Insidious (2011) Trailer Analysis

Insidious begins with one character whispering “are you ready” to another characters. Even though the opening line is directed towards a character, the power of the line addresses the audience too. The start of the tension building begins with a music timer ticking slowly with a mid-shot of a man breathing heavily. The screen shot from the trailer displays cold and dull colours to generate a certain feeling for the audience. For example, when I watched this trailer it gave me a cold feeling due to the gloominess of the set. The trailer demonstrates very plain and dark colours to fit the conventions of a horror film and also portray sad, scared and worried feelings. 

Horror films are usually set in an abandoned or isolated location with perhaps a hidden meaning behind the particular location. Using these stereotypical location ideas in a horror film gives the audience a sense of loneliness and builds tension. Insidious does not follow all the conventions of a stereotypical horror film, instead of a barren home in the woods, they decided to use a normal family home in America. Using a normal family home in a town in America adds to the realism to the film. Also, by using a family home, it gives the audience the idea that this could well be their situation and makes them wonder and think more into the film. 

These long shots are made to look as if they are from a characters point of view. This technique showing an empty room create a tense feel and you as an audience expect something to appear or happen. It also expresses fear and involves the audience. During these panning shots, no non diagetic music plays, it is silent, which again creates tension, except from the sound of the rocking horse swinging rapidly. Once the character stops the rocking horse, there is a short silence and shortly after spin chilling sounds commonly used in horror films starts. This technique is used as a shock factor. 

The trailer continues to shock and scare the audience. This long shot of a dark room shows a shadow/silhouette of a man standing in front of a window. Once this image becomes clear, atmospheric music begins with a fast pace to scare the audience and form uneasy feelings. A long shot of a woman in a hall way keeps the audience of edge wondering if something will appear. Instead, a quick change in shots demonstrates a close up of a baby monitor, which again builds tension and worry of knowing something will shock the audience. Faint whispers appear from the baby monitor and then a loud shout. The height of frightening emotion works in comparison to the fast paced cutting from one shot to another to express how the character feels.

In horror trailers, certain techniques are used to frighten/fabricate anxiety the audience. For example, Insidious use an effect, which has been used before, which there is no sound, no music but only a character talking. They then say maybe a line or two which is vital to the film and distinctive music plays. In this trailers case, the ticking of the music timer is non diagetic and faint and only that is heard for a while. Then one of the characters says “It’s not the house that is haunted” and a pause follows, which seems like a long time due to the tension created. After the pause, the non diagetic sounds stop and she then says “it’s your son”.

Quickly after the character has finished talking, the fast paced atmospheric music begins again which creates a spin chilling feeling. Also varies shots are rapidly shown to add to the effect. Some shots include a close up of a child’s foot on the bed with a bloody hand print next to it, a long shot of a hallway with two girls standing dressed in white and a bird’s eye view shot of people performing a séance.