Analysis of Insidious

Insidious Analysis Of Opening:

 

Mise-en-Scene

 

Costume- In the opening of Insidious we don’t see any people other than the ghostly figures, we mainly see shadows. When we get a close up on the woman holding a candle, she looks as if she is wearing a dark veil and dark old-fashioned clothing, suggesting she is evil.

 

Lighting- Throughout the opening the lighting is low key suggesting it is mysterious, also in some shots there is only a certain part of the room highlighted and the rest is black, showing the importance of the certain place also suggesting something is hidden. This links to the conventions of the genre thriller.

 

Actors- We only see a picture of the main characters in a family photo. In the photo they look to be a happy family, smiling and all in pale clothing suggesting their innocence. However the adult male in the photo isn’t smiling and has a very stern look on his face, suggesting he isn’t as innocent as first thought. He is holding his family quite close showing he is protective.

 

Make up- When we see the woman’s face close up, she is quite wrinkly and pale, showing her age , the area around her eyes is very dark suggesting there is more to tell.

 

Props-The grandfather clock is featured quite a lot in the opening of Insidious showing it is important. The clock fits the conventions of a thriller film.

 

Setting- The location of the opening is the family home of the main characters, the audience sees all the different rooms, because it is in black and white it is fairly spooky and uncomfortable. In the rooms we can see that the family has just moved in as there is cardboard boxes.

 

​Editing

 

The editing is quite slow, giving the audience a chance to take it. The editing is quite all in and a sense of enigma. After every shot there is a fade out from one shot and another fade into the next making it look mysterious, also when we gointo the next shot it is unfocused suggesting confusion withinthe house. The film opening is in black and white apart from the beginning giving a sense of unease. The connotations of black is evil and mystery and the connotations of white are purity, goodness and innocence giving the idea that in this film there will be a clash of good and evil. The titles are in red, red in this format connotes danger/blood/gore. There is a long shot on the grandfather clock down acorridor, we can only make out the clock. There is then a jumpcut bringing us closer to the clock with a flickering glow around it suggesting it is significant but why? Links to the conventionsof the genre.

 

Camera

 

We see an establishing location to set the scene, and to tell the audience where they are.There is an aerial shot looking down the staircase and a shadow at the bottom, also being a point of view shot showing something is watching and giving a sense of enigma.The slight dutch tilt on the clock gives asense of confusion and unease.

 

Sound

 

In the opening there is non-diegetic music, at the beginning the music is a sort of ringing in your ear echoing sound. When we firstsee the shadow we hear high pitch violin being played fast. There isn’t a sound bridge to emphasise shock of seeing the shadow.When we get close the woman’s face it goes quiet and then the title shows up with the high pitch music again to make the audience jump, again no sound bridge. After the title the rest of the opening has a eerie, mysterious feel to the music, to give a sense of unease.

 

Final Destination Analysis Of Opening:

 

Dialogue

 

The dialogue is humourless, directs and revealing of the narrative. A lot of voiceovers are used throughout the opening to direct the audience’s attention which keeps them focused. The voiceover which then goes through short sound bridge, which then becomes digetic sound with the source being the actual characters in the movie. The type of language used in the dialogue is a simple and conventional choice of words. For example ‘disaster’ ‘death’ ‘kill’ ‘time to die’ is regularly used, this help build up the tension.

 

Pace

 

Final destination 5 follows the standard conventions of starting the opening slow and calm. However the pace suddenly changes rapidly interest of gradually building up. As dramatic events unfold and take shape, the progression of anticipation increase and the level of tension are high as there is a sudden change in speed. This generates the audience’s interest levels to heighten and the focus of wanting more.

 

Voiceovers

 

There is a voiceover in the trailer, however is not the typical style of voice over which is when the source remains a mystery. In this case the voiceover, is the character revealed after their spoken words; therefore non-digetic sound travels through a sound bridge to become digetic sound. Also the voiceover reveals much of the narrative which is combined with the visuals on screen. Most of the movie sequences are discovered but there are many hidden elements yet to be seen.

 

Camera Angles & Shots

 

The first shot shown is a point of view shot from the characters prospective whilst they are laying down but the audience relies on this until the next sequence of shots. This presents itself to be very puzzling and creepy. Not knowing what this object is combined with, the fact that its closed up confuses the audience and brings an element of ‘fear factor’. A tilt camera movement is used in the next scene to view the first character shown. The tilt starts from bottom and slow progresses upwards to show the characters face. This is done to build up the tension and the audience to view the focal area for this scene. The camera angel is pointing downwards, which shows that the character is powerless at this point, therefore the audience can anticipate a big event to follow. A close up is used in the following scene; this is used when the female character is under the machine. Showing the audience her face and the facial expressions allows a strong relation between the audience and the character on screen as the audience can almost feel the fear they are going through and the anticipation from the next move. The next scene, the shot shows the character looking away at this point, this creates tension as she is looking around for danger but the audience is not shown this shot as it leaves them tense and wanting them to know what happens next. There are zoomed in shots used to create a strong impact on the audience.