Paranormal Activity Series

1. TRAILER ANALYSIS

2. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
• Directed by: Oren Peli
• URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074
• Length: 1:45
• Genre/Sub genre: Horror/Supernatural

3. • Target Audience:
Ranges from young
teens aged 15 up to
adults. The movie is
aimed for both genders
• Narrative/Plot: A young
couple move into a
house that has demon
spirits living inside the
home, haunting them as
they try to sleep at night.

4. • No. of Characters: Two, the
couple who are in a
boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.
This is know at the start when
the actor records his girlfriend
saying “My girlfriend, Katie,
thinks that there’s something in
the house.” This image on the
right shows the two characters in
the same bed holding on to one
another, clearly defining their
relationship.

5. • Shots (Type and No.): Long shot, close
up, Point of View (Handheld), medium
shots, tilted shots. These shots are used
to make the audience focus on one thing
which gets their undivided attention. Like
when there is a jump scare, there is an a
close-up/ extreme close up of the
characters or placed in the centre of the
shot.
• Pace: Can at times fluctuate. But it is
mainly fast paced. This can link with the
video as anything that the audiences
see and hear in horrors, can make them
panic which connotes to running to get
away from the danger thus increasing
the pace to maintain the audience’s
attention. This also includes a clash of
SFX and background music all at once.

6. • Music and Sound effects: Sinister hollow like sound in the background also white noise,
loud bangs
• Animation/Special FX/ CGI: Movement of duvet, movement of the door
• Production Company: Blumhouse Productions no identity of the company. Only the
distributing company, Paramount Pictures

7. • Credits/Intertitles: Movie title, location of film releases, Review
“’Paranormal Activity’ is one of the scariest movies of all time”,
“…Genuinely Shaken”.
• Transition/Editing: Cut to black, black flashes, TV noise signal, fades.
The transitions are constant and common to avoid giving too much of
the film away including the resolution.
• Dialogue: Common words used such as ‘thing/something’ ‘it’ to
describe the demonic spirit lurking in the house, Connotations to
“thing” could be abnormal or unknown.
• USP: Film recorded using a handheld camera used by actors instead
of using camera crew

8. • Conclusion: After watching this trailer I found that its quite
unique to most thriller trailers. This trailer, is also a reaction
video to the audience who are watching this. This can convey to
potential viewers that the film is indeed scary and it should be
watched.

9. • Mise-en-scene: Costume – normal present day clothing, location – a house,
lighting – Low key at dark, normal during the start of the trailer it makes the
movie feel more real, as if its an actual true story due to the period, as if the
same can happen in other homes. This can make the audience more fearful
as the POV shot makes it seem like that the audience themselves are there.
• Graphics – White markings on the floor, dark markings on actors skin to look
like bites
• Conventions: Whispering, screaming, darkness, spirits, demons. Counters –
Demonic possession of a person not the house. Films like Annabelle, The
Conjuring and Ouija reflect the same connotations as Paranormal Activity.
• Verbal/ Non verbal signifiers: Dark room signifies isolation, danger,
powerless

10. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2
• Directed by: Tod Williams
• URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07XbSk7Rjt4
• Length: 1:12
• Genre/Sub Genre: Horror/Supernatural

11. • Target audience:
Young teenagers
aged 15 up to adults
• Narrative: After a
series of break-ins
into a house, a
family sets up a
surveillance system
with cameras around
the house which
capture strange
events

12. • No. of Characters: In the
trailer alone there are only
three. A male character, a
dog and a baby. The male
character had the least
screen time as he seems to
be based on the film
prequel. The dog and the
baby have equal screen
time. The dog responds to
something by barking as the
child is just standing in it’s
cot. But then both
mysteriously disappear
when the mysterious figure
appears.

13. • Shots: Long shot– The number of shots
has been minimal in this film, but the
purpose of this shot is to establish and
show to the audience that they’re
monitoring everything in the house like
surveillance cameras that have
timestamps to the bottom right of the
screen

14. • Pace: Normal; mostly slow
paced – The trailer has some
moments where the pace picked
up at the first thirty seconds of
the trailer and at the end of the
trailer. This isn’t usually
expected in a Horror film as the
pace is usually high due to
unexpected moments in the film
such as jump scares and other
events that cause characters to
panic. An evidence of this is the
screenshot below. When a
picture like this shows this
usually follows with a loud
sound such as screaming which
can deliver pace to the film.

15. • Music and sound effects: Drums, wind, creaking
sounds, pots and pans, TV flicking sound, sinister
booming sound, pots and pans clashing
• Production Company: Blumhouse Productions – again
wasn’t evident on the trailer, the distribution company,
Paramount Pictures, wasn’t shown this time.

16. • Credits/Intertitles ‘IN 2009. YOU
DEMANDED IT’, ‘NOTHING CAN
PREPARE YOU, FOR WHAT’S NEXT’.
Movie title and website
• Transition/Editing: TV noise, cut to black –
The TV noise was used to stick with the
theme of cameras when you change
cameras like when you change the
channel on classic televisions
• Unique Selling points: Trailer entirely
recorded using surveillance cameras
instead of camera crew

17. • Conclusion: This trailer follows the idea of being unique
from its prequel Paranormal activity. This time the
trailer lacks dialogue and is filmed using film camera
placed in the corners to act as security cameras. I think
this is quite effective because it seems like the
audience. The clashing pots and pans at 39 seconds of
the film gives away the feeling of presence and
foreshadows the appearance of the mysterious figure.

18. • Mise en scene – Low key lighting is
used throughout the entire trailer to
place the audience in the dark
environment, a mysterious person at the
middle of the shot to show the main
area of attention. Location, a home,
inside the baby’s room. Child placed
centre-right with the dog lying on the
floor in the centre of the shot.
• Graphics – Timestamp at bottom right
side of the screen, a person covered in
total darkness
• Conventions: Darkness, Sounds. These
conventions are similar to the prequel
Paranormal Activity and Don’t Breathe
• Verbal/Non-verbal signifiers – Dark
room signifies danger and isolation and
the camera theme signifies some sort of
clairvoyance and a sense of security,
safety and warning.

19. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3
• Directed by: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
• URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90r3CnPI0AM
• Length: 1:36
• Genre/Sub Genre: Horror/Supernatural

20. • Target audience:
Young teenagers
aged 15 up to adults
• Narrative: The film
follows young sisters
Katie and Kristi who
find and befriend an
invisible being who
lives in their home set
in 1988

21. • No. of Characters: There are
4 characters in the trailer, A
male and 3 females. This is
based on a family therefore
we can say that the male is
the father behind the camera
who has no screen time,
there is the mother who has
little screen time who seems
to explain part of the story,
and there’s the two girls who
are the main focus of the
narrative who have the most
screen time on the trailer,
generally together.

22. • Shots: Two shot, close up,
high angle. Two (medium)
shot is a commonly used
shot to preview the sisters
together in the trailer, it’s
been used throughout the
entire trailer. The high angle
and close up was used for
the brief unexpected jump
scares in the trailer.
• Pace: Mid – Fast paced, the
amount of transitions and
random jump scares in this
trailer, helps speed up the
film pace. Many parts of the
film are being shown but are
very short, about one or two
seconds long. Although there
is a use of sound bridges that
do maintain the pace of the
trailer.

23. • Pace: Mid – Fast paced, the amount of transitions and random
jump scares in this trailer, helps speed up the film pace. Many
parts of the film are being shown but are very short, about one or
two seconds long. Although there is a use of sound bridges that
do maintain the pace of the trailer.

24. • Music and sound effects: TV signal, sinister booming
sounds
• Production Company: Blumhouse Productions – Signs
of the company producing the film, neither were the
production company.

25. • Credits/Intertitles: ‘THIS OCTOBER…. DISCOVER….. THE SECRET….. BEHIND THE
ACTIVITY’, Movie Title, Month of release
• Transition/Editing: TV noise, cut to black – The TV noise was used to stick with the theme
of cameras when you change cameras like when you change the channel on classic
televisions
• Unique Selling points: Recorded using a handheld camera

26. • Conclusion: This trailer is unique from all other horror
films, horror films mainly consist of low key and has a
convention of moving homes, demonic possession. But
in this movie it’s a lot different from the common horror
film.

27. • Mise en scene – There seems
to be a high amount of high
key lighting in this scene
instead of the usual low key
lighting in horrors,
• Graphics – There is a
timestamp on the screen
which makes the movie seem
more realistic. A mysterious
hiding in the bathroom in the
darkness behind the girls.
• Conventions -
• Verbal/Non-verbal signifiers –