Textual Analysis of an Opening: Insidious (2010)

The film Insidious displays remarkable credits. Credits here are of a bold red colour, symbolic of the blood that associates with a horror. The credits resolve into mist after being displayed, representing the movement of a ghostly figure. The director's name is placed onto a circular light bulb. This has been done on purpose to highlight its significance in the storyline. Light has connotations of purity, and plays a key role in this film - in relation to 'The Further' - this location is pitch black, and later on in the film, you see that characters are only powerful in The Further once they have gained some light. A ghostly body is shown, emphasising the paranormal subgenre as abnormal beings are often displayed in this area of horror.

A montage of photos are shown, they are in black white, giving them a vintage feel and allowing the red credits to emerge in the foreground. The vintage effect encourages the audience to believe the family has lived there for a very long time, so their life should be settled and commence freely. This is not the case, as we learn later on in the film that there is an attachment to a stronger being within the house. The montage forces the audience to realise that no matter who you are, or what life you live with your family, terrible, unexplanatory events may still occur. The montage of shots also exhibit areas of the house that play a main role in the film, such as the son's bedroom. This is significant is it is revealed that here is where the entity lives and feeds on the young boy's energy. The family portrait in the opening montage introduces the main characters of the film, as they should be in a film opening.

The closeup of the female character at the end resolves from the greyscale into its natural colours, indicating the start of the opening sequence. She wears childlike pyjamas with monkeys and bananas on them, suggesting that she is a mother and has a strong bond with her child/children as she tries to match them. The snoring heard in the background is heavy, clearly coming from a male which tells the audience that she has a partner. This verifies the thought of her having a child/children.