The Woman in Black Trailer

Representation Gender in this film trailer conforms to the stereotype. Firstly Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) is the protagonist the brave young man who goes into the house to save the day, a stereotypical hero manly plaid by a male. The three young girls also conform to the stereotype as they are vulnerable and cant defend for themselves, this appeals to the audience’s internal instinct to want to help them. The dark, sinister, overcast colours of the town and the house in the marsh conform to the stereotype of a horror film, with no hope and a cure portrayed.

Audience The horror genre appeals to the audience because they want to be scared. They also go to try and not get scared however if they come out feeling they’ve been frightened they will be happy. The dark colours in the trailer makes the audience feel vulnerable because in darkness you cannot see. According to demographic segmentation this film would appeal to males and females, between the ages of 12-40, with the majority of the target audience aimed between 15-25. According to psychographic segmentation this film will appeal to the audience who would have an interest in the actors, directors and couples on a date where the male wants to be seen to protect the female.

Language The sound in the trailer is mainly non-digetic, however there are clips where you can see the toys playing the tune. This sound is the soundtrack for the poem that it is read out. The toys are creepy, old fashioned objects that add to the spookiness of the trailer. The language used in the trailer is a voice over from a little girl, her voice over is in the form of a poem. She sounds scared and it connotes that she is sending a warning to the audience. The affect of using a little girl makes the audience believe that the adults are too frightened to talk about the ‘women in black.’ The language used is simple because of her age but the message Is just as chilling. The props that are used – The china dolls and other toys provide a alarming affect and connote a haunting atmosphere as these are old toys with people who have passed away would of played with.

Institution Hammer Films Cross Creek Pictures Guy East Hammer films are a production company who saw great success during the 50’s- 70’s. known for their gothic horror they ceased production in the mid 80’s. In 2007 Hammer films were back, the women in black is a good film to produce for hammer films as it gets them well known again. Their parent company; Exclusive Media. Cross Creek Pictures Cross creek pictures is an American production company whose parent company is also Exclusive media, in 2011 they signed a contract with universal pictures stating that they would release 6 films of theirs over the next 3 years. This would mean The women in black would be well publicised. Guy East Guy East is a British film producer and sales agent. in 2003 he co-founded spitfire pictures who teamed up with the staff at the revived hammer films and in 2008 they joined Exclusive Media. With three production companies this was a big budget film.

Narrative The narrative structure in the film is your typical horror trailer, it is meant to creep you out. Unlike other trailers that set out on telling you the equilibrium, dequilibirium and the new equilibrium, the Women in Black only shows you the dequilibrium as we have no idea what life for the people in the village was like before the curse or after the curse. Not showing the new equilibrium is good in a trailer because people do not want to know the ending otherwise there is no point in going to watch the movie.

Genre The Women in Black is a horror genre. The film conveys similar themes to other horror’s. I.e. haunted house, people cursed and unexplained death till peace is restored. It conveys to the definition of horror ‘is that it provokes response; emotional, psychological or physical, within the audience to react with fear.’ the women in black trailer gives a sense that it will be an emotion/physical fear with the emotional side – seeing the children dying and the physical fear – seeing the women in black appear randomly.