Paranormal Activity

Trailer analysis

Trailer link and stills

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

FILM POSTER

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.