Sound

Insidious Clip Analysis

Sound can be a very powerful element within a thriller film. Sound is very important as it creates a mood for the audience, but also can also contribute towards a better understanding for the audience of what is going on or even what could be expected.

One of the sounds I identified was 'on screen' sound of a spinning ceiling fan. The sound that is made by the fan conveys to the audience that the old lady can feel a presence around her. The use of this device is to create suspicion by the anonymous creature that cannot be seen by both the characters or the audience. Due to the unknown creature being currently off-screen makes the audience open their imagination for what it may be, as the film features around a lot of abnormal ceatures and characters.This is conventional because it builds up anxiety within the audience as it foreshadows bad events to come. Due to the sounds, the audience have expectations that something or someone is going to appear suddenly. This builds up tension and the fear of the audience, keeping them on the edge of their seat.

Another sound that I analysed within the clip was 'non-diegetic', which consisted of background music. The sound is high pitched and very eary, almost like a frightening jingle which builds awareness and scares the audience of what is to come. This particular soundtrack is used to build tension within the scene to portray to the audience that something bad or unexpected is going to happen. This is conventional to a thriller film, as the aim of tempo changes are to give out mixed emotions to confuse the audience.

The third sound to which i discovered was a 'diegetic' monologue of "What is it?", furthermore this connects to the first device of the on screen sound of the fan mentioned previously. The mother notices the old ladies awareness of the strange presence in the room. This is conventional to the film as it confirms for the audience that there really is a presence in the room, but also indicates that it's more than likely that something bad or frightening is going to happen. The audience response to this sort of tension would make them very anxious and weary as they are not sure what to expect due to the enigma.

To conclude, sound can be identified in six different ways, with three being stated above. Sound can make an audience understand a scene and a characters emotion or feeling. It is a key feature when wanting to build a particular atmosphere; for example ,when non diegetic sound plays with an up-tempo, eary tune it foreshadows bad events to come and builds tension within the audience.