1. Textual Analysis 2 – Insidious (James Wan, 2010)
In the opening scene to Insidious it starts of with the production company
coming up in red titles, on a black background, this gives it a very horror like feel
to it as the red on black links to blood and death. The titles have a smoke like
effect to it which looks good and makes it less boring, as titles can tend to be
boring. The titles throughout the scene change their style with the next title, with
the director James Wan’s name on, appears on a lightshade the camera then
turns upside to reveal that it is a lampshade in a small boys room. With a black
on white visual style it contrasts each other, which makes it stand out, and is
therefore more memorable.
The music throughout the scene is very eerie with a high-pitched sound that is a
genre convention of horror films and appears in quite a lot of them. The high-
pitched sound creates a sense of intensity throughout the scene and signifies that
something big/scary is going to happen and therefore puts the watcher on edge,
which makes them want to continue with the film. The full soundtrack of this
opening scene is completely non-diegetic there is no diegetic sounds at all it is
entirely music. This gives the scene a sense off suspense as the audience are
waiting for something to happen.
2. The camera pans dolly’s down to see a boy sleeping on a bed, this makes it feel
like the boy is a signature character in the film as he gets a slow reveal. The
camera the pans around the full room, showing child like items such as a teddy
bear, to confirm that it is a child’s room. The lighting is very low-key and the fact
it is dark it creates a sense of mystery and makes us wonder if something is going
to happen or is they’re anything hiding within the dark room. The camera
appears to follow around the room in a POV style we can tell this because in one
scene we see a shadow that moves in timing with the camera. We then go into a
room and see a candle lit revealing a woman, who appears to be some sort of
ghost or monster. This is a common genre convention of horror films, as a
character style is some sort of innocent person (the child) and some sort of
murderer or ghost (the lady). The fact the lighting is very dark it makes you look
at what you’re seeing and focus in on it, it will give you a fright when you realise
what it is. The camera then dolly’s up close to it showing it in more detail and
more horror. The screen then fades to black along as the music does; this gives it
a sense that it is going to be continued. Then suddenly the title of the film
appears in a jumping action that will give the watcher a sudden fright. A sting
music effect also appears on here to enhance the feeling that it was a sudden
fright. After this it fades to black again, showing that there is a lot of darkness in
the world.
3. After that scene it shows an establishing shot of a house, whilst the actors names
appear in the red, smoky style I mentioned earlier. But the visual style of this is
in black and white, again showing the contrast that links with the battle between
good and evil, which is a common genre convention of horror films. With each
actor or actress's name shown as is a different part of the house, this establishes
the story of the film, as it shows boxes ready to be unpacked, as they appear to
have just moved into a house, which typically of horror films will be haunted.
The next shot used is a birds eye view shot looking down from the top of the
staircase to the bottom floor, this could show that the monster has power within
the house because these shots could be from its perspective, and how it sees
could be in black and white, like a dog. The music throughout this sequence is
again high pitched but occasionally it has short bursts percussion, again to scare
the watcher. Throughout this sequence of showing images of different parts of
the house, pans, tilts and zooms are used to give it a transitional effect, as this is a
title sequence. Slowly throughout the clips we start to see supernatural things
happening, again apart of the typical genre conventions of horror, chairs begin to
move on its own, lights begin to sway, paintings fall down adding to the fact that
this house is haunted.
4. A canted angle is used to portray that something in the world is not right and in
this case it adds to the highly hinted fact that this house is haunted. It also
portrays the clock as being slanted which could represent that the clock is the
thing that is haunted. The camera starts of relatively normal then canters to one
side, this could suggest that the clock was in fact normal at one point but was
possessed by someone or something during its time at this house.
5. A cut zoom is used to zoom in on the clock, a sudden motion suggest that in fact
this clock is an important part of this scene. The black and white visual style
gives it a mysterious look l to it because due to its lack of colour is hints at that
there might be something there you cannot see, which is a key element in horror
films especially supernatural ones like this one. The cut zoom is more effective
than a normal zoom in this scene because it reveals it suddenly not gradually,
this will make the watcher question why it is important and therefore will be
kept involved with the film until they find out.
