The film of Insidious (2010) is one of the Horror/Thriller Genre. The film was Directed by James Wan and produced by Alliance Films. The Film features a large range of Actors such as Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne.
The opening scenes to Insidious takes us through what seems like a mansion at night. The camera movements and viewpoints allow for the audience to feel like they are involved within the film as the camera is traveling through a dark gloomy house. This links to Bulmler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory as the audience, throughout choosing to watch this film, are looking for an escape. The use of the opening scene allows for this escapism. Furthermore, the opening scene features eerie music and sound effects when traveling through the house. The loud noises such as the violent violin sounds and the base drums add to the atmosphere and create an ominous environmental atmosphere for the viewers.
The editing of this film opening is very slow which adds to the ominous atmosphere that was given with the different camera angles, mise-en-scene etc. In the very first seconds of the film we see who the film was directed by. It is presented to the audience in the form of a logo which looked like a spotlight. As the seconds progressed, the spotlight turned into a ceiling light hanging from a child's bedroom - This is when the film began. The use of this transition was to allow for the audience to be slowly guided into the film and for there not to be any harsh cuts within the film's opening. This allowed for the audience to become enticed to continue watching. When the title screen of "Insidious" pops onto screen the editing changes to a fast pace. This was to make the audience jump and then become uneasy through the rest of the film - anticipating another jumpscare. There were many uses of the fading editing technique when presenting the establishing shots. The use of these fades gave the scenes a soft look. The opening scene transitions from the title credit into a smoothly edited array of images that are combined using the fade transition. This may be foreshadowing the future locations of the film. The use of this scene entices the audience to continue watching as they will wonder what will happen or the importance of the locations presented.
Throughout the entire opening scene of Insidious, there is a heavy usage of non-digetic sounds but no use of diegetic sounds. By using only non-diegetic sounds, the developers can create an atmosphere before telling the story. The opening scene is accompanied by an ominous sound track which included the use of violins. When combining this with the camerawork described before, the audience automatically get presented with an eerie atmosphere. Furthermore, the fact that the music is presented to the audience in a calm and slow manor, could make the audience uneasy. As the scene progresses the music gets more violent and loud but quickly dilates as a demonic face is shown. This builds up tension within viewers. As the title screen pops up into frame, the music very quickly starts to play again which, when combined with the fast paced editing of the visuals, creates a jumpscare for the viewers. the final shots of the open in scene are again, greeted with calm and soft eerie music which again, create another atmosphere after the previous one was just broken by the jumpscare.
The mise-en-scene within the opening scenes of Insidious is set very successfully with the use of a collage of shots of locations, the use of props, colours and lighting and finally characters.
The setting within the opening scene is that of a house. The house seems to be modern as there are shots of electronic lamps however there are also scenes showing old-fashioned decorations. This is evident from the use use of the collage of location shots as within the shots, props such as grandfather clocks can be seen. These clock are not commonly found in modern homes. From this we can connote that the house itself is old-fashioned but the film is set in a modern time.
The use of colour and lighting is very key to the atmosphere within the opening scenes of Insidious. The very beginning shots of the scene are in colour but the lighting is extremely low-key. From this the audience can only see a very small portion of the scene. The colour is very minimal which may connote that the film is not positive or jolly and the colours that are used, such as red within the text, do not connote happy emotions. The lighting is low-key throughout the entire opening scene which connotes the idea of the unknown. The use of the low lighting creates a negative atmosphere on the audience. The lighting is perfect for it's genre of a horror.
The props and characters also add to the eerie and ominous atmosphere. The two clear characters presented are a young, vanunerable boy who is sleeping and a demonic creature lurking in the hallways of the same house that the venerable child is sleeping in. The combination of the paranormal character and the normal, domestic child create a tense atmosphere itself as the audience would wonder what might happen to the child. Also knowing that the film is horror adds to the intensity. The range of props that are used, like the grandfather clock mentioned before, also create a dark atmosphere. Other props such as the children's toys also make the audience feel discomfort when watching the film.
The title credits address the audience directly by using well known directors, producers and actors. This may break the verisimilitude of the film but does entice the audience to continue watching as they may recognise or be fans of some of these producers and director's work.
I believe that the purpose of the opening scenes are to both establish the miss-en-scene and to also create an enigma within the story. This links to Barthe's Enigma Theory. The use of the first shots, that shows a mysterious demonic figure, create mystery within the story and also leave the audience asking questions such as: Who is it? Why is it there? How did it get there? etc etc. All which are to be answered if the audience keep watching. The use of this mystery then entices the audience to continue watching to find out about the figure.
After watching this opening scene of Insidious, we have been inspired to include a lot of aspects into our own opening scenes. For example; we feel that the use of low-key lighting is a successful aspect to any horror film and by watching this opening scene we know that this is true. We have been inspired to use certain shots that create tension such as the invisible cuts and also the panning shots. This opening scene doesn't include dialogue and therefore, we will consider this when filming our own opening scene. Finally, the lack of colour and lighting also create a successful ominous atmosphere and we will also consider this when setting the scene of our opening scene.
