Paranormal Activity Trailer Analysis. Ryan Ward.

The trailer starts off by immediately stating the target audience of the film. It then moves on to show normal everyday people queuing up to see the film, and sitting down waiting for the film to start, who are apparently some of the first people to see it in the world. The camera records the people in the audience in a quite scary night vision mode effect. The trailer then shows a bit of the actual film, with the two protagonists of the film clearly talking about some strange happenings going on in the house that they are living in, and setting out to record these happenings on their ‘amateur’ cameras, - with this outlining the basic storyline of the film while not giving too much away, within the first 30 seconds of the trailer. A shot of the audiences unnerved reaction is then shown, to show what effect the film is having on them, i.e. if it’s scary or not. It then goes back to the actual film, showing the couple locking everything up and turning the lights off etc., and shows the couple in bed asleep in the middle of the night, building up tension and making the audience think “what’s going to happen next?”. A shot is then shown of a light/lightshade moving on it’s own in the middle of the night in the pitch black dark, which is of course creepy and makes you wonder why and how. Also note that nothing is shown to have moved it though. A shot of the on-edge audience is then shown, showing that the film is definitely effective in scaring the audience. The couple in bed are then shown again, asleep in bed still, until a loud noise and scream startles them awake, and scares the living daylight out of the audience simultaneously, but still showing nothing that actually moved the light or made the loud noise. It is now rather obvious that the film greatly uses the art of suggestion, meaning that it doesn’t actually show the demon (in this case) who is causing the strange happenings, but instead only shows the actions of the demon, up until near the end of the film. This is a brilliant technique to use as it greatly builds up an extremely tense atmosphere, and allows for an endless amount of points for thought and discussion. If the demon was just shown straight away for example, then the atmosphere would’ve been cut straight away, no tension could be built up easily, and hardly any points for thought and discussion could occur. A shot of powdered footsteps is then shown, showing that something is obviously out there causing terror, a spine-chilling thought for the audience for sure. This is then followed by a shot of the couple in bed asleep in the middle of the night again, and it appears that something is crawling into bed with them, with a big gust of wind occurring shortly afterwards, completely lifting the bed sheets up and causing the door to slam, terrifying the couple and the audience yet again. It’s safe to say that the film is certainly meeting it’s designated purpose at this point in time, and the art of suggestion is still effectively being used at this specific part too. “Paranormal Activity is one of the scariest movies of all time” then takes up the whole screen, giving the audience of the trailer a second opinion on the film rather than them just thinking their own thoughts about it, perhaps making them feel obliged to go see the film just to see if it really lives up to the surrounding hype of it, of course increasing the potential success of the film. A shot is then shown of the female protagonist of the film showing off a bite that’s strangely appeared on herself, posing the

question of “what’s bit her?”, and showing that something’s obviously out to get her. “Genuinely horrifying” then takes up the whole screen, serving the exact same purpose as the previous quote. A professional looking man then says that something is following the female protagonist of the film, which is obviously a scary thought for herself, the people in the film and the audience to think. “The entire auditorium was freaked out of their minds… People were physically shaken” then takes up the whole screen, yet again serving the same purpose as the previous couple of quotes. A shot of the audience is then shown, evidently in an unnerved stated, followed by a quick change to a fuzzy screen and a shot of the female protagonist rocking backwards and forwards on her lonesome. This quick change makes you jump and your heart rate increase, with this being the trailer’s main goal. “Experience it for yourself” is then shown, with quick scary snippets of the actual film being shown inbetween separate parts of that phrase, yet again making you jump and your heart rate increase. The female protagonist clearly exclaims “What is happening to me?”, showing that the main storyline of the film perhaps is to do with her as an individual, and that the demon is after her personally? A point of view shot is then shown of someone opening a door in the dark, with the main protagonists of the film shouting “What is it?” and “It’s not a ghost!”. It is vital that trailers give some insight into the film’s storyline, but at the same time not give too much away, and this particular trailer follows that rule perfectly. The audience is then shown ‘jumping out of their own skin’ in terror, followed by someone or something flying towards the camera before briefly cutting to fuzziness, and then complete black. “Paranormal Activity” then appears in a fuzzy, distorted text, the name of the movie. This has tactically been put where it is as the audience have had to watch the whole trailer before finding out what the name of the film is, increasing the potential audience turnout of the trailer. If the name of the film was stated right at the very beginning of the trailer for example, then people wouldn’t bother watching the whole trailer as they’d already know what it was advertising. A quick shot of an unrecognisable thing is then shown, before quickly showing the release date for certain locations for the film. Finally the trailer ends with a screen advertising a website for people to go on and “demand” for the film to be played in their area if it isn’t being already, and some companies involved within the production of the film are stated as well.

I personally think the trailer is brilliant at doing what it’s supposed to do; it greatly advertises the film, and certainly attracts the right target audience. I shall most definitely be using some techniques used in this film trailer in my own project.