Insidious Trailer Analysis

At the start of this trailer we see the title - Insidious - for the first time. The sound effect used as the title appears sounds like bones cracking/clicking which immediately sets the audience on edge as its uncomfortable to listen to. The first piece of dialect we here is "Are you ready?". This is effective as its almost asking the audience directly if they 'are ready' for what they are about to watch which increases the tension as we almost begin to 'prepare' ourselves but also adds a sense of interaction between the audience and the characters on screen. The ticking noise from the metronome plus the sounds, of which i feel, sound like male, heavy breathing again create a sense of uneasiness as the two sounds put together sound very creepy. The slow pace of the trailer so far doesn't create a sense of panic yet which is an effective horror trailer convention as a slow pacing usually leads to fast montages which allows for the audience to be settled and the suddenly panicked. Here is where we read 'From the makers of Paranormal Activity and Saw'  - this is an effective way to widen an audience because those people that particularly liked the two mention films will be much more likely to then go and watch Insidious due to previously enjoying the producers work. The metronome continues to play as we see shots of the happy 'nuclear' family - this gives the audience a sense of background and context before immediately showing us a medium shot of the little boy in a hospital bed - illuminating the idea in the audiences head that anything can go from perfect to terrible in such a short space of time. The sound of the wood from the ladder breaking is enhanced which makes the audience focus on whats happening. From here on the shots become slower paced which almost creates a sense of anxiety as the audience is waiting for something to happen. The beat of the metronome soon sync's with the sound of a rocking horse (with nobody rocking on it) and then both of which instantly stops as the lady - the main protagonist - stops the horse from rocking. The tracking shot of the lady walking into the bedroom and stopping the horse goes on for quite long time - we even get to see the lady's facial expression in a low angled medium shot to connote inferiority - all to build suspense before a loud 'booming' sound begins as the title - on a blood red background, connoting murder, sin and evil - appears. The next combination of shots are all slowly paced to enhance the build of suspension and also, to coincide with the unhurried shots, there is a gloomy, increasing music that begins straight after the inter title. The shots all stay at a slow, eerie pace until we hear the dialect - "..there was something in there with him". There is a fast montage of shots used with louder music to panic the audience. From here on the shots increase in speed creating excitement and action for the audience but mostly panic and thrill. The music too increases in both speed and volume enhancing the effect of the quick montage.  Lastly the music stops and so does the fast montage. The audience then sees a very dark and dingy hall way to which there is no music to go with it - instead we hear dialogue from the old lady in a slow calm voice. This is incredibly effective, not only because its creepiness and sense of isolation and loneliness but also because it sets the audience up for a series of jump scares instantly afterwards which are illuminated with fast, scratchy and 'bass-y' music. This trailer uses the usual convention for horror trailers of 'slow-quick-slow-jump scare' in terms of shot speed to boost the suspension and terror from the audience.