Insidious

How the opening scene keeps the audience

watching?
The opening scene of insidious, interests the audience because of the music that is used,
the music fits with the mood of the film; the music makes you feel tense, as the camera
starts to speed up, the music does also, things start to get more intimidating so the
musics tempo changes, this is why people carry on watching it because of the adrenaline
rush as you hear all the music and see everything in black and white.
After the opening, the title appears, the music gets louder and deeper, as a result of
this, your adrenaline levels go up even more and you start to become intrigued and want
to know what happens next. It gives you goose bumps as you watch it because of how
tense things are.
As the credits are coming up, the music is quieter and more high pitched, to keep things
in the same mood the writing is put in red which symbolised blood or death, this makes
the audience keep watching because it makes you think that something bad is going to
happen; it makes you question the movie in the first 5 minutes.
After the credits, the film starts. It starts off dark and dull and a women waking up
and walking around the house. The house adds to the effectiveness because its a house
theyve just moved in to so there is stuff and boxes everywhere, she starts looking at
photos and gets startled by her son which makes the audience question who is there but
it ends up just being someone in the family and nothing bad happens.

Title

Watch the clip, to see the effect of

the title.

As the title appears, the colours get more

dominant, and the music gets louder and more
high pitched, this happens for 6 seconds.
The colours of the title are quite intimidating
and tense, the create a mood of fear, this is
because the title is red and red usually
symbolises blood or danger and this being a
horror movie, you automatically think of blood;
the black background, makes the red stand out
more because it makes the red become a
dominant colour. People also associate black with
death, which makes you think that a lot of
people will die. As a result of the effect used, it
makes the title daunting because its flashing in
front of you meaning you keep your eyes focused
on what the title is doing.
The title appears quite suddenly, there is a black
screen for about a second and then the title
appears; this is effective because the music
stops in that 1 second break which makes you
assume that the film is going to start quite
subtle but doesnt and this is when the title
appears. It disappears in a flash effect also this
is good because then the film starts normally but
it starts off quite calm meaning the suspense will
be built up.

Genre &
target
audience

The genre of this movie, is a horror, drama and a

mystery movie. The target audience of this
movie, are people who are 15 or over, it is also
people who enjoy watching movies that build up
suspense and that are jumpy and have a tense
mood.
From the use of characters in the trailer, I think
this film is targeted at mostly teenagers from
the age of 15 and over, this is because although
adults are part of the main character list, there
probably isnt a great story line that adults would
be that interested in, this is why I think it is
mainly aimed at people aged 15-20.
I know that this is aimed at people who like
horror movies, because of the content of the
film, there are a few jumpy and creepy scenes in
this. Some of the scene could affect people
because they can get quite distressing.

Director &
distributors

The director of this movie is James Wan, he

has directed a lot of well known horror movies
such as Paranormal activity 1-5, saw 1-6 and
the conjuring.
Having the same director as these other
horror movies, is a good thing because the
other movies were big sellers and were good
movies meaning people could probably guess
that it would be a good movie because of the
director.
The film distributors are:
FilmDistrict
Alliance Films
IM Global
Icon Productions

Main Characters

These characters work well in this film, because of

their qualities in acting. All of these characters
made it very realistic using a good amount of
emotion and dramatic techniques during the film for
effect.
Rose Byrne is the only character who appears in
the first 5 minutes of the film, she appears in the
last 30seconds-minute, in that scene she is waking
up and lying in a bed.

Lin Shaye

Elise
Rainier

Rose
Byrne

Ty
Simpkins

Dalton
lambert

Patrick
Wilson

Renai
Lambert

Josh
lambert

Cinematography

Click the
links below
to see each
slide
- Camera
shot types
- Camera
shot types
continued

Camera Shot
Types

Close up:
This is effective
because it doesnt show
us the whole scene and
we have to wait to see
what happens next.

Wide Shot:
This is effective
because it lets us see
the subject but its not
extremely visible and
detailed.

Click to go
back to the
cinematography
page.

Cutaway:
This is effective
because it allows us to
see the subjects setting
and allows us to have
the question, What
happens next?

Camera Shot
Types
continued

Medium close up:

This allows the
audience to see a
main part in an
effective way
because its a slight
close up but still
shows the whole
image.
Extreme Wide
Shot:

Click to go
back to the
cinematography
page.

This is effective
because it allows
the audience to see
part of the scene
and give a tense
feeling.

Cut-In:
This is effective
because it makes
you think that
something is going
to happen whereas
it just showing her
body and easing in
to the film.

Camera Angles

Bird's Eye:
This is effective
because were it is
showing it from the top
angle, it creates a
dramatic effect.

Slanted:
This is effective
because it is purposely
tilted, this gives an
interesting and
dramatic effect for the
audience

Click to go
back to the
cinematography
page.

Eye-Level
This is effective because
it shows us it from the
angle as if it was real
life and we could see it.

Camera
Movements

In the opening scene, the film uses a variety

of camera movements. It uses a 360rotation,
a dolly in, a dolly, tracking and pedestal
down. These are used throughout the clip to
make the it more interesting and create a
sense of a tense feeling.
The 360 rotation of the camera and stylised,
this is used around the light.
The dolly in, this is used when it is moving
side ways and around corners.

Click to go
back to the
cinematography
page.

The dolly, this is used at the beginning of the

clip and reveals the scene the main character
(a boy) in a bed.
Tracking, this is used when the are going
through the house and seeing it through
someone elses eyes.
Pedestal down, this is used when the camera
is when camera movies down and moves in
different directions.

Fade:

Transitions

This is effective
because the scenes
usually link in with
each other meaning
that it will just look
like one scene because
they fade.

Cut:
This effective
because its dramatic,
its an instant change
from one scene to
another.

To see
the
transition
s, you
need to
watch
the clips.

Click here to
read about the
sound used in
the clip.

Crossfade:
This is effective
because it gradually
moves in to the next
scene giving us a
tense feeling.

Sound

Click the link

to see the
slide about
sound
- Non
diegetic
sound
- Diegetic
sound

Non-Diegetic
sound

During the majority of this clip it uses non

diegetic sounds, the sound that is constantly
used during the opening scene is violins and
an orchestra, the tempo changes during the
clip but only in the way that is gets quicker.
The violins are easier to pick out from it as
they are more dominant because there
sounds dramatic, it is effective in the way
that creates a sense of feeling that its going
to be a spooky, creepy film.

Click here to
go back to
the sound
page

The other instruments are able to be heard

but arent as dominant and clear to hear,
this is effective because the tempo of some
of the instruments is slow which is why it
fits in well with the violins because it means
that there is a mixed feeling throughout
because of the style of music.

Diegetic
sound

Click here to
read about
Mise-En-Scene

In this clip, the director hasnt used any

diegetic sound, this means they havent
used any realistic sounds and its all
studio sound. Instead, The director has
used selective sound, this means they
have taken out all the realistic sounds,
this is because it gives it more of a
spooky effect meaning the audience will
more gripped and they will want to carry
on watching the film to see if the
standards are as high as the music.

MISE-EN-SCENE

Click the links

below to find
out more:
- Set and
Lighting
- Costumes
and Make up
- Props
- Acting/dialog

Set and
lighting

Set
The set of insidious is quite dark and gloomy,
it, has quite a tense feeling within in it,
because it the colour scheme is like greyish
colours and quite boring.
It is done as in if the lights are off in the
house so you can only see a little bit of what is
happening, this is effective because it gives
more of a realistic feeling because its set in a
house, and it gives you the feeling as if it was
in your house, and as if you walking around but
there are no lights on, the only light that is
present is the light from the street lights
peeping through the curtains. They create
shadows around the house as if there are
abnormal things there.

Click to go back
to the
Mise-En-Scene

Lighting
The lighting in this film, is dark, this is
effective because it creates a spooky
atmosphere; this fits with the genre of film
because it gives you a sense of fear.
Dull colours are used in order to give you the
sense of something supernatural or bad is going
to happen at some point throughout the film.

Costumes and
make up

Click to go back
to the
Mise-En-Scene

The make up used on this

character, is quite a basic look,
there is much make up used
because the character is in bed,
this makes it more realistic because you dont
wear make up to bed. There is probably a
thin layers of different make up.

This part of the film

uses a lot of make up on this
character, the make up makes
them look old and scary. There is
black eye make up, with makes
them look distressed and quite
evil. The face make up, is like an off white with a
hint of green, this suggest that the character is
quite drained and rather old, the teeth are also
rotten which suggests that the character has been
there for a while and theyve started to rot.
The character has like a black veil over their face,
this suggest death because you wear black veils at a
funeral when your grieving.

Props

In this film, there are a fair few different

props used. There is stuff, from furniture, to
toys to personal things such as family photos.
At the beginning, there is a teddy bear and a
blanket, this suggests that this room is a young
boys bedroom, I think this because of the
things in the room and because of how the
room is laid out, it has quite a cosy, young
feeling to it.
There are various lamps used in this but all of
them have a dim light and dont light up the
whole room, this is effective because it adds
to the atmosphere and makes us question what
will happen.

Click to go back
to the
Mise-En-Scene

There is also a family photo, this suggests that

the family are really close and are family
orientated, as in the do things together and
they like there house to be cosy and full of
happy memories theyve experienced.

Acting/Dialogue

Dialogue
In this clip, there is no dialogue, for the first 5
minutes of the film, there is just simple acting,
the only noise there is, is the music.
Acting
In this clip, the only acting seen, is a boy
sleeping, this is at the beginning of the clip.
There is also acting at the very end of the clip, it
is where the mother, is just waking up from being
asleep.

Binary
Oppositio
n&
Gratificati
on Theory.

Binary Opposition
The light is contrasting
good and bad the light
itself is good and the black
background symbolises bad
or evil. The colours warm
white and black contrast
because they are opposites

Gratification Theory
According to the
gratification theory,
teenagers and young adults
would go and see this for
entertainment, and social
interaction.