James WanJames Wan was born on the 27th of February 1977 and is an Australian film director, producer and screen

writer. He has directed and produced many well known and generally quite successful movies. He is most known

for his work in the horror genre as many of the films he’s worked on are

horror based. These include the Insidious series, The Conjuring, the

original Saw and Dead Silence. Although recently he has also directed

the 7th instalment of the fast and furious franchise.

Filmography

Overall he is quite a modern director with many different and new ideas which link very well to the

conventions of the horror genre. Examples of his work include the iconic Clown Puppet known as “Jigsaw” from the Saw Franchise, “Billy” the puppet in Dead Silence, and the well known “Annabelle” Doll in the Conjuring. All these uses of puppets and dolls are examples of James Wan’s idea of using somewhat

inanimate objects and putting a twist on them making and giving them a deadly and generally quite scary feel, very much like the “Chucky Doll” that was used in the 1988 movie Childs Play. This is a rather unique turn compared to the typical use of scary monsters or masked serial killers that old horror films tend to use.

Altogether the use of these dolls are what makes much of his movies very memorable as they are very

unique in their style and really evoke certain fears and ideas that weren’t as explored yet.

Puppets and Dolls

Across all his movies James Wan uses a whole range of techniques and styles to really engage the audience into the film they’re watching. Specially in his horror films he

uses a wide range of camera shots and cuts to really grab the audience and immerse them into the movie. Examples of this are the constant close ups on character’s faces to really get and see the emotion of the character at that

current moment. This really gets the audience to in many way empathise with the character, making them feel their

fright and fear. Also the use of rapid sequencing in many of his films as tension builds up within the narrative really

makes the audience feel on edge.

Specifically in “The Conjuring” James really liked the idea of having a horror movie be based on a true story with real

life events that happened to people that are still around today. This is why during the Conjuring he set out to make

it as scary but also as realistic as possible so he worked alongside Lorraine Warren, a supernatural investigator and the person who the film is based on. This really helped him recreate the events of her story but also add the intensity and conventions that the horror genre is known for. This

ultimately making a generally scary film and did very well in the box office in 2013.

Techniques and Style

Interviews• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KI8RI0V_B0

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juiJLPbnETg

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXgcdxcIkKs