Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Opening Sequence Analysis - Part 1 - Insidious (2011)

The film poster

Insidious - 2011

Insidious is a horror film and was released on April 1st 2011 and is about a normal middle-class American family who have moved house but soon find out that their son Dalton is possessed by the devil. 

Click HERE to see the opening sequence to Insidious.


The opening sequence for this film lasts 3 minutes and 51 seconds which is an adequate amount of time for the audience to work out what the film is about and to get to know the setting but not so much the characters in this case.

The opening sequence does really well to establish genre through many devices. These include the typography of the titles being in a gothic style as well as being coloured red to signify blood, violence and horror. In addition to this, the non-diegetic sound in the form of background music provides an eerie feeling and thriller like atmosphere. Next, only two characters of the many characters are shown in the opening sequence to possibly to keep it simple yet effective but also to emphasise the scare and horror factor involved. The first of the two characters shown is the haunted child 'Dalton Lambert',  played by Ty Simpkins and also the rather scary elderly woman with dark make up holding a candle to make out the bold and obvious lines of her face. This really does create a scary atmosphere and keeps the viewer wanting to watch on.

I would say that the age range for this film is people aged 16 or over because it is of a horrific nature which may clearly me traumatic or too much for somebody younger than sixteen to handle. None the less, the opening is very exciting and keeps the audience filled with anticipation.

Mise-en-scene incorporates many factors such as lighting, props, make up, costumes and setting. The director has evidently done a really good job on this as he has made all of these factors come across in a horror and scary like manner which fulfils the objective of the opening sequence for this film. Firstly, the lighting in the opening sequence gives the audience a feel of fright as it is mainly black and white to emphasise the characters, setting and the resemblance to homes in general. Secondly, the setting is in a large family home and the opening titles are a set of photos of scary sections of the house which have been rotated to look creepy and frightening. For example:
This screenshot highlights the black and white effect and the lighting on an old grandfather clock which can be perceived to be a typical scene within a scary film. However, this scene works very well with this film as later in the film, it is used a multitude of times to refresh the audiences minds as to where that scene had been seen before.














The editing is very impressive. The pace does gradually increase as the music gets louder and faster. The camera work in the form of turning and direction gets quicker as the music gets faster and more intense.




This screenshot shows the lighting using simple objects such as a candle to show one of the characters in a frightening situation.















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