Insideous Opening Title Sequence Deconstruction

The clip begins on a black screen with the production company names slowly fading in and out.  The typography stays constant throughout the opening titles and is very conventional for a supernatural horror.

 The font is a bold, blood red but is also shadowy, as though a flickering light is being shone from the front.  The flickering in and out of the shadows is low lighting and seems like candle light which is commonly used to create a creepy atmosphere.  The lettering is in a gothic font with sharp flicks on the ends on the letters.  This, along with the colouring, reminds the audience of something demonic and dangerous.  The gothicness of the typography is made even more obvious by the slightly worn out look of the letters, the sections of black creates an even scarier
look for the film.

 

The title sequence continues with an off-white orb hanging on a balck screen.  This turns out to be a light on a ceiling but at this point it reminds the audience of the moon in the night sky.  A full moon symbolises witchcraft and are commonly used in supernatural horro to set the scene as creepy and mysterious.

The camera then spins around and transforms the orb into an everyday normal light.  This could be to symbolise how everyday mundane objects can be involved in some kind of supernatural elements.  The audience then see a young boy sleeping in his bed.  This boy conveys innocene as his bedcovers are childlike.  This creates a sharp contrast to the shadowy room and creepy low lighting.  The moonlight is coming in from the window and partially lighting the room.  The use of low lighting creates a creepy and sinister atmosphere.

A panning shot is then used to show the audience a seemingly normal family home at night time. The lowlighting and shadows play on the fear of the unknown so sets the audience on edge.  Eventually you reach a single lit candle.  As the camera zooms in you begin to see a partially lighted face.  Scary makeup and costume has created a monster doll type being light from below the face.  This a a huge convention in supernatural horror for the antagonist to be lit from below to cast creepy shadows over the face.            

After the Incidious title has gone, the remainder of the opening sequence is filled with transition shots of the family home.  The shots are edited to look like a charcoal drawing in black and white.  This increases the creepy and mysterious atmosphere around the house as the colours are very eerie.  The same typography is used throughtout which creates a harsh contrast between the plain white and black to the blood red.  The lettering disapears in puffs of green hued smoke which decreases the reality of the clip.  You cannot touch smoke so it goes with the idea of ghosts and how they cannot be physically caught.  The family photo also conveys a sense of normality.  But as familys are commonly used in horror films, the audience know they are not safe and the children are usually a target.

Non-diegetic sound is used throughout the opening sequence. High-pitched string instruments are usd in particular to build the tension and put the audience on edge.  It sounds almost like something screaming which is in parallel to the supernatural horror genre.  The sound all builds up to the Insideous main title which appears in correspondance with the loudest section of the music.  The basss line of the music builds up with the tension so the title makes the biggest impact it can possibly make. When the title appears the string instruments get even louder and more frantic. almost like an ants nest when disturbed.