Sound is broken down into three categories consisting of dialogue, sound effects, and music. The first, dialogue, is characters of a movie speaking to one another and typically recorded live. The second category, sound effects, is a little more complicated. Sound effects are used to augment action or to give the audience a sense of the environment. The final category is music. It can be used to set the mood of the scene, identify characters, and situations. Sound effects and music are usually added later, with music actually being recorded after the movie has been edited (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). Dialogue and the music score are the two most critical aspects of sound used in Insidious.
The movie Insidious was directed by James Wan and released in 2011. The “He’s Not In a Coma” clip is an excellent choice to discuss two aspects of sound, dialogue and music.
First, dialogue. In this clip, we see the character Ranai having a diegetic (comes from within the movie, not external sound) dialogue with a nurse about her feelings concerning her comatose son, Dalton. Her dialogue is quiet, somber, and almost monotone (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). The dialogue helps set the mood of this clip to give the audience a sense of despair, hopelessness, in an effort to convey how Ranai feels after 3 to 4 months without change in his condition.
Now, for the best part, the music. The music of this clip is absolutely critical to accentuate and the rapid change in mood. There are two distinct moods represented (reflected in the music) in this clip. The score, or music that plays in the background (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014), of this clip is somber, single-key piano notes so as not to distract from the overall mood. What she is saying and how she is acting is what is important to the audience; the score of the first half of the clip augments it. Single notes, out of options, one heart beat after another. No increase or decrease in heart rate. Only one beat at a time representing the seconds ticking away each hour. Each day, nothing changes for Dalton and Ranai’s mood remains the same, hopeless.
But as somber as her mood is (reflected in the score in the first half of the clip), the mood quickly changes. As the nurse leaves, Ranai begins to straighten out Dalton’s sheets. There is something on his sheets at his feet; something seems off. Ranai’s brows furrow as she begins to discover what is on the sheetst. The music has subtly transitioned (almost too quiet to notice at first) to low organ-like chord building into a final crescendo before the reveal. As Ranai straightens the sheet, she sees a bloody, clawed handprint. A chaotic slam of random piano/organ keys strike to emphasize the revelation of something unexpected, unreal, and shocking (which we all know are simply conventions of the horror genre). Another slam of the keys to blast us in chaotic sound representing a reflection of Ranai’s emotional jolt to this discovery.
In the following clip, the sound effect of the Fire Face Demon sharpening his metal claws, an angry, mechanical, obnoxious noise is used to counter the lighthearted song “Dancing in the Tulips.” Yes, music is part of this clip’s sound, but the focus should be on the grinding of the claws. The grinding claws represents the twisted, harsh, and cruel being the demon is by sharpening his claws while listening to an almost childlike song. The idea that he/it enjoys sharpening his claws to this type of music tells the audience just how diabolical he truly is.
These sounds are absolutely vital to establishing this movie’s theme (topic that permeates throughout the movie) of fear of the the supernatural and its effect on the natural world (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014).
The sounds of Insidious, from the volume of the dialogue to the diegetic music to the musical score, are key to establishing the mood for the audience. The sounds of Insidious help solidify this movie’s position amongst its movie peers solidly in the horror genre. The chaotic slam of keys to denote emotional shock (and just might cause the audience to jump) as a bloody hand appears on the sheets is a prime example of this. Or the raspy, obnoxious sound effects of sharpening claws are indicative of other horror movies (something about a demon with a striped sweater and bladed hand comes to mind). Even the choice of song used by the demon while he prepares for doing evil is representative of the horror genre (cue Patsy Cline songs used in other horror movies as a contrast to horrific, gore-laden slasher scenes).
The effects of sound in this movie, although expected from a horror movie, is a chaotic symphony that seems to make sense. The use of realistic sounds contrasted by abrupt mood changes represented by the slam of piano/organ keys when a character reacts to what she is seeing are natural and fit the overall goal of the movie and that is for the audience to expect the unexpected.
Both clips are a dichotomy of one another. The real world that is “touched” by the unreal (bloody claw handprint) is represented by a chaotic cacophony of piano/organ notes. The opposite of this effect is the Fire Demon’s sharpening of his claws with the “Dancing in the Tulips” song playing as diegetic background music. They are polar opposites and had the arrangement been done any other way, it would not have had the same effect.
References
Blum, J., Peli, O., Schneider, S. (Producers), & Wan, J. (Director). (2010). Insidious [Motion picture]. United States: FilmDistrict
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Wan, J (2011, 1 April). Insidious: He’s Not In a Coma [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zny9QG6bSLc
Wan, J (2001, 1 April). Insidious demon scene “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEp-XtGOp0s
INSIDIOUS 