Insidious is a supernatural horror by James Wan. It features a very unusual plot as it is all based around the idea of a young boy who can Astral-project. I have decided to textually analyse the opening sequence as I wish to also make a supernatural horror, closely based on this sequence.
The film begins with a clear close up shot of a lamp with the directors name on, this is a very clever way of placing the credits within the scene, it makes the opening sequence flow well.
We are then faced with a zoom shot of a very scary looking old woman, this sets the genre straight away as we know this villain will be later seen within the film. It also keeps the audience on edge as they are not eased in to the film they are bombarded with horror within the first minute.
The music then suddenly reaches its climax with the title of the film flashing up and filling the whole screen. The title is written in old English lettering and is red, this displays the connotation of blood or danger. The old English lettering makes the title look very edgy and sharp, which could possibly symbolise some dangerous moments within the film again. The sharp edges of the lettering also look fairly similar to devil horns which could possibly hint at an evil force within the film.
A clear establishing shot then appears, displaying a very scary looking house. This sets the scene and makes it clear where the main plot will obviously take place. The camera has a black and white effect on throughout the opening sequence which could show the connotation of a possible darker force that will later be within the film.
The opening then goes on to display a sequence of long shots displaying different parts of the house, the house looks very nice but at the same time has a bad vibe off it, making it clear this is where the haunting will take place.
In this particular shot, a long shot of a room is used except this one features a dark shadow in the corner. The subtleness of this shadow almost makes it more tense as only someone who was really looking would notice, this could represent a possible darker force that is lurking in the shadows of the house, watching the people within.
Finally, the opening sequence ends with a close up of a young women’s face. The effect on the camera begins to brighten from the black and white to a normal effect. The change in effect could show that we are now in the real world and that the images before were possibly from the house but the haunted version of the house. The close up of the women’s face clearly communicates she will be the main protagonist within the film.
The editing used within in each shot is very tense as it uses a zoom out and fade to black between each image. This makes the audience almost build up anticipation as the slowness makes it all more the creepy as we feel as if we are waiting on something to happen.
The sequence begins with dissonant sound being played; this is very creepy and creates a lot of fear. The screeching noises used when the scary old woman appears adds to the initial horror the audience feel when seeing her and makes this shot all the more terrifying. Finally the pause just before the title sequences come up creates a bigger impact when the music then comes in again as it is now very loud and very clear, this makes the audience on edge and could potentially cause the audience to even jump. The narrative seems to start with a state of
equilibrium and then displays subtle hints of this being destroyed, this follows Todorovs theory as he states that most movies begin with this state, the state is then disrupted and the ending concludes with a resolution of the obstacle that disrupted the state of equilibrium. However, as a person who has watched the film I know this isn’t the case. The ending is a cliff hanger of the equilibrium again being disrupted; the director purposely does this so he can then make a sequel.
The characters within the opening sequence also seem to follow Propps character types, as we already know the film will feature a villain, therefore there will be a victim/hero. I also know that the film features a false hero, however this is not revealed to the end so an audience member who was only viewing the opening sequence would be unaware. The film also features a magical helper in a sense as the father is helped by a medium to find his son in the “The Further”.
The film also features an obvious binary opposition, this being good vs. evil. We see this clearly in the opening sequence when we see the haunted house and shadows lurking in comparison to the innocent family living there. This is clearly shown through the iconography on screen and the through the use of camera effects (dark colour vs. light).
From what I have gathered from the opening sequence it is clear our female protagonist will be an anti-stereotype as she obviously helps correct the disrupted state of equilibrium. Whereas stereotypically women are often seen as weak and are usually portrayed as a damsel in distress.The villains within this film are also anti-stereotypical as they all have a very unusual look. The stereotypical demon would be a ghost of some kind whereas this film varies from a lipstick faced demon with hoofs right down to an old midget who laughs like a child. All characters within are very unusual but this adds the fear factor that the film possess’.
Finally, the audience for this film is a mass audience as it was a very popular film and can appeal to a range of ages, it all depends on the audiences taste in genre. The target audience I gather would be 15+ as the age limit on the film was a 15. I would also say that this horror isn’t a typical horror as this particular film is based around the idea of astral-projection. This isn’t a typical plot of a supernatural horror as more than often the plot is that the house is haunted, whereas in this film it turns out the son is haunted as the entities wish to have his body and try gain entrance when his soul wanders in his dreams. The socio-economic group for this film I believe would be A right down to C2, I believe this as the film is quite complicated and would take a lot of thought to try work out some elements of what is really happening. Therefore I think people who were quite high in class would enjoy as they should in theory be very clever and would essentially be able to understand and piece together the story. The psychographics for this film I believe would be explorers and reformers. I believe this because the film is quite unusual so I think the audience would have to have quite an open mind to enjoy it. Explorers would be an ideal audience as one of their key values is to be individual, and this film is very individual. They are also typically young (students) and this is the ideal target audience as the age restriction is a 15. Also reformers would be an ideal audience as they are socially aware and possess independent judgement, therefore they would be open to believe in the weird plots within the film. They also have a higher education so they will be able to understand the idea of astral-projection which is a difficult idea to grasp if you have not been previously acquainted with the idea before watching the film.
Sinister is also a very supernatural and demonic film. It is one of the more disturbing horrors to be made and again has a very unusual plot as it is based upon a demonic legend.
Sinister begins with a very disturbing opening. It features a family hanging from a tree with no villain to appearing to be present. This shot straight away establishes the twisted nature of the film and throws the audience in the deep end from the very start.
The opening sequence ends with the title of the film “Sinister” being almost smeared across the screen. This could show the connotation of blood being smeared and most definitely hints at the idea of death to be highly apparent within the film.
The music accompanying this sequence is again very dissonant, it sounds like an old fashioned tape rolling, which links to the film as the main plot device is that the protagonist within the film finds a box of disturbing tapes.
There is no apparent editing within this sequence as it is just a continuous long shot of the family being hung. This creates a huge amount of tension and it keeps the audience focus on the family the whole time, the use of no editing is very effective as the long length of the disturbing clip is almost sickening. It’s somewhat too disturbing to watch but at the same time almost mesmerising to the point you can’t look away.
The narrative structure isn’t clear as the opening sequence only displays one shot but it is clear that it does not follow Todorovs narrative structure as the first scene we see is most definitely not a state of equilibrium. Although, as a person who has viewed the film I know that the film then goes on to show a family who are fairly happy moving in to a new house so in a sense it does follow Todorovs theory as the state of equilibrium is apparent in later scenes and is then disrupted later on. The opening scene is one in which we see later on, so by using it as the opening it almost gives the audience a taster of what there in for.
The film follows Propps character theory as it features a villain, hero/victim and a helper. The villain being the demon, the hero/victim being the dad and the helper being the police officer who helps the father solve the mystery of the tapes throughout.
The film also features a binary opposition, this again being good vs. evil. The good being the human and the evil being the child snatching demon. This is a key feature for any horror movie as in order for the film to qualify as a horror it has to include a victim and a villain who disrupts the victims life in some negative way.
There are no stereotypes featured in this opening as again it only displays one shot. However, I know that the representation further in to the film is very stereotypical as the hero is male, who are often seen as the stronger sex and the woman featured is very helpless throughout the film.
The audience type is most definitely a mass audience as the film was very popular, this is down to the fact that majority of people enjoy a good horror, especially one that features an unusual plot not often displayed. The target audience for the film is again 15+ and this is due to the age restriction being a 15. Although I personally feel this film could potentially be an 18 due to the very shocking nature of the content featured. The socio-economic group I believe would again be A down to C2 and this is due to the shocking nature and confusing content included, I believe it would take someone of quite a high intellect to again be able to piece together the plot. The reason I think the plot is quite complicated is because it is almost like a murder mystery in a sense as it is all based around the father trying to piece together a series of very brutal and disturbing murders.The psychographics of the film I again think would be strugglers and reformers for the same reason being that there both quite individual and possess their own independent judgement which I think is very much needed for this film as the nature of the film is that disturbing that some people may not be open to watch it. Also reformers possess high education which I think would be needed due to the plot again being very hard to piece together.
The possession is again a supernatural horror; it features a young girl who is possessed by an antique box.
The film begins with a close up shot of an old woman’s face, her facial expression looks extremely concerned and worried, this indicates the object she is looking at is very dangerous.
The object is then revealed to be a box; this is revealed through the use of a close up shot. The box is engraved with symbols of some sort; this suggests a supernatural force will later appear within the film. The dark lighting on the box also shows the connotation of a darker force, suggesting this box is of great evil.
The film then features a medium shot of the old woman wiping her eyes as if she’s expecting something bad to happen. This is also suggests that this negative event is due to the box as she’s now crying after watching it. The woman wiping her eyes also suggests she is almost preparing for death as she is standing at the window as if shes embracing the last time she will look out of it.
An extreme close up of the woman’s hand clasping hair is then displays. This suggests she is feeling so much stress that her hair is now literally falling out. This again could be down to the stress of the lady owning this strange box.
The woman then tries to break the box with a hammer but by some unknown means begins to chant a foreign language; this could possibly be her reading the scripture of the box. She then begins to have a stroke of some sort and her body begins to contort as if she is being possessed by a supernatural force, this obviously links to the name of the film “The Possession” and hints that this possession will later happen to another person, as this all happens within a matter of minutes and is therefore too short for a film.
Throughout this sequence the woman begins to play a tape, the lyrics of the tape being “You’re a heavenly thing” this links to the idea of death through the mentioning of the word “heaven” and hints at this woman’s death. Also it’s a binary opposition as the box is clearly and evil force and this is opposing to the positive music being played which speaks of heaven.
The narrative structure isn’t clear as I haven’t watched the whole film which is unfortunate although it doesn’t follow Todorovs narrative theory as a state of equilibrium isn’t apparent at the beginning. It straight away begins with a possession being displayed. I do believe the main story of the film will however follow this theory as the plot must begin with some form of peace as it then has to be compared to the disruption to later follow.
The character types follow Propps theory as there is an obvious villain, this being the supernatural force within the box, a victim; this being the young girl who gets possessed by the box and the hero being the hospital staff and her father who save the girl.
The editing used is a simple cross cut, this makes it obvious what the old woman’s fear is by showing her worried facial expression then displaying the box making it obvious the box is what she fears, this builds a massive amount of tension.
The film again features the binary opposition of Good vs. evil, the good being the human and the evil again being the supernatural within the film.
The demon in this opening goes against the stereotypes also as usually the villain would be very scary looking whereas in this particular film the demon is displayed as a box which is not usually seen as a scary object. Also the young girl within the film is an ant stereotype as she is portrayed as very strong and scary whereas most young girls are perceived as being very innocent and weak.
This film again has a mass audience as horrors appeal to majority of people, and it was featured in the cinema, although it was not as popular as Insidious and Sinister. The age rating is again 15 meaning its target audience would be 15+. Although for horrors it doesn’t depend on age it just depends on the interest of the audience, they have to like shocking content and have a strong stomach. The socio-economic group I believe would again be A down to C2 and this is due to the confusing content included, I believe it would take someone of quite a high intellect to again be able to piece together the plot. The reason I think this is because the plot features ancient spirits and would take someone who was interested in this particular subject to be able to understand it without having to fully concentrate.The psychographics of the film I again think would be strugglers and reformers for the same reason being that there both quite individual and possess their own independent judgement which I think is needed for this film as the nature of the film is again quite difficult to fully understand and would require an open mind and quite a lot of thought to figure out and accept what is being shown. Also reformers possess high education which I think would be needed due to the plot again being hard to understand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1e1feo4DUk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf1S81eEqNQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gBeG31fX40
