscore, the character relies on good acting and body language, whereas with it, it creates connotations and a motif.

The diegetic sound of breathing at a range of pace allows us to create tension and suspense as breathing presents the idea that something is going to happen, and the physical action of intense heavy breathing creates tension, as if a character the audience relates to is heavy breathing, there should be cause for concern amongst the audience, it also raises questions and linking back to conventions, works the mind.

Finally, the use of silence also helps creates tension and suspense, often the use of silence gets overlooked as a method of sound, but as a production team, we have carefully considered our use of sound and how to use it to full effect in order to create tension and suspense, also, the use of silence allows over technical aspects such as Mise En Scene and Cinematography to take over and allow that to transform the scene as oppose to relying on the sound to create connotations and imagery, however, silence, especially when combined an extreme close up creates tension and suspense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XyW7791kCQ This is an example of a score we could use in our thriller film.

Written by Connor Southwell

Explanation of Planning Process

Our production team, which consists of Thor, Robert and I, came up with a mind map of initial ideas which gave us a foundation to base the general idea of our film around. As a group, we were always well aware that we wanted to make a Psychological thriller, as this was a sub genre that interested us in terms of technical aspects, for example, how the use of sound can be used to make the audience think? Secondly, it was about formulating a narrative that both engaged and interested our audience, whilst retaining the conventions of a psychological thriller. After developing our narrative through writing a script and making a shot by shot plan, which gave us a general consensus of what we wanted to achieve in the opening 2 minutes of our thriller and the messages we wanted to create. I wrote a script to back up this plan and narrative, and after the production of it, we analysed it as a group and changed sections and added sections, so despite it being constructed and produced by myself, it was very much a group effort. For the majority, decisions were taken as a group despite being led by an individual, and that drove us to a successful plan and foundation to build and craft our film into what we wanted it to be. Overall, as a group, we worked hard and successfully as a group to achieve our initial ideas, we worked together to achieve an objective that started as ideas on a piece of paper and that's credit to our group and how hard we've worked.


Written by Connor Southwell

Selection of Actors

In terms of acting, as a production team, we wanted to ensure that we that the standard of acting was up to a high standard because it improves the overall complexion of the film as it makes it less 'amateur'. Reflecting upon our Preliminary Task, our focus on that task was based solely around narrative and less so the technical components of the film, so for our thriller, we wanted to strike a balance between narrative and technical aspects such as lighting, mise en scene, camerawork and sound.

Connor Southwell- I decided to act in our thriller as alongside my studies of A Level Media Studies, I also study A Level Theatre Studies, which means naturally, I put myself forward for the acting and as a production team, we decided that my experience with acting and study of theatre allowed me to play the role of the main character with flexibility and professionally which doesn't decrease the quality of our film. I play the role of Joshua Masterson, who is the main character in the film, and a character who needs to be presented in a way that shows mystery and illusion towards the opening of our thriller.


Thor Forster- Thor plays the role of the films antagonist in Tom Rush. Thor is excellent for this role, because he is able to characterise really well, which is needed when playing a character who relies solely on body language and movement to play this character, as throughout the opening, his face is completely hidden which is in relation to not being able to see people's faces with in dreams.


Written by Connor Southwell

Shooting Schedule

Explain the title of your film

The title of our film is 'Torpidity'.

Torpidity means 'lethargic' or 'inactive or sluggish', and for us, this really sums up the narrative of our opening scene of our thriller, because our thriller really questions the difference between dream and reality, and 'Torpidity' is a great word that reflects our intentions as a state of inactivity is exactly what we are after in terms of narrative and actual content present with in our film as we delve into questioning what is dream and what is reality. Our aim in choosing this title is that it will relate to the audience as I'm sure a majority of people have felt the feeling of being in a dream state or as the film displays feeling trapped. This feeling of torpidity is something that can happen to any individual and this is something that we really conveyed in the films opening sequence.

The word originates from the Greek word torpidus, which means 'numb' or 'stiffness', this is relevant to feelings that character feels, so in relation to word origin and historical context of language, this is evident with in our film. Also, as a production team, we wanted our characters to experience feelings of being trapped and experiencing panic, we want to present that Josh Masterson is trapped both in reality and in dream, and Torpidity perfectly captures this sense and that is our reasoning behind the title of our film.

Torpidity is a feeling that can be experienced at any time by any individual, whether in a state of dream or not, and this sense of Torpidity is a feeling that can be felt at any time.

Written by Connor Southwell