In Depth Analysis

In Depth Analysis on Insidious opening scene

Insidious is a Horror/Thriller film that was made in 2010 and was directed by James Wan. The opening sequence to this film has a number of effects on the audience due to many techniques used by Camera work, Editing, Sound and Mise-en-Scene.

One way that this opening sequence is effective amongst the audience is through the use of camera work. At the start of the opening sequence when the mum is walking down the stairs we see the camera pans left as she is walking down, this creates the effect that someone is standing at the bottom of the stairs and is turning to face her although she can not see what is in front of her, this creates tension among the audience as it makes the question that if it was someone why cant they see their face, it also makes the audience believe that something may happen to her as she walks into the other room. Moreover there is an establishing shot of the house in which our protagonists are living, this is a very big house with a lot of space on the inside, this is very stereotypical and backs up the conventions of the horror genre. In addition this effect is also used again when the baby monitor goes off and the mum has to walk upstairs to sort out the crying baby there is a high angle shot used on her as she walks up the stairs, this again makes the audience think that there is something/someone looking down at her, the use of the high angle shot also makes the mum look inferior and makes the audience think that something might happen to her. There is also an element of shallow focus that is used when the mum is playing on the piano and the baby starts to cry down the baby monitor, the focus is then put on the baby monitor, this is effective amongst the audience as it takes their focus off of the mum playing the piano and puts our attention on the baby crying, and as this is a horror film it suggests to the audience that the baby is not crying for no reason, it makes the audience believe that something or someone is doing something to the baby possibly hurting it, it also makes the audience think that something could happen to the mum as she goes upstairs to check on the baby.

The use of props has also been effective in this opening sequence. For example, when the mum sits down and she looks at the pictures of her past when she was younger, this creates effect amongst the audience as this creates a juxtaposing atmosphere which creates effect as the audience think that nothing is going to happen as the photos of the mum's past creates a happy atmosphere and puts the audience at ease whilst this scene is going on. Moreover before the mum sits down to look at her old photos of her past she puts some books on a bookshelf, which then later on in the opening sequence they are scattered on the floor, this is the first thing that we see which can be interoperated as paranormal, this is effective among the audience as it allows the audience to understand what type of horror film the film is also going to be, it also puts the audience on the edge of their seat as they expect more events like the books coming off the bookshelf  to happen and more regularly. Moreover there is a continuous use of low key lighting in the beginning scene when the mum comes down the stairs and when she was putting the books on the shelf, this creates a very gloomy and tense atmosphere which again makes the audience think that something may or may not happen to her.

The use of sound in this opening sequence is very effective in this opening sequence. In example there is a lot of dialogue that suggests different things, for example, when the mum is sitting down looking at the pictures with her son, she tells him that his dad was always very "poor" at keeping photos, this suggests to the audience that something may of happened when he was younger and creates mystery as it makes the audience question why there are no photos of the dad when he was younger. After this scene we see the mum on the phone and she is finding it very hard to talk to the other people down the line and repeatedly says "speak to an agent", this suggests to the audience that the reception is very poor and foreshadows that later on in the film there may come a point where someone will need to call someone in an emergency and the reception is really poor and no help would be recieved, this is effective because it creates a sense of isolation and makes the audience think that something dramatic or important is going to happen in the film. Later on in the opening sequence we see the mum is playing the piano, the effect of this is to draw the attention of the audience away from anything that might jump out at them, it makes the audience ease as the the piano has a very soothing and comforting sound to it. Moreover when the mum is singing whilst playing the piano she sings the lyrics "looking west", when she says this the only thing that is on the west side of her is a baby monitor, this foreshadows that something is going to happen to baby at some point, this is effective amongst the audience as it suggests to them what might happen later on in the scene and it creates a sense or horror and makes the audience fright at what just happened and what has happened to the baby.