Insidious Opening Scene Analysis

Insidious Opening Scene Analysis (Horror)

A panning shot is used at the beginning of the opening scene of Insidious as it helps establish to the audience the primary setting of the film; which in this case is a family house, which can help the audience relate this films to others across the horror franchise. The panning shot starts of in a child's bedroom which helps contrast the tense and dark atmosphere by showing the audience innocence through the use of the boy and this helps the audience become directly immersed in the movie. As the camera continues around the supposed setting of the movie, it helps the audience relate this speck of innocence to the dark and gloomy surroundings helping to emphasize the difference between good and evil in the film. The camera then directly zooms into and follows a shadow of an entity until giving the audience a brief look at a ghostly figure; which the audience may feel as that this character is the primary antagonist in the film due to the darkness immersing the entity and the ghostly white face only illuminated by the candle the creature possesses. This helps the audience further differentiate the evil within the house to the possible victim shown allowing the audience to sympathize and relate to the child shown previously. It then cuts to a gradual title sequence in which many different still shots of different aspects of the house are shown in which it helps expand the individual setting from just the two rooms shown before to the whole house as the primary setting for the audience. This will help the movie connect more to the audience as it gives them a more personal viewpoint as they may relate the aspects of the house on screen to their own houses.

During the opening scene of Insidious, non-diegetic sound is used extensively to help add effect to help set the mood and atmosphere of the scene, this is integral  to the effect of the film as sound is very important to have in a horror film. Non-diegetic music is used to reflect the narrative of the events unfolding on screen and helps add structure to the title sequence and opening scene as it creates a tense atmosphere around the high pitched and slow sounds. The music is high pitched and gradual and eases the audience into the tense atmosphere often generated by horror films, it helps contrast the dark imagery of the house and allows the audience to easily get immersed in the situation. The music gradually gets louder to help add emphasis on the different scenes getting presented during the title sequence and the many objects and shadows which move to help keep the paranormal feeling about the film.

Some of the main characters were introduced during the opening scene, but the audience are introduced separately to help add emphasis on the individuality of the characters and their own aspects of their personality. The boy is introduced at the very start of the scene; in the scene he is asleep which helps shows his innocence and inability to stop what may happen during the film. This shows to the audience that the child is one of the main characters as directly after the audience is introduced to him, they are also shown the primary antagonist of the film in which they can identify due to the close up camera angle on the beings face and the darkness surrounding the character like a cloak against the light and innocence. Towards the very end of the opening scene you get a glimpse of what the audience suppose is the primary protagonist as quite often in horror films the protagonist can be female as they attempt to protect those held dear to her. As this is often used in horror films, it helps the audience relate the film to other horror films with a female protagonist in the familiar genre.

The audience can see that the protagonists are wearing some sorts of pajamas during the opening scene which may infer to the audience that the majority of events which are due to happen in the film may occur at night; as this is often a theme associated with horror films. The shadowy figure is wearing some sort of black wedding dress which helps it blend into the darkness which helps emphasize to the audience that this being is hidden during the film. This is typical of the genre as they often shroud the malevolent being in darkness to help create the necessary and required atmosphere of a horror film as quite often or not the audience watching enjoys some sort of adrenaline rush or jump scare and so a darker being is more practical in providing those requirements.

After the opening scene the audience is left wondering what significance the evil being has on the family shown, as the child and the ghost are shown in many ways to contrast one another. Questions are left unanswered on what the significance of the antagonist is to this specific family and how it will affect them in the rest of the film. The audience would therefore want to know what will happen to the characters if the ghost gets involved; which as they would infer from other horror films that the ghost usually targets the more vulnerable characters such as the mum and child in this instance.

Noticeable cliches are used in the opening scene of Insidious such as the familiar setting of a family house in a horror film, or the use of some sort of paranormal being acting as the antagonist; these two aspects are often associated with a horror film and this familiarity amongst other horror films helps engage the audience to the events in the film and relate them to other movies from the horror genre.