2. Background
James Wan is a well known film director that has made some of the most well known
horror film franchises. He was born in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia in february 1977.
Wan has directed blockbuster hits that include the Saw franchise, Aquaman, the
conjuring series and fast and furious 7. Wan’s journey began when he was a child,
having found a passion for film and cinematography from watching films. He moved
from Malaysia to perth to attend Lake Tuggeranong College in Canberra. Later, as an
adult, he moved to Melbourne to attend the RMIT University (officially the Royal
Melbourne Institute of Technology, informally RMIT). This is where he studied his
degree and began his career in the film industry.
Before his success in the mainstream film industry, he made his first feature-length film,
Stygian, with Shannon Young, which won "Best Guerrilla Film" at the Melbourne
Underground Film Festival (MUFF) in 2000, it was this accomplishment which got him
noticed within the film industry and got him his first job on the set of SAW,.
5. Example of James Wan's Work - The Saw
Franchise
Saw (2004) was James Wan’s first full feature length film which he co wrote with his friend and
screenwriter Leigh Whannell. They decided to write this film based on their dreams and fears,
which were also realistic for the audience at the time. They played on the fact that it would be
scary for the audience to have to gruesomely harm themselves in order to survive. The film was
met with overwhelming success in the box office both domestically and internationally. The film
ended up grossing $55 million in America, and $48 million in other countries, totaling over
US$103 million worldwide. This was over $100 million profit, over 80 times the production
budget. Due to this success at the box office, Saw 2 was in production shortly after with a small
budget again. Saw 2, with a budget of $4 million and a box office of $147.7 million was again
another blockbuster horror, this stemmed the beginning of what we know today as the
successful saw franchise with 8 films. Jigsaw has become such an iconic character due to the
franchise, it is now a popular costume and a well referred to character within the film industry,
with many films looking to take inspiration from it.
6. Example of James Wan's Work - The Conjuring
Franchise
Another example of James Wan’s work is the popular Conjuring franchise. The Conjuring (2013) was
another successful horror film that Wan has directed that has had an exceptional box office and ratings.
With a budget of $20 million and a box office of $318 million, it pushed itself to become a fan favorite film
within the supernatural sub genre. Wan played of the fears of hauntings and followed codes and
conventions of the environments and exorcisms to ensure that the film stayed within one genre. Wan was
praised for the roles of characters within the film which gave it a realistic and convincing storyline that left
the audience terrified. Wan used many conventional methods to scare in this film such as jump scares and
loud and sudden noises. The film was based on a true story from Ed and Lorraine Warren (paranormal
investigators), so Wan had to ensure he worked closely with Lorraine to make sure the film was realistic,
convincing and most importantly scary for the audience. A potential third film is in the works due to the
huge success of the conjuring 1 and 2, the spinoff Annabelle and Annabelle: creation. The nun (2018) is
another film potentially related to the franchise in which James Wan is a producer of.
7. Directing Style
James wan uses a wide range of techniques and styles to engage the audience to the film in which they
are watching. In his popular horror films, he uses different camera shots and cuts to catch the audience's
attention and immerse them into the movie. A regularly occurring example of this is when Wan resorted
to constant close-ups of the characters faces to really show the emotion of the current character at that
moment. This helps the audience in many ways to empathise with the character, helping them to feel
their fear and emotions. The uses of his constant rapid sequence cuts in many of his horror films builds
up tension between the audience and and within the narrative and makes the audience feel on edge and
become easier to scare. In the conjuring, Wan specifically liked the idea of having the film be based on
true stories with real life events. As previously stated, he worked very closely with Lorraine Warren in
order to have the film be as realistic as possible whilst still following film conventions, as he takes pride
in doing so.
