Favourite Image Analysis

I have chosen this as my favourite image analysis because it embodies the genre of psychological horror in one single screenshot. It is taken from The Woman In Black (2012) directed by James Watkins. The main male character, Arthur Kipps, presses his hand against the misty window and looks into the foggy marshland conforming to the typical horror conventions of having a creepy location. There is no dialogue and no other diegetic sounds so the audience are left in suspense, wondering what is going to happen. After a few eerie seconds of silence, the face of the woman in black suddenly appears at the window and then disappears just as quickly forcing Arthur to shudder his hand away in shock. As the woman's face appears, there is a momentary burst of non-diegetic sound; a combination of instruments to form a medium pitched screech.

This is the first real scene of us seeing the woman in black up close, even if it is just momentarily, so as an unsuspecting audience, this shocks us causing us to jump as well as the character himself. Her face is only apparent at the window for just over a second, but this quick montage shot is long enough for the target demographic of psychological horror films to gain a clear image of the dreaded woman in back. We see her withered, colourless face with her long, scraggly black hair giving us a chilling sensation as we feel a sense of fear of her. The use of make-up cleverly makes the woman in black look old and haggard and gives the desired effect of being frightening.

The end result is that this clearly establishes her as the unconventional psycho/serial killer, fitting an archetype often found in psychological horror films.