The trailer for ‘Insidious’, follows the narrative structure put forward by Todorov:

Begins with an equilibrium, in that it introduces the audience to a happy looking family with a new baby living what looks to be ‘The American Dream’ in a new home.

The disequilibrium occurs when its seems that something supernatural appears to be in the

house and disturbing the son.

The new equilibrium occurs after the family are informed that it is the son that is haunted rather than the house.

ICONOGRAPHY:

SETTING – New home, becomes dark and too big to manage the strange situations. Use of running up and down stairs and room to room to add suspense.

PROPS – Household items, ladder, baby monitor and rocking horse may make the film even eerier as these are items typical of any family household so it could be anyone in this situation.

Male protagonist – Victim / hero

CHARACTERS:

Child – Victim

Demon– Villain

Medium – Donor

Supernatural technician– Helper

Propp’s character theory is also shown in the trailer in a few ways:

The Insidious trailer creates a very tense and frightening

atmosphere with the use of sound, editing and camera angles

and shots…

SOUND:• Whispering and then yell through the baby monitor, making it obvious that

the child isn't alone.

• Moments of fuzzy non diegetic sound in the title show interruption? Like something supernatural is interfering.

• Eerie non-diagetic music adds to tension.

• Enhanced diagetic sound of the rocking horse creaking makes it that much more creepy.

• Dramatic pauses add to suspense.

• Constant ticking, pulsating noise throughout the trailer, resembling that of a clock makes it seem as though its all leading up to something or time is running out.

EDITING:• There are a fair few jump cuts throughout the

trailer as well as a few quick fades to make the trailer continuous. In the later parts of the trailer the pace speeds up. It creates an almost irritating effect for the audience as they are unsure of what is going on therefore creates edge and suspense.

CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOTS:• The are a big number of different camera angles some of

which are canned which creates an alarming atmosphere for the audience.

• There is an establishing shot of the house near the beginning followed by snapshot of the family, mostly mid or long shots.

• There are a few shots such as over the shoulder or extreme close ups that puts the audience in the shoes of the characters so they can really get a feel of the situation and the fear that the characters are feeling.