This document discusses elements of the trailer for the film Paranormal Activity that could be used when creating your own trailer. It analyzes the characters, shots, sound, and themes used in the Paranormal Activity trailer. Specifically, it notes that the trailer focuses on a young American couple and creates tension by showing the shocked reactions of an audience watching the film. It also discusses appealing to a target audience of late teens to mid-20s and representing typical characters of that age group. Finally, it compares teasers to full trailers, noting that teasers aim to create intrigue rather than reveal the story.

1. Paranormal Activity
Trailer analysis

2. Trailer link and stills
• Trailer link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074

4. How can elements of these trailers be used in
creating your own? Look at themes,
characters, shots, sound, mise-en-scene
• The Paranormal Activity trailer uses 2 main characters of a
young American couple, there is a quick flash of an older
man but we don’t learn much about him from the trailer so
we can assume he is of lesser importance. The trailer
focuses on the idea of a screening of the film to an
unsuspecting audience to get their ‘real reactions’ to the
film, it uses many shots of their ‘shocked’ faces – this could
help attract an audience by making it seem scary and see if
other people can sit through the whole film. This part
of/style of trailer would be difficult to re-create as we don’t
have a cinema to screen the film and also we wouldn’t have
a whole film to screen, however that doesn’t mean it isn’t
an effective trailer as Paranormal Activity was a very
successful film.

5. Who is the target audience and how does the trailer
appeal to them? Give examples and then look at how
will this affect your trailer and its target audience?
• The target audience is displayed quite simply in
the trailer as it is essentially a recording of a
screening of a film. The target audience are late
teenagers (the film is rated a 15 in the UK) to mid
20s (the majority of the screening audience
appear to be mid 20s). The trailer is very jumpy
and the main protagonists are in the age gap of
the target audience so it becomes more
believable and relatable to them. We can apply
this to our trailer by using characters who are the
similar age to our target audience so it becomes
more relatable to them.

6. Who does trailer represent? Social groups, age,
gender, ethnicity? Who will you represent in
yours? (consider stereotypes)
• The film’s two main characters are white, mid
twenties Americans, we then see an older,
white American man who seems to be more
knowledgeable about the goings on. The
main characters are the typical American
couple who are outgoing and happy but then
this deteriorates as the trailer progresses and
things becoming scarier causing them to
become more on edge and jumpy – adding to
the frightening nature of the trailer.

7. What is the difference between a teaser and a
full trailer? What is the idea behind a teaser,
what should it do for the audience?
• A teaser is shorter than a full length movie
trailer which can be anywhere from 2-3
minutes long where as a teaser is usually only
1-1.30 minutes. A teaser is used more to
create a ‘hype’ and intrigue around the film
rather than tell the story, it plants the seed in
the viewers mind and makes them want to see
and know more if it is synergised well with an
effective marketing campaign.

8. FILM POSTER

10. Analyse the posters for your 3 trailers, do they
follow a consistent theme?
• The Paranormal activity poster features a dark colour
scheme of black, blue and grey but the red title adds a
pop of colour which the eye is drawn to while the
connotations of red suggest danger. The use of tag
lines such as: ‘what happens when you sleep?’ and
‘don’t see it alone’ make the audience was to see it so
they can prove the tag line wrong to a certain extent,
also the use of a rhetorical question sets the mind off
on thinking what the film could be about and increases
intrigue. The still of the film gives a general idea of
what it’s about (found footage) but we don’t see
anything scary in the picture which makes the mind
wander on what it could be about.