3. The trailer for ‘Insidious’, follows the narrative
structure put forward by Todorov:
Begins with an equilibrium, in that it introduces
the audience to a happy looking family with a
new baby living what looks to be ‘The American
Dream’ in a new home.
The disequilibrium occurs when its seems that
something supernatural appears to be in the
house and disturbing the son.
The new equilibrium occurs after the family are
informed that it is the son that is haunted rather
than the house.

4. ICONOGRAPHY:
SETTING – New home, becomes dark and too big to
manage the strange situations. Use of running up
and down stairs and room to room to add
suspense.
PROPS – Household items, ladder, baby monitor
and rocking horse may make the film even eerier as
these are items typical of any family household so it
could be anyone in this situation.

5. Male protagonist –
Victim / hero
CHARACTERS:
Child –
Victim
Demon–
Villain
Medium –
Donor
Supernatural technician–
Helper
Propp’s character theory is also shown in the trailer in a few ways:

6. The Insidious trailer creates a
very tense and frightening
atmosphere with the use of
sound, editing and camera angles
and shots…

7. SOUND:
• Whispering and then yell through the baby monitor, making it
obvious that the child isn't alone.
• Moments of fuzzy non diegetic sound in the title show
interruption? Like something supernatural is interfering.
• Eerie non-diagetic music adds to tension.
• Enhanced diagetic sound of the rocking horse creaking makes it that
much more creepy.
• Dramatic pauses add to suspense.
• Constant ticking, pulsating noise throughout the trailer, resembling
that of a clock makes it seem as though its all leading up to
something or time is running out.

8. EDITING:
• There are a fair few jump cuts throughout the
trailer as well as a few quick fades to make the
trailer continuous. In the later parts of the
trailer the pace speeds up. It creates an
almost irritating effect for the audience as
they are unsure of what is going on therefore
creates edge and suspense.

9. CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOTS:
• The are a big number of different camera angles some
of which are canned which creates an alarming
atmosphere for the audience.
• There is an establishing shot of the house near the
beginning followed by snapshot of the family, mostly
mid or long shots.
• There are a few shots such as over the shoulder or
extreme close ups that puts the audience in the shoes
of the characters so they can really get a feel of the
situation and the fear that the characters are feeling.