Hassan Shahid

Media Studies

Analysis of an opening sequence: Insidious

Insidious is an American horror film which was released in

2011, the film was written by Leigh Whannel and directed by
James Wan, the film features Patrick Wilson, Rose Bryne, Lin
Shave, and Barbara Hershey. The story is about a couples son
who falls into a coma and strange things happen to him and a
ghost is present running around the boy. The location is set
in a home.
Plot: Rose Bryne and Patrick Wilson play the characters of the
couple called Renai and Josh Lambert and recently they have
moved into a new house with their three children. Renai the
mother looks through an old family album with her son Dalton,
he starts asking questions about Josh, Renai the mum says he
was always camera shy however Dalton hears a noise in the
attic and goes up to take a look at what is going on, he does
see something which scares him, and he falls down the attic
ladder which breaks causing him to go into
an inexplicable coma.
Lighting/Sound: In the beginning the colours seem quite bright
and neutral as the family have just moved into a new house but
then as they get settled in to the new house everything starts
to change such as Dalton hearing noises from attic from that
point the colour and the music change so we know that
something is going to happen because the colour is now a dark
and dull colour which will indicate that something bad or
horrific is going to occur. The colour in the film is mainly
dark which is showing the atmosphere of something bad going to
happen. The sounds being used are both diegetic and nondiegetic towards the start and the end
Camera shots: In the film many camera angle shots are used
such as a number of close ups were used which were very
effective because it creates tension and makes the audience
question on what is going to happen next and to be scared of
it maybe knowing what will happen a good example to use is in
the film is a women is standing up and the man is getting
closer to the women while she is standing up as the man is
still trying to get closer a light shines in the womens face
this is an effective shot as the audience will get a sense of
feeling that something is going to happen to the women.
Another good close up is when the women is holding a gun and

Hassan Shahid
Media Studies

we then get a close up of the mans face, he looks back at the

women but she isnt there anymore this creates suspense to the
audience wondering where she has gone and what is going to
happen next.

Costume: In the film the costumes are shown as dull and their
faces are shown as pale this is relating to horror as the room
has grey effect which hints out suspense and makes the
audience stare on the edge of their seat because something is
going to happen by making them scream or jump. The lighting
reflects their clothes as the scenes are mainly dark by being
grey and faded which is unpredictable for the audience not to
know what is going to happen.
Props: The props used in the film are mainly all mainly in the
home such as a bed, rocking horse, baby monitor, cupboard,
ladder and other home ware items, in one particular scene
which is in the attic where the young boy is climbing a ladder
to get to another section of the attic in the attic are many
props being shown such as an old dolls house and a boxes all
the items being shown in the film are more or less related to
the young children in the household an example of this would
be the rocking horse, cot and baby monitor relating to the
little girl.
Characters: In the opening scene we saw a happy family moving
in to their new home consisting of a nuclear family, the
father is shown sitting on a chair relaxed which shows that he
is a calm person I would say his age would late 30s, and the
son who gets into a coma character is more or less stubborn in
my opinion he must have been told not to go into the attic and
he ignores this and carries on this will make the audience
wonder at what the young boys intentions are, the mum in the
film is a women who is aware of everything that goes in the
house an example would be the horse rocking back and forth
which he stops immediately as she thinks something was going
to happen this allows the audience to get
a good picture of how she acts in the film
and why she is a curious person.

The picture shows

more or less posse
you can tell this
which shows his pu
dilated, and the i
eye is pure white.
background is givi

Hassan Shahid
Media Studies