Editing Deconstruction - Insidious

I decided to look at Insidious and deconstruct it with regards to editing. After watching the opening scene, the techniques which are used throughout are very similar. The main trends I noticed were:

• steadicam
• track
• zoom

One of the first shots in the opening is of a lampshade in a dark room. The camera rotates 180 degrees, so that the lampshade is the correct way up, suspended from the ceiling. During the rotation, the lampshade stays in a central position of the frame. The title also fades down into the shot saying 'A JAMES WAN FILM', where the 'A' and 'FILM' are in white against the black background and the name is on the lampshade and stays there during the rotation. It then fades out from the centre of the word.

When the lampshade is the right way up, the protagonists room is lit up enough for the audience to see. Immediately the camera tracks down, in a south westerly direction, revealing the young boy asleep in his bed, until the point where the camera is in line with the child.

The camera then tracks to the right, focusing on no object in particular, establishing the scene of the bedroom. Although it is a steadicam, there is still a sense of handheld camera within the opening, as the shots are smooth but travel between rooms in a way that looks like human exploration.

After the camera leaves the child's bedroom, it zooms and focuses on a headstone like figure in another dark room. It then immediately tracks left, highlighting more of the house. Then it zooms and tracks at the same time, drawing the focus to different objects and areas in the room, usually the most shadowed area, increasing the focus which the audience are needing to give and therefore adding a sense of tension and suspense. The fast tracking gives an uneasy feel to the opening, giving the audience an idea of what the genre of the film is and what kind of themes are going to be present within the film. 

There is a slight flicker over the title, so that the red changes shade slightly but constantly, adding depth and a more 3D effect to the title. The lack of colour in the opening is juxtaposed by the bright red of the title, although at the same time, the colour has connotations of blood and death.

Overall, the editing in this opening is very smooth but at the same time quite fast paced. This makes the audience have a sense of unease as the camera is moving too fast in a low lit house to focus on specific objects, suggesting there are a lot of secrets hidden in the unknown. This editing is very effective for this film and the genre because before the film has even began the audience are feel tense about what is to come.

Below is the opening scene from Insidious: