Analysis of Paranormal Activity

I have decided to analyse the teaser trailer for Paranormal Activity 2.



If you double clip on the clip then it will take you to the youtube site and there you will be able to view the clip in full screen.


Within this analysis i will be looking at all the shots used and the idea's i think they are wanting to illustrate through this supernatural horror teaser trailer. Also the connotions given through the mise-en scene. Ending with what a successful supernatural teaser trailer would need to consist.


Within the first few seconds of the trailer we see a clip, the ending, of the first Paranormal Activity. This shows that its a direct follow on also suggesting that  there could be some specific links with characters. Also the clip shown from the previous film is one of the most jumpiest parts of the film which helps catch the audiences attention straight away. There is a canted angle used within this little clip showing the possessed woman and an extreme close-up of her. Again which suggests to us there is something not right. There's also a part where there is a shot of some of the audience in the cinema actually watching the first Paranormal Activity. A lot of close-ups are used portraying the full emotion: they look frightened and are screaming, the body language shows there uncomfortable - all this relates with horror. The back tracking clips of the first film are ended with a shot of static/white noise which we know are shown a lot in horror movies and is again reinforcing the genre type.


The trailer then jumps to the first shot we see of Paranormal Activity and this is an establishing shot of a babies bedroom. The fact its a babies bedroom this gives off innocence and makes the viewers feel emotion and straight away creates enigma's- 'will the baby be hurt by the demon?.' Within the shot there's a dog led by the crib in the bedroom. This portrays a typical roll of a dog, used as a protector. We see 3 high angle shots of the kitchen, living room and garden area which probably last for around 5 seconds and show the view of the home set-up camera. The fact there's nothing happening within these shots intrigues the viewers and makes us focus on every little bit as we don't know if or what's going to happen. The shot of the babies bedroom re-appears on a number of occasions: again creating enigma's, 'will this be the main setting for the film?', 'is this where all the actions going to take place?.' Within one shot of the bedroom the dog makes a sudden move of its head, looking at something. This immediately puts the audience on edge as we want to know what's happening. Then thinking of the saying ' dogs can see/hear everything', this intrigues the audience even more.
Text is then used 'Nothing Can Prepare You'- plain white text against a bold background. The whiteness connotates pure and innocence but from the sharp black background it connotates evil and death. The text is very dramatic and creates an impact on the audience. Text is again used 'For Whats Next' again adding to that dramatic effect as its linking to the previous text we've just seen. Also creates enigma's as we wonder what it could possibly be. 
The shot of the babies room is again used but this time we see a disfigured image stood in the doorway, looks like a woman. This straight away creates enigmas as it makes the audience question could this woman be the link and what if its the possessed woman from the first Paranormal Activity. As well as creating emotion for the audience as we dont want her to hurt the baby. 
Also the teaser trailer uses no form of sound just silence and adds to effect by creating tension. If music was used i don't particularly the trailer would work as good as we know that its a supernatural horror. The teaser trailer then ends with the effect of white noise on screen. Again portraying that its a horror. 


What i think a successful supernatural teaser trailer should include.....

• Dramatic text
• silence but maybe with the odd naturalistic sound relating to the film
• To create plenty of enigmas
• Disfigured images
• The effect static/white noise used
• Previews of naturalist occurrences
• Shots included from home set up cameras