Paranormal Activity Trailer Analysis

In 2009, the film paranormal activity was released and overall, it was a huge success, bringing a whole range of audiences around the world. To prove that it was successful, through my research of this film, it was budgeted of around $15,000, once released it made a net profit of $193million, which shows how successful it was. This is the trailer for the first paranormal activity film and later over the years, created a sequel of these found footage horror films.

The uniqueness of this trailer gives the audience the real life experience of feeling like they’re in first person and that they’re the ones holding the camera, increasing the anxiousness, intensity and fear. Due to the film being completely different from other conventional horror films, this would give the feeling of a whole new experience and have the audience intrigued about what’s going to happen in the film. As soon as we see the production company of the film, which in this case, it is Paramount, the movie begins straight away. The long shot used for to film the trailer shows the audience that the trailer shows people watching the film, reminding the audience that the trailer is actually being filmed from a first person view and that it is also being filmed in a cinema.

Throughout the trailer, the lighting is constantly dark, this is to re-enforce that the trailer is a horror genre and also keeps giving reminders to the audience that the trailer is also set in a cinema. There are quick cuts in the trailer when a scary moment occurs and it is cut to the audience to show the expressions on their faces, making the audience feel like that this is the expressions that are going to be on their faces when they watch this film. This will bring in a wide range of audiences to come and watch this film.

The unique selling point in this film is shown in a very smart but cunning way. This is because of the camera type used in the trailer. This is shown through the use of poor camera quality but the producers, directors and editors wanted to use this effect to have a bigger impact on the audience. This is one of the reasons why they wanted to keep to a lower budget and didn’t want to spend much in the production stage of the movie as they were using cheap but more effective cameras, but are not as good compared to the cameras used by other movies, which would cost thousands more. In the trailer, we can see this is emphasised, this is through the line of a male character saying “High Def (Definition) Camera On” this shows the camera simply being used for the audiences purpose and that they want them to feel the experience and fear of the movie.

The prevalence straight away at the start of the film is given to the female character which is after the distribution company, Paramount, goes by and this is done through the cameraman looking at her. During this time, we get the impression that there are two cameras when there is a shot/reverse/shot which is used for the view of the conversation. This is also helps to introduce the second character in the trailer, which is the man.

Overall, the camera movements are never smooth in the trailer and because of this, this makes the trailer be able to build tension and intensity when watching it and this is when the actors are holding the camera. These movements get quicker and quicker throughout the trailer when the non-diegetic sounds increase and when it is introduced to the trailer. As the non-diegetic sound gets louder, there are more events that occur which then cuts to the audience in the cinema getting scared and jumping out of their seats.

The trailer itself tries to sell itself to the audience by having audience views of the film, e.g. cutting to the audience jumping and being scared, also it includes critic’s reviews saying for example “The Scariest Movie of All Time!” this is to bring in the target audience to go and watch this film. Right at the end of the trailer, when the audience thinks it is all over, we see a man fly into the camera to end the trailer with a scare, making the audience remember it more. This is one of the only times in the trailer that we see it in full screen as almost all of the trailer was filmed as if the audience was in the cinema but this quick shot/transaction would be able to catch the audience off guard and give the audience a real purpose to go and watch the film.

Through the different camera types, the audience will get drawn into the trailer as it more mysterious than any other horror film, which makes this trailer/movie unique. From the trailer, we as an audience do not gain much information about them, having the mysterious feel about the film, wanting the audience to want more and watch the film. This is to add the suspense to the trailer and also to make the horror scenes have more of an impact in a person’s perspective.