Horror

Insidious:

The title is shown at the very beginning of the trailer and is the traditional white writing on a black background. By the title being shown at the beginning is effective as people know what the film is called before they watch the trailer and may be able to infer what it is about by the name. However, it is repeated throughout the trailer in the same style and again at the end, this is so people do not forget the name. The non-diegetic sound is sharp and ominous, straight away this creates tension and tells the audience that it is a horror. We get a close up of somebody saying to a man “are you ready?” The man looks frightened adding to the enigmas, ready for what? Why is he so scared? The audience are intrigued to carry on watching already. This shot is shown it quite dimmed lighting to give of that eerie atmosphere, we see a piano behind him, 2 old fashioned lights and 2 photographs. This is successful as pianos regularly feature in a horror movie. For example when they start to play with nobody touching them or they get picked up by the air and thrown around. A close up of a device starts to tick, the audience start to feel the anticipation as the diegetic sound of the ticking makes us feel like we are waiting for something to happen. In the background everything is blurry however, we can still see the flames of the fire which adds light to the shot but also can connote danger.

We cut to the titles which say “from the makers of paranormal activity and Saw”. This is efficacious when aiming towards the target audience who have previously enjoyed these horrors as it is something new and up to date therefore, they will assume it will be successful like the other movies increasing the popularity. When we are shown a close up of the man shutting his eyes we see fast paced shots of his life, we still have that eerie atmosphere due to complete silence apart from that ticking noise that gradually gets louder. We are shown shots of him happy with his family, this is so the audience can feel sympathy towards this character when things go wrong as he has most prevalence suggesting he is a main character in the film. As the baby laughs, which is actually quite creepy in horror movies we see the little boy who is climbing in the attic break the ladder and fall. The audience would be curious to why he was trying to climb the attic at night alone. The attic is a code and convention for horror movies as it is a typical haunted movie set in a house with a creepy attic.

We get a close up of the mum and dad looking through the hospital glass window at their son in a coma, they look worried and stressed. As the mother stares to the floor she says “they don’t know what to call it” From this the audience can imply that the boy is going to be the haunted, possessed young kid. This is effective as he is extremely vulnerable therefore the audience would want the boy to be protected and will be on the parent’s side to try and save him. We get a medium shot of the mother walking in towards a room and behind the door we see a rocking horse slowly moving, we hear the diegetic sound of it squeaking which again is very ominous and the audience feel very tense and frightened by the presence we now know that is in this house. We get a medium shot of the boy staring out of his room towards the camera and closing his door which leads to a close up of a window with old fashioned curtains, we see a shadow approach the window; the audience may feel like it is staring straight at them. As the baby monitor goes off the worried mother picks it up and starts to walk towards the bedroom. Suddenly we hear a scream, she drops the baby monitor and we getting a panning shot of her racing up the stairs, the audience would feel worried for the baby. As she quickly opens the door we see the baby crying but everything is fine…for now.

Then we get a panning shot leading to the boys bedroom, this creates tension and suspense as the voiceover says “there’s something in there with him” as the door widens, the tension starts to increase. We can see the young innocent boy sleeping then in the corner of the room we see this dark figured creature just standing there. Suddenly, the music becomes more paced which is effective as the audience starts to feel the adrenaline and that thrill of fear wanting to find out more. We get a close up shot of the man staring at his reflection, however, in his reflection we see a faint old lady who looks like ghost with blood dripping from her eyes. The editing becomes extremely fast until we get a close up of the man staring blankly with the devil behind him, the devil screams in his ear then we fade to black, leaving that dramatic touch. The music becomes quieter and slower as we get a medium shot of a narrow hallway with low key lighting with a clock at the end where the light is. The camera zooms closer and closer towards the clock, building suspense for the audience. We hear the diegetic sound of the ticking noise and the voiceover saying “it’s not the house that is haunted, it’s your son” The voiceover is successful in the trailer as it implies there that is an actual story line to this movie which will make it a lot more interesting to watch. We get a close up of the woman while she says “it’s your son” making it more dramatic. Suddenly, fast paced editing shots carry on where we see nostalgic shots of creepy young girls as ghosts, hand stains of blood, screams and abnormal faces.