Movie poster for Paranormal Activity

This is the official movie poster for Paranormal Activity. It is quite a simple poster, yet captures the main idea of the film in the one picture. The film is about a couple who film in the bedroom whilst they sleep so they have evidence of any paranormal activity that happens whilst they are sleeping. So, in the image on the poster it shows the couple in the bed - where most of the film is filmed- and them looking at the open door as if someone is there who shouldn't be (however there isn't anyone that can be seen). The photo is also in night vision like from a hand held camera to show that most of the film is done at night and from a hand held camera.

The poster also features a quote so we get an idea of what a viewer thought of the film. The quote that is used is obviously going to be a quote that make the general public want to see it as this is the whole purpose of advertising from film companies.

There is also a sort of tagline on the movie poster saying "what happens when you sleep?" This question gives the public a good idea of what the whole story will be for the film if they don't really know anything about the film.

I also noticed at the bottom of the poster it has a thing saying about demanding the film to be shown at your local cinema. This is because the movie was originally shown at film festivals before its general release in the cinema. Where it wasn't a huge film, it wasn't shown everywhere but there was the choice to have it brought to your local cinema if enough interest was raised by the general public.

"Paranormal Activity" - Official Trailer [HQ HD]

Here is the official trailer for 'Paranormal Activity'.

The plot of the film is a young couple move to a new home in the USA but quickly become terrorised by a paranormal presence which starts to take over their lives.

As you can see from the trailer, it is in a sort of documentary style where we are sold to the film through the audiences reaction and parts of the narrative- not just the narrative of the film. At the beginning of the trailer it also shows text saying that they held pre-release audience screenings of the film. The audiences reactions in the trailer were used to create 'hype' around the film in the media and via word of mouth. This leads me to believe it had a positive effect because the film made nearly $200 million from only costing a mere $15000 to make!!

The trailer doesn't actually use any music, it uses the actors voices to give some understanding to what the narrative is about. This is surprising because nearly every trailer for a scary film I have seen has used tense music to create tension in the trailer. There are some loud bangs in the trailer to give shocks and make the viewers jump to give them an idea of what is to come in the film.

The film has no A-list actors/celebrities, only Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat who play the two main characters. This is unusual as most successful box office films contain popular A-list celebrities, however this is done because the film is supposed to be about real events and therefore to get this across to the audience they really need to have actors/actresses that make the film and narrative look like it could be a 'real' scenario.

In terms of editing of the trailer, there are jump cuts throughout to give the idea of suspence and a fast moving narrative. It also keeps jumping to the audiences reaction and then back to some shots from the narrative. This is done to again create tension and make you want to know what is happening in the film for the audience to react in such a way.

By Kate.

What are genre conventions?

Genre conventions are the 'specific settings, roles, events and values that define individual genres and their sub-genres'.

We, as an audience, become rather highly conditioned to expect certain things within a particular genre, such that we can be highly critical of or even reject or distrust something that doesn't follow what we expect to find- i.e. if it fails to follow what we call its genre conventions.

For example, in a horror film we would expect scary, tense music throughout to build the tension. Another example would be that in a comedy we would expect exaggeration of the situation and usually a happy ending.

By Kate.

What is a movie trailer and where might a trailer be seen?

A 'trailer' or 'preview' is an advertisement for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema, on whose screen they are shown. The term 'trailer' comes from when they used to be shown at the end of a feature film at the cinema, however this practise didn't last long because people used to leave the cinema after the film ended and not stick around for the trailers. The term 'trailer' has stuck, but they are shown before a feature film starts now.

Movie trailers are most commonly seen at the cinema before a feature film starts. However, Internet viewing has become increasingly popular for trailer viewings - especially for lower budget films that don't have huge amounts of money to spend on expensive cinema screenings. Trailers can also be seen on the television and can sometimes be broadcast over the radio.
By Kate.