Task 2.1 Insiduous - Analysis of a Horror Film / Horror

Film opening – Insidious

Conventions of a horror film

·         Dark colours such as red and black to represent darkness

·         Erie music to show the creepiness

·         The location of insidious is in an old house which sets the scene

·         The slow moving shots sets the scene of the horror

·         Camera shots such as zooms and extreme close ups to give us information about the film and possibly the characters.

Introduction

Insidious is a film that was produced in 2010. At the start we see a young child sleeping in their room. We see that the child is then led around the house and sees a shadow in the window, as we focus more into the shadow it turns out to be a ghostly figure of a woman. The camera shot then switches to show us more rooms around the house and each of them have this paranormal feeling. The title is coloured red in a sort of a bloody colour alongside with smoke appearing around the title to represent that it is a horror film as these fit the normal conventions that we associate with the genre. The writing at the start of the film fades away to suggest the paranormal activity such as ghosts and spirits.

Lighting

At the start if the film the lighting is very low with highlights covering only a certain area of each of the rooms. This can symbolise that there is something hidden within the house which is why parts of the rooms are also blacked out. This fits with the horror genre conventions because it is dark and very little light showing.  There is lighting on different props around the house such as the family picture. This again shows that the picture is to have some sort of importance in the film.

Props

The props within the first opening sequence are things such as the grandfather clock, and the family picture. This shows that these might play a part that we need to know about later on in the film. These both also fit in within the horror genre. These props though fit in with the horror genre because they look to be quite old and this adds to the creepy factor of the insidious film because people associate old creepy household ornaments.

Editing

After nearly every shot within the opening there is a fade out from the shot and a fade into the next one. The shots are blurry to start with and then become clear this is to resemble possibly some confusion within the house and set a mysterious thought in the viewer’s head. The shots are black and white and with a little research in this context black are associated with evil and darkness and white suggests purity and goodness. This means that there could be a clash between the both and this may be why we see the light and dark in both rooms to suggest a feud between both sides. They also edited the writing to be a red colour which again is associated with the horror genre and will resemble blood, danger and goriness etc.

Camera shot

At the start we see an establishing shot which shows the scene where the opening is shot and where the rest of the film is based upon.

There is also an aerial shot which is shot down the staircase and at the bottom of the stairs there is a faint shadow that outlines a figure of a person at least that’s what we think it is. This makes people think about what it could be and can make us possibly scared about that thought.

There is also another shot of the grandfather clock but it is tilted to the side and this gives of the image of confusion and unease which can build up the tension of the film at the start of the opening.

Sound

In the opening there is music but it is a disturbing sound like a ringing in your ear. At the start when we first see the shadow a high pitch violin sound which shows a sudden switch in the speed of the film opening.