Textual Analysis: Insidious

At the very start of Insidious, we first see the credits; they appear in a bright red, which has strong connotations to the genre of horror, as red represents blood and death. These red credits contrast hugely to the black background.  The font has a smokey effect too, giving the audience a suspicion of something ghostly and paranormal, as in horror films these phantoms are often represented as something that cannot take full form in our world, and therefore have a smokey appearance. The use of the colour red conveys the conventions of a horror film as the colour can represent blood, anger, danger and - in some cases - the devil; when against the black background this adds to the tense and dramatic atmosphere - making the audience anticipate the horror that they know is bound to come.

Music is used throughout, which gives off an eerie atmosphere, with a high-pitched sound that is a genre convention of horror films and it is frequently seen in horror films. The fact that a high- pitched sound is used, it creates a sense of intensity throughout the scene and signifies that something significant is going to happen, which hence puts the viewers on edge. This soundtrack is non-diegetic, as it is all music.

We then see the camera pan down, and we see a young boy asleep on a bed, his prolonged reveal makes him appear significant. The camera then pans around the room,  to reveal the location, we see what seems to be a child bedroom with child like items such as a teddy bear. Moreover, the room is poorly lit, the fact that the room is dark, emphasises the sense of fear and increases the sense of mystery, as we wonder what is hiding in this dark room. We then see the camera appearing to follow around the room in a POV style, we then follow into a room to see a candle flickering, which reveals a woman, she seems to be a monster or a ghost. This is seen a lot in horror films and is a common genre convention of horror films, with one of the characters being the innocent one, which in this case is the child, and the other being a murder or ghost, which in this case is the lady. Also, the fact the room is very dark, forces you to focus in on what you can see, which will give you a fright when you realise what it is. The screen then fades to black along as the music does; this puts the audience on edge as we are not sure what is happening. Suddenly, the title of the film appears, which again puts the audience on edge, as it is so unexpected.

Again, when we the black and white, and the contrast between it and how it links to the battle between good and evil, which is a common genre convention of horror films. With each actor or actress's name shown as is a different part of the house, this establishes the story of the film, as it shows boxes ready to be unpacked, as they appear to have just moved into a house, which links to the stereotype that most houses in horror films are haunted. Next, we see a birds eye view shot from the top of the staircase to the bottom floor, this could reveal that the monster has power within the house because these shots could appear from its perspective, and how, like an animal it sees in black and white. Tilts, pans and zooms are used throughout this sequence to reveal images of different parts of the house, theses tilts, pans and zooms give the opening  a transitional effect. As we progress through the opening, we begin to see supernatural things happening; chairs moving on their own, lights swaying, paintings falling down, which all adds to the idea that this house is haunted.