The document provides an analysis of the opening 5 minutes of the horror film "Insidious". It summarizes that the opening sequence establishes an eerie atmosphere through the use of red credits with ghost-like effects, unsettling camera work from the point-of-view of a ghost, and non-diegetic eerie music. It introduces the vulnerable child character and establishes the haunted house setting. The sequence sets up typical horror iconography and techniques to clearly signal to the audience that this is a horror genre film.

1. Insidious analysis
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I will be analysing the first 5 minutes of the horror film‘Insidious’. This is a popular horror
film, which is about a happy family who strike a tragedy, and they experience the
supernatural within their home, similar to many other horror feature films. The opening
sequence is one of the most important parts as it creates either a good or a bad first
impression for the audience to go off, it will usually either engage them or make them
uninterested.
The filmbegins with the typography of credits along with non-diegetic eerie music in the
background. The credits start of by being shown on a black screen, which could create a
sense of mystery for the audience. The credits are written in a sharp font in red. The fact
that it is red illustrates the sense of evil, as the colour red is a connotation of the devil and
blood. When the credits appear, they look striking and then dissolve away with a ghost-like
affect, which tells the audience that it is a horror filmstraight away and creates an eerie,
mysterious affect. The way the writing disappears in a disorderly movement could create
discomfort for the audience too.
The first image shown is smoothly transitions from the credits; it is a light bulb with the
director’s name in it which then spins upside down and turns into the light in the character’s
room. The way this is filmed creates sense of uncertainty for the audience – it makes them
feel disorientated and confused, this could be portraying the fact that the supernatural are
in control. The first scene is in the character’s bedroom. It is a little boy sleeping, the fact
that this is a child and they are sleeping illustrates them to come across and vulnerable
painting a picture to the audience that he is helpless. The filmstarts off at quite a fast pace,
compared to the other filmI analysed ‘The Notebook’ this started off extremely slowly, we
can tell that these are opposite genres. This filmis designed to keep the audience on their
toes and ready for any jump scares. The camera is filmed with a point of view, hand held
shot, this could be in the point of view of the ghost as it is moving in a disorderly manner
and seems as if it is floating, in an inhuman way. The different shots are put together in the
effect of the camera going through walls, as ghosts do, giving the audience the effect of
being in the ghost’s eyes which would make them feel uncomfortable as they know that the
family is being watched. This is the opening scene which seems to have a sense of normality
but with a twist. The structure of this feature film differs from Todorov’s five stages as he
stated that the first stage would be normality and people living their positive day-to-day
lives, the equilibrium. It seems this way, however the audience is watching it from the point
of view of the supernatural therefore this is contradicted.

2. After the first scene, the title pops up very abruptly with piercing non-diegetic eerie music,
designed to make the audience jump after a tense opening sequence. This appears on a
black screen in a red font, again representing evil and blood. The typography is pointed at
the corners of the letters in an old-fashioned font, this could also represent the devil and
evil.
The second part of the opening sequence is simply just establishing shots of around the
house. Along with eerie music again and credits in red with the ghost-like dissolve
afterwards. The picture however, is all in black and white, which makes the writing stand
out. This scene is to set the scene and setting of the film. It establishes the location of where
most of the filmis based, giving the audience an insight and making them feel more
involved. This is in an abnormally fast pace also as establishing shots are meant to be slow,
like a slide show of pictures, however this puts the audience at unease as it has an such an
unusual tone. They are shown with different camera positionings and angles, varying each
time. As the clips go on, more and more of the supernatural is introduced, for example,
shadows of figures and furniture moving however the movement is very gradual and a build
up is created to keep the audience observant and engaged. In one of these snap shots, the
family is introduced, we are shown a picture of them, but the camera is still filming as if it is
in the point of view of the ghost. The family looks happy in the picture, like an ordinary
family but along with the editing and camera shots it illustrates them to be vulnerable and
that something bad could happen to them. the fact that the supernatural are introduced
before the natural portrays their power as the most important characters are usually shown
first.
The first scene after the credits instantly turns to colour and is in day light, this connotes
that when the supernatural is involved low-key lighting is in place and the setting is at night-
time. This is typical for a horror film. The fact that colour is brought to the picture when the
characters are properly introduced brings life to the shot to show that we are not viewing
things from the supernatural perspective anymore.
The sound throughout the opening scene is mainly just eerie music throughout which
changes slightly but the idea of eerie music remains. The opening sequence goes on for
around 4 minutes with no dialogue at all other than this non-diegetic music. This sets an
unsettling atmosphere for the rest of the film. When the supernatural appear or something
occurs that the creators want the audience to focus on, the music gets more dramatic,
louder and at a faster pace to build tension. This is common within a lot of horror films.
Genre
From the second the film is introduced; the audience will be aware that this is a horror film.
The narrative is like most horror films. Horror narratives usually begin with an onset phase,
which is where a disorder is created, the supernatural being introduced in this case. This is
clear in this film, as from the very start there are supernatural aspects: the eerie music and
style of typography through the credits, as mentioned before, and the camera work to seem
as if the audience are in the point of view of the ghost.

3. Iconography is when the audience expects to see certain aspects if they are watching a
certain genre. This film contains a lot of typical horror filmtechniques. For example,
throughout the whole 5-minute sequence we see no daylight, and everything is filmed with
a low light and cool tones, this conveys a negative affect and represents the supernatural,
this is a common technique within horror films. Throughout the credits, as mentioned
before they represent the devil and have a ghost like affect when it vanishes, again
portraying the fact that this is a horror film. There are lots of instances of furniture moving
on its own, shadows of ghosts, the family sleeping which are all often what the audience will
associate with a horror film.
The characters introduced so far are mainly only the supernatural other than a scene with
the sleeping child, this is showing the audience their power over humans. The filmis set in
an abandoned house which is a common location for a horror feature film. The style of it is
derelict and there is no colour, it does not look very homely they create this affect by using
low-key lighting throughout. This is to give the audience the idea that this is a horror. I
believe the creators overall make it very clear to the audience what genre the film will be
because of the previous matters.
This filmis set in an abandoned house, this is where a lot of films within the horror genre
are based, it instantly gives an eerie affect to the audience giving the typical horror feel to it.
The audience is given establishing shots around the whole of the house first so they can get
a better insight, this also gives an eerie horror affect as it makes the audience feel like the
family inside the house are always being watched.
In terms of style, many techniques used in this film are commonly used in horror films, as
mentioned previously.
Comparisons
In comparison to the opening sequence to ‘the notbook’, significant similarities are
conveyed throughout their opening sequences. Both films begin with a montage of
establishing shots to set a scene, with credits and non-diegetic music on top. Both films
begin with a slow pace during this montage to set a specific tone. Their visual effects and
camera movement are both also very similar, they alternate from longshots and medium
shots with cross fades in between. Although these two opening sequences seemvery similar
we know that both tones are extremely opposite, insidious sets off a negative cold feeling
with eerie music and shots. In contrast with the notebook which begins with calming music
and warm tones giving off a comforting, homely tone to the audience. Although they are
opposite in this sense, they both draw the audience in in the same type of way, by setting
the scene first. In terms of genre, they are both very typical within the iconography. In the
notebook, the motion is very slow and gentle throughout the opening sequence which
matches the genre of the film, along with the colours shown which are reds and oranges
which are usually associated with love. In insidious, a lot of typical horror film techniques
are also involved. For example, throughout the whole 5-minute sequence we see no
daylight, and everything is filmed with a low light and cool tones, this conveys a negative
affect and represents the supernatural.

4. In comparison to the opening sequence of ‘pulp fiction’, they both start with very different
styles, where pulp fiction is very fast pace, insidious has credits for 4 minutes of the opening
sequence and we cannot infer much about the film. Although the tones are very different at
the start, both of their intentions are the same, in pulp fiction the opening sequence is in
place to engage the audience and make them curious as to what will happen next, they are
given no context or background story which is why they will want to find out more.
Whereas, the opening sequence to insidious is very eerie and just shows the setting
however small aspects keep appearing also making the audience curious, similar to pulp
fiction. They both do this in a very different but affective way. A significant difference within
these two films would be the use of sound. In insidious’ opening sequence, there is no
dialogue, there is just non-diegetic music throughout behind a montage of the scenery,
setting an unsettling atmosphere for the audience. Whereas, with pulp fiction, there is
dialogue throughout making the audience feel more at ease and give an uncomforting
feeling. Leading into the genre of both films, they are both different genres, pulp fiction
being a drama and insidious being a horror. The iconography of insidious is quite typical, for
example, throughout the whole 5-minute sequence we see no daylight, and everything is
filmed with a low light and cool tones, this conveys a negative affect and represents the
supernatural, this is a common technique within horror films. Whereas pulp fiction goes
against the typical iconography by using warm tones. A similarity between these two
feature films opening sequences, considering genre, would be that their structure
throughout are typical for their genre.