Blog Introduction
Hello everyone, we are finally back with another blog! Last blog we reflected on some elements that are included in a mise en scene. After researching, we will now shift towards analyzing two horror film openings by discussing their mise en scene with aspects like technical conventions, representations, and camera movements.
Film 1: The Conjuring (2013) – Directed by James Wan
First film we will talk about is a horror film, The Conjuring. This movie was released in 2013 and was directed by James Wan. The movie became highly successful and gained major attention for its supernatural horror style. The movie had a budget of around $20 million and made over $300 million worldwide, showing how popular horror films can be with audiences. The movie had received many awards, such as the best horror/thriller movie for the Critics Choice award. I chose this film because it is known for building suspense through mise en scene, lighting, and sound rather than relying only on gore.
The Introduction of the Film Opening
The film begins with non-diegetic sound while displaying the distribution logos of Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema. The background behind the logos is darkly lit, which makes the audience expect the film to be scary or unsettling because of its gloomy tone. For example, the typography in the Warner Bros. logo appears dimmer to match the dark background. In comparison, the original Warner Bros. logo is usually gold and bright, set against a sky-blue background. The logo of New Line Cinema seems to be darker, while compared to its original, the text is usually brighter with a black display background. The use of the dark, lit theme creates an effect that allows the audience to build up suspense, as this movie will correspond to something scary or very frightening. The use of non-diegetic sound, applying a low-frequency drone and sudden stinger, helps connect the film’s theme to build up the horror mood. The theme makes it feel more unnatural and threatening, which fits the description of horror.
The horror version of the logos presented:
Then, when the intro was concluded, there is a fade out to a black screen with a sound bridge being applied. The sound bridge demonstrates dialogue between characters discussing a scary experience they had, and thinking about it makes them feel more frightened and makes it seem unbelievable to be true. The display of the dark screen represents a sense of suspense and realism of how this is a scene of a horrifying story that unfolded from a scary experience. This brings realism for the audience to be prepared for how this story unfolds. The black screen was concluded with the guy stating, “tell me how it started off.”This indicates to the audience that the movie is starting to narrate the beginning of the story.
Mise en Scene (Setting, Props, Lighting, and Symbolism)
Mise en scene is used to create realism while making the environment feel unsafe. For example, the living room setting is shown to be ordinary and domestic, with a couch, curtains, and pillows, which makes the story feel realistic.
However, the low-key lighting and shadows remove warmth from the space.
The lighting represents the characters to be shown as darker and dimmer. This represents how fear can be created in a normal setting, such as a home. The characters are grouped closely together on the couch, and their tense posture and worried expressions show their vulnerability. This positions the audience to take the story seriously
Another example we can explain is when the girl shifts in the storytelling of the scary incident. This scene shows how the two girls were entering an apartment where the whole hallway was very dark and isolated in a narrow position that made the hallway longer. The only light visible was the doll.
Here are other mise en scene examples I found that were fascinating from the film opening:
The lamp’s light flickers to indicate to the character that this apartment is haunted and makes the audience feel more curious and frightened to see what will happen next.
The room shows things on the floor, such as a broken lamp that is flickering (it is the only reason where some light is visible) and pictures. Then there is a roll of a red pen that rolls inside the room.
The lady picks up a note that says “miss me,” and sees it again inside another room with red coloring to make it seem like a person has died here or been frightened.
Props: The doll acts as the key prop, and since dolls are typically linked to childhood and innocence, its disturbing appearance represents innocence being corrupted.
Camera Movements/Shots (Analysis)
Close up shot is utilized to get a close range of the character, which is known to be a doll. The close-up shot helps bring greater detail of the doll, by looking at the description of the face being very creepy and the doll staring at the screen. There are also details of red scars around the doll’s face to make the audience think the character is very dangerous and threatening. The framing also treats the doll like a character rather than just a prop, which is most common in horror films because it makes the ordinary object feel it has agency or a presence. The close-up shot is also being utilized in the film to talk about how the creepy doll moves around itself and how its facial structures were different than what is now.
Over the shoulder- The shot utilizes POV style framing from behind two characters staring at a long, dark, isolated, and narrow hallway where there is no light, except the intention is at the doll. This creates tension for the audience to be forced to share their viewpoint. The hallway creates strong leading lines that pulls the viewer towards Anabella, where it is shown to be a small figure sitting at the far end, and the distance feels more isolated and unnatural, as if it is mysterious or does not belong there.
Two-shot- This shows the two characters inside the room being frightened of the whole room’s structure of the broken glasses and the lamp light flickering. The purpose of the two shots in this specific scene was when the characters heard an object that was rolling around, and the characters were scared by the noise. As they felt that the doll was alive and was coming to get them.
Slow tracking dolly movement- The movement is shown down the narrow hallway from behind the characters, as if the camera is following them forward into the darkness. The forward movement creates suspense because it feels like the audience is being pulled toward whatever is at the end of the corridor.
High angle- There is another scene of the film where it shows an overhead shot of the dumpster/alley, which shifts the audience from a character-level view to watching from above perspective. In this overhead shot, the camera gradually zooms in slowly while slightly drifting to keep the dumpster and the doll centered as the character reaches in. The slow push in helps center it to feel tense and unavoidable. This shows how the lady is frightened and locks the doll in the dumpster and runs away. This makes the audience feel forced to focus on the doll and anticipate that something is going wrong before it happens.
Dutch Angle- The camera uses a high angle with a subtle Dutch tilt, making Annabelle look small but disturbingly present, as if she’s been “caught” in a wrong, unnatural moment. For the audience, the canted framing creates disorientation and unease, signaling that normal rules don’t apply and danger could come from anywhere in the frame. Looking down on her also produces a false sense of control viewers feel briefly superior , before the horror of her stare and stillness flips that comfort into dread. Overall, it heightens suspense by forcing the audience to anticipate movement or threat even when the character is motionless.
Editing and Pacing
The transitions are slow and controlled, such as the fade to black after the logos (as we mentioned earlier). This delays visuals while maintaining tension through the sound. The film uses lingering shot duration on the doll and the hallway, which forces the audience to sit in discomfort rather than quickly moving on. The editing also includes uses of cuts that include parallel editing, when the two girls walk into the room and the camera shows random detail such as pictures that are broken pictures, flickering lamps, many broken details, and a sign that is hanged up on the roof that says “Miss me?” This builds suspense by making the audience able to scan the environment and wonder how this apartment is haunted and what minor details are important that corresponds to horror. This slow pacing editing is a horror convention because it makes the audience anticipate a movement or a sudden reveal, when nothing is displayed.
Sounds
The overall opening of the film consists of non-diegetic sound that involves sharp strings to intensify fear and suspense. For example, in the hallway scene, the tense string stingers and low-frequency drone build anticipation as the camera focuses on the doll at the end of the dark corridor, making the silence feel unsafe and forcing the audience to expect a sudden reveal. In the room scene, the soundtrack stays uneasy while small, random sounds are emphasized—such as the flickering lamp and objects shifting—so when the camera cuts to broken pictures and scattered details, the audio makes those visuals feel suspicious and connected to the haunting with random piano movements.
Here is an example:
Film 2: Insidious (2010) – Directed by James Wan
In comparison, the second horror film I will analyze is Insidious. The movie was released in 2010 and was directed by James Wan. The opening also uses horror conventions to build suspense early, but it creates fear in a different style by relying heavily on atmosphere and an intense soundtrack. The opening begins with dark visuals and horrifying typography during the opening credits, which immediately makes the audience feel uneasy. The scene transitions to the dark scene of the guy in the shadow, it transitions to a red text “Insidious,” which brings visuals of the movie to be horrifying for the audience. The movie transitions in the opening credits where it shows red text in the bottom right corner with pictures of the house in a haunted version and other props that will reveal the horror genre. This brings suspense and realism to the audience of how the movie will be fearful.
Mise en Scene
In the film opening of Insidious, mise en scene uses props and costumes to make the home feel more realistic but unsettling. For example, the child’s bedroom includes him sleeping in a bedroom with a dinosaur blanket that includes toys such as teddy bears and horses, and a night lamp. These props are typical of a regular boy’s bedroom. But the scene of the boy is represented to have low-key lighting that makes the room unsafe and uncomfortable. This makes the audience feel as if there is certain danger or a threat that is going on in the house or anticipated. Then there is a shallow focus when the boy’s bedroom is shifted to the kitchen, of a shadow that shows a guy walking to a room where the scene transitions, then it enters a room with a guy surrounded in the dark with a creepy face holding a candle. The shallow focus of the shadows brings the audience’s emotional engagement and controlled audience perception of the frame. The overall scene of the guy holding the candle makes the audience think he is the antagonist of the film that causes danger and horror of the house. The whole dark scene of just showing the guy staring and holding a candle brings suspense and fear of what the movie will expose next. The lighting is dark in this scene, which limits the characteristics of what he looks like besides the face.
Cinematography
The cinematography of the film uses controlled camera movement to build suspense rather than action. The opening begins with mostly static framing during the credits, which keeps the audience focused on the unsettling typography and atmosphere.
Instead of using a hard transition or cut, the text fades and dissolves smoothly into a shot of a ceiling lamp. This makes the opening feel continuous and uneasy.
The camera then tilts down from the lamp to reveal the boy sleeping, and the slow reveal controls what the audience sees, turning a normal bedroom into suspense.
Then the shot consists of continuous system editing where the scene has no cuts involved; rather, it tilts to the next scene by push-in/zoom in to a dark kitchen and nothing there besides a shadow, which makes the scene feel more intimate and threatening because the camera is moving close even when nothing is visible.
The camera uses a slow tilt that zooms in to reveal the shadowed figure holding a candle, with bringing a close-up shot to bring more details and brightness of the character holding the candle. The movement is gradual, with the close-up making the figure feel more threatening because the audience is forced to wait for the full description of the character.
Compare and Contrast
Both film openings use technical conventions to make the audience feel suspense early.
Both have utilized low-key lighting, dark visuals, and non-diegetic sound to establish a horror mood.
Both films also use domestic settings to create realism, which makes the horror more effective because it reveals fear invading a place that should feel safe.
Differences
However, The Conjuring builds fear through detailed props like the doll, broken pictures, flickering lamps, and the “Miss me?” note, while Insidious relies on creating fear through an eerie atmosphere and the way the ghostly figure is represented through a dark creepy face with a candle displayed.
The Conjuring also utilizes camera movements such as slow tracking and POV style shots to delay the reveal, while Insidious relies more on creating fear by transitioning by tilting down and horizontally to the next scene to build more fear and creating a supernatural presence inside the home.
The Conjuring has more dialogue involved where in the beginning of the movie it was a narration of a story of where they found the creepy doll and how this situation happened, where Insidious has no narration and strictly only involves non-diegetic sounds that matches the horror atmosphere where everything is silent to bring more suspense and question the audience to feel what will happen next and to explore the details of the dark haunted house.
Reflection
Analyzing these two films has allowed me to understand how horror films use technical conventions to control the audience’s emotions before the main story even begins. By focusing on mise en scene, sound, camera movement, and editing, I learned how small details such as low-key lighting, props such as the doll known as Anabelle or the bedroom toys, and the slow pacing can help build suspense without needing gore or a jump scare. This benefits me for creating my film opening because I can plan my setting, lighting, and props more intentionally to represent danger in a normal environment, and I can utilize camera shots like close ups, over-the-shoulder framing, and slow movements to delay reveals and keep tension high.
Overall, if I were to choose which film will fit best for me from the two I analyzed, I would go based on The Conjuring, as it is more effective and brings more suspense of the creepy doll. I liked the aspects of the narration that was involved to tell the story, and the scenes of the two characters frightened of the doll with its horrifying props and sounds. It helps me bring more creative inspirations based on that. Maybe I would like to include a scarier atmospheric opening that is based on a doll.
Well, that is a wrap! After, all the research conducted on how this film works. I think it is time for the next post to be about what target audience is involved for this horror genre.
See you guys in the next post!
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIcs_qOjDBQ
https://youtu.be/ifkoOl4RGXc?si=_4-nkSDY3Erc2qsf
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