The trailer for the film Insidious uses various techniques to build tension and intrigue in the audience. It begins with a title sequence that cryptically rearranges the letters in the film's title. The rest of the trailer slowly ramps up ominous sounds and unsettling imagery, such as a ticking pendulum and shots of a sick child in the hospital. Scenes cut together quickly to disorient the viewer as mysterious events seem to terrorize the family. The trailer culminates in a reveal that the child's possession is paranormal in nature and leaves the audience with one final jump scare. The various editing techniques and use of sound and lighting aim to unsettle and excite viewers about the horror that awaits in

1. Trailer analysis 3: Insidious
The film trailer starts with the normal regulatory warning message that all film trailers start with.
Depending on the genre of the film trailer, this message will warn the audience against some of the
content which is about to appear, giving them the chance not to watch it if they wish. The message
is has a bright green background and is written in a white font, therefore making it very eye-catching
to the audience, making sure they do not avoid or miss the important message. There is no sound
whilst this message is being displayed, giving the audience a chance to read it. Straight after the
message is displayed, the logo of the film production company that made this film is displayed; this
makes the audience aware of who made the film.
The next part of the trailer is cryptic to the audience as it uses the film’s title “Insidious” and mixing
up the letters and rearranges them to spell out “Insidious is insidious is”. While the words are being
rearranged a crackling non-diagetic noise appears over the top of the shot, the noise in itself is fairly
mysterious and just adds to the mystery and cryptic nature of the scene. The background it black
with hints of dark red at times and the font colour is white, creating a contrast, like the contrast
between good and evil further along in the trailer.

2. After this the trailer cuts to a medium shot of a male character in the film, diagetic dialogue from
another character that we cannot see on screen asks this male character “Are you ready?” and he
replies “Yes”. This shot then cuts to a close-up shot of a pendulum and presumably the character
asking the question previously starts the pendulum ticking. The diagetic sound of the pendulum
ticking can then be heard for a significant amount of time throughout the trailer with exaggerated
echoes added on to each tick of the pendulum to create a sinister atmosphere. As the trailer goes on
it becomes clear that the pendulum may have been used as a signifier of time running out for this
family and their child. This type of shot and sound makes the audience question the nature of the
film straight away.
The ticking pendulum is then used as a sound bridge for the following scenes, including the next one
which is more writing on the screen informing the audience that the same film company made the
other popular horror films “Paranormal Activity” and “Saw”. As well as the ticking pendulum the
non-diagetic crackling noise from the title sequence scene has returned. Like before the writing is a
white font placed on a black background with hints of dark red, the colour red being linked to danger
and blood. The audience will recognise this and then will be able to recognise this is a horror genre
film.

3. With the pendulum still ticking, the sound begins to match up with the pace of the editing, which is
currently fairly slow paced. The next scene cuts back to the previous medium shot of male character
in the same chair, we then get an establishing shot panning across the front of the house the family
live in, looking like it’s located in America. A few mysterious non-diagetic noises are added in to join
the ticking pendulum to help to build the tension of the audience and make them feel uneasy, like
they do not know what is going to happen next.
More medium shots of the family are shown to convey to the audience who the film is about, with
the shots cutting to match the ticking pendulum. Only high key lighting is used when showing the
family until the scene switches to a shot of the attic. The family are also wearing either neutral or
bright coloured clothing, no dark colours, this shows the audience that these are the victims within
the film and they are the ones who are going to be targeted by evil.
However once one of the children named Dalton goes up into the attic and has an accident, things
change. When Dalton is in the attic the lighting is very dark. The child appears to fall off of a ladder
when one of the steps break, but in the next shot, an over the shoulder long shot, he is in a hospital
bed with and oxygen mask amongst other things, alerting the audience to the fact that something
else has happened as he would not be this unwell because of the fall he had. The diagetic dialogue
following from Dalton’s mother, “He’s not in a coma, they don’t know what to call it”, also shows the

4. audience that something else is going on. In between all of these shots, the “Insidious is insidious is”
shot keeps reappearing. This will be building tension amongst the audience rapidly.
The ticking pendulum is still present whilst all of this is going on and does not stop until the next
scene when the ticking sound merges in with the daigetic sound of a wooden rocking horse. When
the mother stops the rocking horse more medium shots and shown with a faster pace than
previously. All of these shots have very dark lighting, making the audience concentrate on the screen
more, making it easier to make them jump when the non-diegetic sounds stop and a muffled
daigetic dialogue shouts through the baby monitor at the mother. Lots of loud noises start to
happen here including a large crash and a crying baby. All this will be confusing to the audience and
will make them feel uneasy.
A sequence of fast paced medium shots happen afterwards, including one shot of the hospital bed
Dalton has been sleeping in with blood stained sheets, proving to the audience that something very
sinister is happening here. A close-up of a handle rattling with no supposed culprit is also shown,
hinting to the audience of something paranormal. The shots are cut so quickly that it is hard for the
audience to keep up with what is happening and increases the tension ans anxiety amongst the
audience due to the fast pace. Most of the sound used during this sequence is dialogue from the
worried parents of Dalton.

5. Next there is diagetic dialogue from paranormal investigators as well as close-up shots of the
equipment they intend to use to try and sort out the problem the family are having. The dialogue is
details of what the paranormal investigators wish to do in order to sort out the problem with Dalton.
They also enlist the help of an older lady, presumably an exorcist. They use an extreme close-up shot
of this woman’s eye while she is speaking to the family. These shots allow the audience to see the
emotions clearly on the faces of the actors.
Another sequence of medium shots in a dark light follow with the prominent diagetic dialogue of a
female character saying “I wanna leave” repeatedly. Throughout this sequence jump cuts back to the
film’s title occur in order to disorientate the audience slightly and scare them. The editing pace is at
it’s fastest now and high pitched noises start to happen, building with the tension and editing pace.
This peace of editing is designed to have the audience on the edge of their seats.

6. At the end of the sequence the screen goes black momentarily and then cuts to a long shot of a dark,
sinister looking hallway. This will intrigue the audience and they will focus on the hallway. The sound
of a heartbeat, and the return of the ticking pendulum, can be heard over this shot, along with
dialogue from the exorcist. “It’s not the house that’s haunted…it’s your son.” A loud noise signals the
start of yet another sequence of medium and close-up shots with dark lighting edited at a fast pace.
The film’s title is displayed again, at the end and the screen goes black.
With the screen still black the audience thinks the trailer is over, until a quick close-up shot of what
appear to be a ghost is shown momentarily to leave the audience feeling scared and uneasy one last
time. It is intended by the producers for that last scene to have a lasting impact on the audience.