Director Research – James Wan

 

James Wan is a Director of many well-known horror films these were films like insidious, conjuring and many others that are sequels as well to these selected films... we shall look at them soon...

Back ground Information about James Wan:

James Wan was born on the 27th February 1977. He was born in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, his nationality is Australian. He has been working in the film industry as a director since 1999 and is still to the present day.

Here is a trailer to the popular film of the conjuring that he directed and an Interview with James introducing the film...

The Conjuring Information: This film was centered on real life experiences of the Warren family with Ed and Lorraine Warren who were a married couple that were investigating paranormal events. 

The paranormal investigation that they did was in the Location of a Rhode Island on a family farm.

However, when filming this it was commenced in North Carolina, United States in late February of 2012.

At the Stage of January 2013, Wan had been given several more weeks before the film was completed. The film was then released in July 2013, and received acclaim from critics and audiences alike.

A Quote from Ed Warren (Main Character): Ed Warren: "The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges on which we decide to follow"

A Film review from a Hollywood Reporter:

The Hollywood Reporter:

“With its minimal use of digital effects, its strong, sympathetic performances and ace design work, the pic harks back in themes and methods to The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror, not quite attaining the poignancy and depth of the former but far exceeding the latter in sheer cinematic beauty.”

Let’s look at another popular film from James Wan's work: 

Insidious:

Insidious premiered in 2010 in a premiere showing, however released in cinemas on the 1st April 2011.This film was in fact directed by James Wan and was written by Leigh Whannell.

The plot of this story was that one morning, Renai is looking at family photos with Dalton. Dalton then asks why there aren't any pictures of Josh when he was a child. Renai explains that Josh is camera shy and also dislikes taking photos himself.

One night while Dalton is upstairs playing with his toys, he hears a mysterious creaking noise, and sees the door to the attic mysteriously opening by itself and then goes upstairs to investigate. He then falls off a ladder while trying to turn on the light, and stares into the darkness as if he was looking at something terrifying and then starts screaming and crying.

Renai and Josh both hear Dalton's screams, and they then tell him that the attic is off limits. The next morning, Dalton doesn't wake up from his sleep, and Renai and Josh, with panic, send him to the hospital where they find out that he is in a coma. 

 However, months later, Dalton is back home, but is still in his coma. While playing piano, Renai hears a sinister voice on the baby monitor saying "I want it... NOW!" Renai goes to Cali's room but finds no one there. Things get even creepier when Foster tells Renai that he doesn't like it when Dalton "walks around" at night. That night, Renai sees a strange, but terrifying man in Cali's room, and the alarms to the house start to turn on by itself. The rest of the film you will just have to find out and watch...

Below is an Interview of James Wan and the writer Leigh Whannell talking about the latest film Insidious:

Audience Quote: Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman "A haunted-house movie that has some of the most shivery and indelible images I've seen in any horror film in decades. Yes, it's that unsettling."

Other Films that have been directed by James Wan:

Below are some more trailers to the films he has directed:

Audience Quote: "Bacon, as usual, is very good even when he's slumming, and as a trashy B-movie redo of Death Wish the movie works well enough for a Saturday afternoon with a case of brewskies."

Audience Quote: "Wan and Whannell have a carnivalesque sense of fun and a sure instinct for recycling classic horror tropes, but their characters are so flat and their plotting so listless that this low-budget feature fails to generate much suspense."

Audience Quote: "the horror genre takes a new direction using extreme violence to support a surprisingly evocative story of redemptive torture."

How does Jame Wan's work reflect on Ideas for my Horror Opening?

When looking and researching at James Wan's work we can see that he has used ideas of mystery and supernatural ideas that reflect on the audience's minds making them question and find out to the end of the films what is going to happen. The films that he has directed create many tension scenes for the viewers and I have witnessed this only through the trailers, they make you want to see them and know what happens it kind of keeps you in a cliff hanger position at the end so you go and watch the film to find out what happens and this influences the link between mystery and tension building, that ambition to find out ensuring your mind is at rest.

Therefore, when looking and researching these films I can see that I would like to add his directing and performance into my work, of tension and anticipation of finding out keep the viewer’s hanging onto their seats whilst watching the opening. This is shown when he using his camera angles, and how he positions every scene with jumps and scares awaiting to make the viewer’s jump and create that feeling of I want to watch more and discover the truth, he used horror and mystery and comedy altogether to create that sense of a great horror films. So therefore I would like to use some of James Wan's work within my opening of my Horror project