Insidious Movie Trailer

This film trailer could be seen as conventional of those of the horror genre in many ways.
In regards to settings, this film meets the typical conventions of horror films as it demonstrates the idea that was introduced in the 60's of 'horror inside the home' - relating back to films such as 'The Exorcist'. Within 25 seconds into this trailer, we are produced with an establishing shot of a Suburban home. Suburban homes have created a strong bond with the horror genre as there connotations have changed as the settings within horror have changed and blossomed. Suburban homes would usually be assosiated with safety, and the idea that everyone within the area are part of one, big happy family - in which they all help each other and give off the impression of leading perfect lives, with scandels going on behind closed doors (TV shows like Desperate Housewives promote this stereotypical concept). But horror takes this idea and turns it round, turning the idea of everyone being close into a negative idea, and the idea of safety is demolished. 30 seconds into the trailer also shows a young boy climing in an old, olbsolete attic, bringing 2 conventions of the horror genre into one scene (children being seen as young and naive, and therefore perfect targets within horror).
Close ups have been used multiple times throughout the trailer, which are used to demonstrate to an audience how close the horror is (going back to the idea of horror within the home, close ups on characters would expose how close the horror really was - especially as the trailer goes on and we are presented with the quote "Its not your house thats haunted, it's your son"). Towards the end of the clip, lots of cuts have been used and put together very quickly of various parts of the film, which has been done to build up the tension before the end of the trailer. At the end of the trailer, a very common horror convention occurs, where the audience has gone back to their neutral feelings, and then very quickly this balance is unsettled with a jumpy POV shot of an old women coming towards the camera at a very fast pace. 'Jumpy', unexpected scenes are one of the most convential things within a horror genre. Sound is very important in this trailer too, although a lot of speech is used, the background music builds on the tension - especially in the way it begins with a ticking noise, almost as if the audience are waiting for the horror to occur.
This trailer also displays many iconic things that are conventional of a horror genre. Firstly, this trailer shows that the film plays around a lot with binary oppositions - taking innocent objects such as the rocking horse and the baby monitor, and making them react without any kind of a push from the people within the house. I think another reason why objects like this have been used is because it relates a lot to the main character types - children, and there has always been the theory that children have a strong bond with the paranormal, as they are too young to understand what everything is (going into the idea of imaginary friends, etc). One moment in particular shows the rocking chair moving, and as the protagonist  moves the door to look (the tension is built up by not being able to see past the door), there is nothing or no one there. Colour schemes also seem to be very important within this film - the whole trailer shows that the camera almost has a bluey/grey tint too it, possibly to make everything look a lot less dull (maybe symbolic of the boring suburban life that has suddenly become interesting?). But in one shot, there is a devil-like creature behind the head of the male protagonist, who has a bright red face with black all round him, and yellow eyes - this seems to be one of the only times in the trailer where a lot of colour is used. Red connoting danger also adds to the typical conventions.
The narrative structure of this trailer isn't really one of the strongest things that make it conventional of horror for many reasons. The trailer shows many different characters, and many of them have the same screen time as the others, which makes it unclear who is the main protagonist in this movie, therefore it makes it difficult to work out the narrative structure, as it is unclear who the 'narrator' would be in this film. Also, it isn't clear who/what is the main source of 'evil' in this film, as we have a lot of different objects, creatures and people all come up that are conventional of the horror genre, and yet it is unclear which is the 'main' source of evil. We see one quick flash of the devil-like creature (Christianity allows us to think the Devil is the main source of evil, so surely he would be the villain in the film?), but in comparison to other villains we see, he shares the same screen time, meaning, is he the main villain in the film?

Character types in this film are very conventional of those of a horror genre. A very iconic thing within this trailer is the quote "its not the house that's haunted, it's your son", which immediately goes on to reveal that the son is the main protagonist in this film - even though we rarely see him in the trailer. Children are very typical of a horror genre as they are seen to be naive, young and unable to defend themselves. In the same way, 2 young girls are used in this trailer to look like a ghost (quite towards the end of the trailer). We see them standing in a victorian-style outfits (creating the idea she is a ghost who died in the Victorian times), with a white/grey glow. Obviously, ghosts are very conventional of the horror genre. The idea of a child being a ghost plays with the idea of Barthes theory of binary opposites. Obviously, the devil is conventional of a horror genre too, as he is made out to be the most evil thing known to man kind.
In terms of themes, this trailer seems like it would be conventional, but in another way it would be unconventional as well. The idea of binary opposites is produced a lot in this clip, especially considering that the trailer isnt very long at all. The idea of the haunted house (most of this trailer shows the film is set within a house) is also very conventional, after the idea of 'horror within the house' was introduced in the 60s. The ghostly characters also are conventional of themes, as they link with the idea of life after death (if there is any?). However, relating back to the quote again - "its not your house that's haunted, it's your son", makes me think that this film isn't conventional as it covers something that isn't very common in horror, which is the horror within the mind and body (a physical and psychological horror). Although some films cover it with mental illness and schizophrenia, this film turns the whole idea of being haunted round, and putting it within a body and a soul, which I think, for the horror genre isn't conventional in the slightest.