Insidious Mise-en-scene

Settings:Setting the scene is crucial in a horror story as it shows where the action is going to take place and help the audience understand the characters. The trailer begins showing an ideological family living in a big suburban house. The sky is clear blue and the family are laughing, showing their life is happy. This helps build tension within the audience as it all seems to good to be true and it may also relate to their own lives, making them feel further concern for what's going to happen.

Many of the other establishing shots also have a sinister feel to them. The fact the parents are visiting their son in a dark/dull hospital from behind a large glass window, suggest he needs to be contained and makes you wonder why? The hallway scene is simple yet scary. By having a spot light on the grandfather clock ticking, gives the idea of a old haunted house despite we know it’s a suburban property. And the fact that the rest of the shot is very dark adds a sense of mystery and not knowing.

Costume:

The costumes throughout the trailer are very dull reflecting the depressed/drained moods of the mother and father characters

Props:At the start the use of a metronome slowly swinging making a clicking noise is used in order to build up tension, almost like that ticking of a bomb that’s going to explode

Rocking horses are usually associated with young, innocent children playing and having fun. However by having it appear to be rocking on its own produces a more sinister feeling and makes you question how and what has caused it to move?

Facial Expressions:By having an extreme close up of a woman's eye you can see her moving it frantically side to side with confusion. This implies she’s scared and unaware of what's going on.

The mothers face always seems very frightened and scared for her son. This is shown by her screaming in shock and having very tired dark eyes as if the haunting is exhausting her. In this particular screen shot she also drops the baby monitor when she hears a strange noise as an immediate sign of shock.

Mise-en-scene for The Conjuring

Setting:In order to perceive the view of a happy family they show a family photo pride of place on the wall which suggests they’re like any other ordinary family.

By being in a big open woodland the characters seem isolated and belittled by the large surrounding trees. The scene also shows how secluded the house is from anything else. This implies there is probably a reason why no other civilisation is near and gives the insight there's no where to run to.

The house is shown to be very old, like a classic haunted house with big wooden doors and creaking floor boards. The scale of the house is also crucial. As the house is large, the people living in it seem small and vulnerable. So they are therefore easily manipulated by the paranormal curse.

Costume:The two so called ‘ghost hunters’ are dressed in smart, tailored outfits, in keeping with the idea that they professionals within this field of expertise. This causes the audience and other characters in the trailer to trust them and look to them for help.The children are predominantly dressed in night gowns when the paranormal activity occurs. This connotes they are young and innocent and the haunting is preying on them when they're defenceless (asleep).

Props:Props associated with death like a hangman's noose increase the sense of fear and as it is covered in dust suggests this is an old piece of rope with historic meaning.The red and white of the other prop shown is associated with that of a circus tents. This appears more sinister in the situation as the circus can be home to many horrifying and mysterious things.

Facial Expressions:There is a sense of terror in the woman's eyes as she can see something horrific we cannot, making the audience feel unwary. Her skin is pale and her face frowning as to the confusion of what's going on.The children's fear is shown much more dramatically. Here you can see one is screaming for his life with tears streaming down his face in shock. The fact he is also holding his knees close to his chest implies he doesn’t feel safe and wants to curl up into ball.