Summer contempory film Analysis

Contemporary film Analysis:

insidious was relied in 2010 directed by James Wan and the makers so famous films of the horror genre like Saw and Paranormal Activity. I have chosen this film because it was one of the first horror films i watched and actually enjoyed, i think that it combines ghosts, religion, American dreams and paranormal monsters with the traditional connotations of older horror films this supernatural horror because so popular a sequil was made the next year released in 2013 Insidious: Chapter two made the insidious sequels one of the most popular modern horror films, i think that this is because it is unique setting itself apart from other films what can become quite repetitive, it came when their wasn’t very many new horror films out so it stood apart in the maze of Halloween horror films.

The film follows the typical conventions of a paranormal film, it uses stereotypes and imagery we expect to see in a horror film, the film is about following a stereotypical conservative American young family as they move into a new house, and things quickly start going wrong as their oldest son becomes comatose.

Equilibrium is shown at the beginning of the film through wide shots and establishing shots of the suburban neighbourhood, its uses lots of stereotypes of family life, the farther of the family is hardly seen, he isn’t very good with the kids, and is constantly at work, whereas the mother is shown as a stereotypical house wife, cooking, cleaning and never leaving the house this sets audiences for the disequilibrium, in horror films we expect it, its just a matter of waiting for the recognition from the other characters to find out what evil is happening, insidious uses one massive and sudden disruption (son going into a comer) breaks up the equilibrium of a perfect family life, everything is shown as falling apart as the family values do. Because of the stereotypical representations it takes a wile for the main heroine to get the attention or enough power over the male characters to move house and do something about the paranormal activity, after the recognition of the disruption from the sceptical husband the story begins to even out as their son comes out of the comer, but as a new equilibrium is created there is still a sense of danger as the narrative becomes more complicated because the rock of the family the strong one starts a hole new disequilibrium by wakening his childhood demon and killing someone, finishing the film with a cliff-hanger keeps audiences waiting to find out what happens next and leads onto the sequel chapter two film, the next year.

The female being week is used in this film as a normal American family, the male gaze theory is used a lot to show how much danger the family is because the house wife, the one person who protects and looks after the whole house hold has no power, high angled panning and tracking shots are used to show this, i also give the audience a sense that the villain in the film is male, this technique us also use like in the Godzilla film to create suspense and tension in the audience as you can’t see who is causing all of the disequilibrium, i think that this mysterious gave the films a chance to create some great monsters, using the fears of Demons, clowns, dolls, and possessed children.

The main character is  the mother of the family but as the film unravels we soon realise she has no power over her husband, and that when he was little he was possessed  the same way was his son is, the boy is represented as an innocent little boy, he is really in the main storyline but is represented as the unfair result of the evil in the house, his innocence and helplessness has been used to make the villains more scary because you are rooting for the boy to live, fade to black shot transitions are used to show what he’s is seeing  emphasising the darkness’ in the panic of the family home creates a scary contrast, where Jump scares can be used to scare the audience more. But even though he is hardly featured in the film he is the result of the horror, as we watch the family try to find out what happens to him and come to terms with it, this keeps us hooked on the film. I like this film because when doing this research, i got fed up of gore and blood, this film decided to hunt the audience instead of spraying it in blood

Short depth of field and the use of drained colours are used to create a eerie setting for the film and the use of paranormal children makes the film more scary than having a adult because the boy is shown as having a life in front of him, he is innocent so the audience root for him we want him to survive.

The score in this film is very important as it is relied on a lot for the scares because of its low budget. The non-diegetic orchestral music, was composed by the man who played the devil in the film, he composed the music all spontailiously after the film was edited together, i like that they have done this because i think it gives another layer to the film, because the composer is making the music as an outsider so he can add another style to the camera work, it isn’t planed but improvised and structured during editing this is done in the same style old techniques where they played the live music over the film in the cinema, i like this style because the sounds and instruments aren’t perfect, the asynchronous sound is scratchy and sudden creating tension that puts audiences on edge, but in contrast silence is used just as importantly to create the idea of ‘what just happened there?’  because the noises are unexplained.

Traditional techniques we expect to see in horror films are used like old dark imagery and hospitals aren’t seen every day, jump cuts back and fourth from these sets to the house creates a disequilibrium, hand held cameras are used a lot to show the panic of the scene, in addition point of view shots, wide and long shots are used a lot to show the point of view of the monster looking down at the family, high angled tracking shots from the celling give you the incite of the villain hunting down the innocent family without them knowing, the audiences knowing more than the characters create lots of suspense.