Textual Analysis of 'INSiDE' (Trevor Sands, 2011) by Chayana Forde

Textual Analysis of INSiDE

'INSiDE' is short film that follows a patient, who is revealed to have multiple personality disorder, as he is taken to talk to his doctor.m The movie opens with a pitch black screen before the title of the film is shown. The letters of the title expand from the middle and line up to make the word 'INSiDE', then fades to black.

As the letters all originate from one source, and then spread out into individual letters, it can symbolise how all of the voices in the characters head all live in the same place, but they all exist separately. Moreover, the use of the dissolve shows how easily the character slips between the personality in his head. The idea of everything in his head, is further explored in the title of the short film, INSiDE.

 The word inside can suggest many things, meaning that before the viewer even watches the film, the are wondering what inside might mean - is it about someone wanting to get inside a location? Wanting to get inside of a group?

The name inside alone can cause various questions to be asked. However, the film maker Sands, has chosen to spell the word with capital letters with exception of the 'i' in the middle of the word. This purposely draws attention to the letter. As the letter is in the middle of the word, and capital letters hold more importance than lowercase letters, it suggests that someone is trapped by something stronger - his multiple personalities.

After the title is shown, the next shot fades in out of focus, which disorientates the viewer and mirrors the state that the character was in. We then see somebody walk into the shot which focuses the camera. The costume is white, and clinical which suggests that he is a doctor. It then cuts to main character who is sitting in a padded room.

The iconography of the padded room instantly shows that this character is deemed dangerous, either to himself and/or others. This acts as a visual code, or a semantic code, which relates to one of Barthes code in relation to narrative theory. It gives the audience context to the character and establishes setting.

As the character walks down the hallway in a LS, in which the lights are flickering which leaves the characters being lit then left in the shadows inconsistently. This may by be to represent how unpredictable and unreliable the character is, because despite the fact that he is co-operating in that moment, there is obviously a reason for him having to be locked up. The diegetic noise of the light buzzing, and a low drone sound set the scene as the walk, and a voice says 'suffering from a condition call multiple personality disorder', the audience is then given some insight to the character.

As the character continues to walk through the dubious hallway, that the audience will recognise as a typical setting for a horror/thriller, we see a new character being introduced between each flicker of the light. This is shown through the pan of the camera from side to side. Because of the reveal that this character suffers from multiple personality disorder, the audience then assumes that these are the characters inside of his head.

 At this point, non-diegetic sounds of voices overlapping each other start to play. This, along with the flickering lights and the constant camera movement create a sense of chaos as there is so much for the viewer to take in. However, in the chaos, some of the dialogue reveals some of the characteristics of the personalities that he has. The manic laughter, the non-sensual singing and the voice that said 'just let me die' are only a couple of examples.

This creates a climax as the scene accelerates as the character reaches his destination. The two scenes are connected by a sound bridge of a woman's dialogue about the characters condition, as the voices clear up and leave that as the only voice left, and it turns from non-diegectic to diegetic as we see her talking to the character.

She begins to list all of the characters with their names and asks which one she is speaking to. In response we see one of the character step forward and lash out at her. When this character talks, we see that the main character's mouth also moves. This is a visual representation of the disability called multiple personality disorder, and is showing that the characters in a person with this disorder's head physically take over what they say and do.


As we get more insight into the different characters inside this persons head, it becomes apparent that each of these character seemed to be linked to his emotions; the little girl is innocence/confusion, the woman is guilt, the man in the suit, desperation, an so on and so forth. This is shown through dialogue and body language. An example of this is the woman saying 'I am so sorry, I have done terrible things', which is then interrupted by another character saying 'you are working for the government, you can read my thought, I am being held here against my will', which is paranoia. All of these characters have different ages, and genders, which is reflective of multiple personality disorder.