The Woman In Black

The Woman In Black (TWIB) is a film that was recently released after Jono and I created our film, but the similarities are brilliant for comparison. The Mise En Scene of the isolated "haunted house" concept is paramount in both mine and Jono's film and TWIB. The idea of this is powerful as due to the cultural experiences in the western world our audiences infer this to be a frightening location. The Isolation plays up to the idea of "no escape" and "no-one can hear you scream" which is a key concept used in many horror films. Another key idea that is similar is the haunting ghost-like figure in both films. However the costume differs largely. TWIB chose to represent their antagonist in black to connote her evil, darkness and mystery. However Jono and I thought it would be more effective to dress our antagonist in a white shroud-like nightgown. This causes Barthes Enigma code to be prominant in our film. The audience is left questioning her dress. Did she die in her nightgown? Was she sick? Or perhaps was she murdered in her sleep? Is that the cause of her unrelenting cruelty? Or is she just pure evil? As these questions are swirling round our audiences heads our film becomes more intriguing. The cruelty of TWIB is explained, her son was taken away from her and killed in the marshes that surround the house. Our Antagonist's reasoning for her cruelty is never explained, we chose to do this so our audience can make their own decisions about this as it pleases them - Uses and Gratification Theory. We modernised our film, and set it in the present day so it had more of a universal feel that people could easily relate to.