this is my analysis of the advertising campaign for the film insidious; including the trailer, poster and magazine cover for my ocr a2 media studies coursework.

1. Insidious Trailer analysis
Charles Harris

2. The trailer starts with a screen of text warning the viewer about
what they are about to see. The green background is eye-catching
making sure the viewer will see the screen, and the white contrasts
the green well enough to make the text easy to read. There is no
audio yet, this means that the absence of sound will get people’s
attention and making reading and understanding the text easier.

3. The company that made the film get
displayed at the start of the trailer, a
convention to most trailers, this
means that viewers can trust that
the film will be good if they trust the
company to make good films.
Black and red are colours
commonly used in the horror
genre, as they have connotations
of death and blood. The
abundance of black in the
companies logo plays to viewers’
fear of the unknown as they can’t
see everything in the frame.

4. The next section of the trailer consist of a
black/ dark red back ground with white
righting jumping between says “insidious” and
“is”. The jumpy nature of the writing puts the
viewer on edge, and conveys the feeling that
something is wrong.
The connotations in the
colour scheme are used to
convey the plot. The black
and dark red background
represent evil while the
white writing contrasts it,
representing purity and
goodness.
A non-diagetic crackling sound is
being played, this creates an
unsettling atmosphere for the viewer.

5. The close up of the man is
matched with the dialogue
“are you ready?” said by a
off-screen character,
followed by the character
on screen replying “yes.”
The diegetic convocation
creates intrigue for
wondering what the
momentous event is.
The medium close up of the character,
presents him as an ordinary person (a man
wearing a shirt and an everyday haircut. The
background shows a typical dining room with
pictures, the most fancy thing in the room is
a piano), the guy next door type, this means
that the viewer can relate to him as they
probably know someone like him.

6. The trailer then fades
into a close up of a
metronome being
turned on. The fade
shows that the
metronome is linked
into the event that the
character in the
previous shot is
“ready,” for.
The use of diagetic sound from the
metronome, makes the viewer
curious about what's happening as
well as giving pace and rhythm to
the trailer as shots are timed and
edited around the fast tempo of the
metronome. The metronome gives a
sense of time, and becomes a sound
bridge across much of the trailer.
When the metronome stops later on
in the trailer, it gives a sense that
time has stopped or has ran out.

7. The text “from the makers of Paranormal
Activity and Saw” conveys to the viewer
that the film will be good as Paranormal
Activity and Saw are film both very highly
regarded in the horror genre; this means
that there a good chance that insidious
will earn the same high regarding.
“Paranormal Activity” and “Saw” are in
a larger font and are in bold because
that’s what’s meant to be eye-catching
about the statement as it’s the most
important information in the sentence.
The text is positioned on the left third in
the middle, this is catch the viewers eye as
it is following the rule of thirds, and by
being in a strange place, it follows the
strange nature of the film.

8. The camera is zooming in on
the male character, this is
drawing the viewer into him
and his life so they feel more
invested, this is done so that
they sympathise with him
when he is in danger.
Unlike before, the character’s
eyes are closed. This makes him
shut of from the world and
harder for the viewer to relate
to. This is done to show the
change from his character being
with society to being forced to
be isolated from it because of
the events in the film.
By having his eyes closed,
the character is vulnerable,
this conveys to the viewer
the character is at risk

9. The house is filmed at a low
angle, this conveys that the
house has power, putting
the viewer at an inferior
position.
The establishing shot of a house as
the camera tracks to the left
conveys a normal sub-urban family,
which is relatable to viewers,
meaning the viewer will be more
likely to relate to the characters.
That house is the only house
shown in the shot, this makes
the family seem isolated as no
neighbours are shown. Isolation
plays to viewers’ apprehension
of being alone and gives the
fear that no one is there to help
if the family are in trouble.
There has been non-
diagetic sounds added
while this clip is shown,
this is unsettling for the
viewer and increases
tension.

10. There is a montage of the family leading a
normal life, this is done to show the viewer
that the event of the film could happen to
anyone, and that they themselves aren’t safe.
High key lighting is used to make the
family and the house seem happy and
safe. This is done to show that a change
in the atmosphere later in the trailer
when low key and chiaroscuro lighting is
used, making the shots more dimly lit
and shadow-filled and, therefore, the
shots seem more dangerous and unsafe.
The boxes in the background convey that the
family are in the process of moving house.
This puts the family in a relatable position as
many of the viewers will have moved house
before. The trailer also askes the audience to
consider whether the family moving into the
new house will be welcomed by it. It
suggests that from the moment they move
in things won’t be the same.

11. Next is a shot of the boy falling off a ladder,
this creates sympathy with the viewer as
normal people don’t like seeing people, let
alone kids, get seriously injured.
The low key lighting
makes the place the
boy is in seem very
dangerous and a bad
place to be in.
The shot then cuts to the “Is Insidious Is
Insidious,” screen which re occurs
through out the clip, this conveys to the
viewer that the ladder incidence has
something to do with the haunting.
The ladder breaking is in time with the metronome, this conveys
to the audience that the antagonist has timed the incident to
happen – implying it wasn’t a freak accident. This shows how evil
the antagonist is making the viewer want to see what happens.
This conveys the start of
disequilibrium, contrasting
the previous shots of
equilibrium.

12. The medium close up of the parents
shows their worried emotion. There
is the dialogue “he’s not in a coma,”
which creates intrigue for the viewer,
making them want to see the film to
find out what’s happening
The over the shoulder shot shows the boy
‘not in a coma’ with his parents being so far
away. This conveys how helpless the parents
are as they cannot get close to help or be
with the boy, symbolising how helpless they
are about the antagonist’s power, which is
separating them from their sick child.

13. The horse stops rocking in time to
the metronome stopping, the sync
between non-diagetic sound and the
rocking horse implies how powerful
the antagonist is.
The low key lighting, puts the horse in
the shadows, making it look almost
sinister to the viewer. The sharp angles
and misshapen horse further conveys
its disturbing impact.

14. The actress is being looked down on from an
extreme high angle, this conveys the antagonist’s
dominance over the protagonist leaving her
vulnerable, and gets the viewer to sympathise
with the protagonist.
The dialogue “now,” in a low
pitcher with an echo and
distortion scares the viewer.
The shot is followed by an extreme low
angle point of view shot from the actress
in the previous shot. This conveys the
house’s dominance over the family.
The low key lighting in both shots
creates many shadows, this shows
that there is much that is
unknown and to fear in the
shadows.

15. The line “its not the house that’s haunted, it’s
your son,” acts as a sound bridge between the
two clips. The builds tension for the viewer
and gets them to sympathise for the son.
The close up on the actress’ face conveys her worried
emotion to viewers. The choice in casting that actress
gives the appearance of a lady who looks nice and caring
but with intelligence. Her age suggests experience in the
field, implying she isn’t a naive novice ghost hunter.
This shot may look at first insignificant, but it is pivotable to the disturbing
atmosphere. The chiaroscuro lighting creates many shadows, causing the
reader to not trust this part of the house, which looks like a cold, metallic,
impenetrable, calculating heart. The use of a blue colour correction means
that this section of the trailer feels cold further showing to a viewer that
this it is a menacing place to be. The lighting on the back wall could be
symbolism of a heart, therefore, conveying to the viewer that this is the
heart of the house and the source of all the dismay in the film.

16. The extreme close up of one of the experts looking up shows how
she is venerable and weak towards the antagonist, which is bad
because she is an expert. The extreme close up also show her fear.
By showing an expert scared, the viewer understands how scary the
antagonist is making them want to see the film. It also begs the
question, of whether the protagonists can escape or whether
disaster will totally overcome them?

17. gasp
There is a montage of
the protagonists being
haunted in the film
with the title being
intercut. The fast pace
editing and cuts makes
the viewer feel on
edge and distorted.

18. The trailer ends with a page of credits so that viewers
can see who is associated with the film, and if they like
their previous works, they will go and see the film.
Towards the end of the trailer, the release date
is shown. The mode of address uses the word
“everywhere,” implying the ghosts are released
everywhere. The date April 1st is fools day.

19. The model’s eyes have been blacked out,
this gives him an ominous look to the
viewer. ‘The eyes are the window to the
soul’ and his eyes have been replaced by
a ghost, this conveys the plot that the
boy is possessed. The model’s skin has
been made really pale with his veins on
show and heavy bruising around his neck.
This conveys that the child is in danger
and is probably dying, it’s then human
instinct to care about the child, making
people see the film just to see if it’s okay.
The model’s eyes have been blacked out, this gives him
an ominous look to the viewer. ‘The eyes are the
window to the soul’ and his eyes have been replaced by
a ghost, this conveys the plot that the boy is possessed.
The hand in the window conveys
the sinister and horror aspect to the
film. The fingers don’t look human
like which intrigues the viewer as
they wonder what it could be,
making them want to see the film.
The red door is in the centre of the
picture and is the focus point of the
picture. The red is symbolic of the
dangers that occur in the house and
warns people not to come in, where as,
the light behind the door representing an
afterlife. The use of connotations convey
that the house is haunted, and sums up
the plot to a viewer.
There is an ‘expert witness,’ a review saying how scary the film is, people wanting
to see a horror film will see this, and want to see the film as they know it’s scary.
The cloudy sky is an example of pathetic fallacy, implying that
the family will go through some dark times. The poster uses
the green and red colours to draw the viewer in so a vibrant
colour sky would hider the effectiveness of the poster.
The poster builds on the conventions of
horror colour schemes as the most
predominate colour is green. The
connotations of naturalness imply that
the ghosts are apart of nature, and the
relaxing side to colour , puts the viewer
into a false sense of security.

20. The measterhead is very iconic for the magazine meaning a viewer scanning a magazine rack will look at the masterhead and
instantly know the magazine without reading anything. The name fits in with the horror genre with “fang” being pragmatics
to vampires – a commonly recurring character in the horror genre. The typography makes the first and last letters look like
fangs, making the masterhead more iconic and continuing the vampire reference. The red outline to the masterhead makes
it looks like it is dripping blood which conveys the horror genre. The sharp font also makes the text and the magazine look
dangerous which is appropriate for the horror genre and makes the reader want to buy the magazine.
The colour scheme follows horror
conventions by using black, red and white.
The red and white stand out from the black
and are eye catching. The red symbolises
danger and the black death, the white could
symbolise the purity of the child in the film or
symbolise death for other cultured for
example when the film is advertised in china.
The secondary images at the bottom of the page show icon horror films
which are also featured in the article. This helps to convey the films genre
and shows to the reader that the magazine won’t just be about insidious.
The main image is of a ghost from the
insidious and is iconic to the film. The
use of chiaroscuro lighting makes the
model seem very dramatic and
untrustworthy due it the shadows. The
way the face has been lit means the
eyes can’t been seen, this further shows
how untrustworthy the character is as it
can’t make eye contact – the eyes are
referred to as the window to the soul,
so by having no eyes it implied that the
character has no soul.
The source of light in the picture is a
candle. A candle is a temporary light and is
easily extinguished, conveying how
powerful the antagonist is as the candle is
literally in its hand. Candles are a common
feature of religion, which implies that the
ghosts are a god.