Paranormal Activity 3 is best described to come under the genre of horror. This is because it has thrilling scenes which involves ghosts, possession, tense and reality which makes it scarier for the viewer.
The narrative of the feature of the film is advertising two young children spending family time with their father and mother – the father is filming his children playing on the trampoline. This all seems normal therefore it is balanced – equilibrium. Out of nowhere someone comes towards the camera with big, beady eyes. This relates to previous movies (Paranormal activity 1&2), this may catch the audience eyes to conceive about the ghost or that person.
The narrative refers back to the ‘normal’ stage for the family – the family time that the father has recorded. After that, there is a shocking and thrilling extract from the movie where someone is pulled out the room with no strings attached therefore this relates to the name of the movie as this is an example of a paranormal activity.
There seems to be a lot of static scenes which sort of acts as a transition for the trailer to move on to the next extract to tell the audience the narrative of this movie.
Again, the narrative at this point refers back to family time playing in the back garden and this time hula-hooping which tells the audience everything seems to be normal.
Furthermore the trailer reveals when this movie is releasing. And it shows the two children when they are older through a voice-over about the paranormal activity and the past. The trailer views the audience a picture which has been burned with fire around the child which seems to be clear.
It again, refers back to the family in the past in the kitchen laughing – again everything seems so normal.
The trailer then shows us the actress from Paranormal Activity 1+2 who had been possessed and it killed her bf. In part 2, she took the baby and ran away. This time the narrative tells us “the secret” which will be revealed if we watch part 3.
There is an extract from the part 3 showing the two girls as children in a room with a camera. They are then saying in the mirror three times “bloody mary” which may have provoked the ghost to interfere in their life. Who knows? – This is an open assumption made for the audience to think and to feel excited about the movie and to feel as if this movie has been a long, anticipated movie.
The trailer ends with static scenes giving a tenser ending and to feel more excited for the film and ends when the movie is going to be released which is in October.
This seems to be an effective trailer because it avoids and resolution or the ending because it leaves the audience to feel anticipated for it and it does not seem as an audience to feel like I have seen all the best bits.
Overall, the narrative is achieved through shots and a voice over. For example, when there was extracts from the family – time the voice over revealed the audience the family relation, names and what a typical family would do when spending quality time like “Katie, wave to the camera”. This reveals the audience what a typical/normal family would do when filming them. This links with the visuals of the shot because the trailer is viewing the children and the family time. Also, this sets up the narrative of the film as it is part of the “reality” and “normality” of what had happened to them was something unusual which creates the suspension and the tense atmosphere.
“I don’t remember anything”. This example of a voice over reveals that the two children as adults do not remember anything unusual. This automatically creates tense for the viewer therefore this should be considered as a good voice over because under the genre of horror it needs to create a tense and confused atmosphere. As a result who-ever enjoys this trailer may go and watch the movie later in October. This links with the visual because the trailer views us the children as adults and they were trying to remember what happened in the past which would have linked with the paranormal activity they go through. This sets up the narrative of the film because it is telling the viewers that they do not remember anything paranormal in the past which links with what is happening now for them.
“Remember the rules – say bloody Mary three times”. This dialogue instantly catches the audience attention due to the reason being as a myth by saying bloody Mary three times the ghost will appear in the mirror and will haunt you for the rest of your lives. It is bases on a story that if the Bloody Mary of Legend was beckoned it would then unleash an evil spirit from the past by chanting “Bloody Mary” into a mirror in a dark room with a candle. Maybe in this voice over the narrative has told us a bit too much in maybe why the ghost may have come to trouble them, but it could also be considered a good voice over. This is because of the myth of Bloody Mary and it has the power to spark imagination and the story used as a basis for the ghost stories.
The narrative order of the shots seems to be juggled around and not in a chronological order. But as the film is released in October 2011 I cannot really make an assumption on how it differs from the order in the trailer. But, generally all trailers are not really in chronological order. This is because the narrative of the trailer does not want to tell the whole story or reveal the best bits otherwise they would not get any audience to watch the film. As a result, I assume the trailer of Paranormal Activity shows different extracts from the movie to create more suspense and a reason why they should go and watch it.
There were 16 shots used in this trailer.
The pace of editing differs. From the beginning of the film the pace of editing is fair as it is using jump cuts to show the young children playing in the back garden. This helps to narrate the storyline and to quickly get to the point of which is supposed to create suspension for the viewers.
From 0:38 to 0:54 the pace of editing is fairly quick which builds up to the suspension from the beginning. Throughout this extract it shows bits and bobs from the movie which has scary bits and family time to create the adrenaline rush in which you would feel by watching this. As a result you would be feeling the need of wanting to watch the movie and see what is going to happen. After that, the editing pace slows down to the “bloody Mary” scene. This helps the audience to sustain their adrenaline rush into a fright! This seems to be a good tactic for trying to gain attention and with a little trailer it scares and frights the viewer.
There were static transitions used which gave off a good effect. This was to help to create the realism of the movie as it claims it was based on a true story therefore it helped to look like it was from a true story and the filming were actually real.
Also, there was a fade from white to black when the dad is filming presumably his daughters hula-hooping. The effect of this show in the concept of horror that they are in trouble or something bad is going to occur to his daughters. This probably was used to create pity for them as they are children and normal people and you could feel something bad is going to happen to them. As a result you are left feeling thinking what “bad” is going to happen to them and if they are going to ever survive.
The texts in the trailer are “This October” *clip* “Discover” *clip*”The Secret” *clip* “Behind the Activity” *clip* “Paranormal Activity 3”. This links with the visual in the movie because the trailer reveals some of the storyline which links with the text as the visual shows a part of something then the text goes with it. This is because the text then adds to the sequence. This sets up the narrative of the film because it is telling us the reason why this paranormal activity is occurring.
There is a soundtrack when the ghost or the person comes over to the camera in the bedroom. This helped create the genre of the film which is horror because as watching it, it gave me a scare and sort of spooked me.
Also, there is another soundtrack while the text reveals and it is some sort of dark sound. This instantly gave off the impression of tense and suspense which related to the genre as it is all about horror as it is trying to make the audience feel scared and ready to get frightened.
There is a medium shot of the young child jumping on the trampoline at the beginning of the film trailer. This is done to show the child playing normally and to imply everything seems to be normal and nothing is wrong. Also, it maybe is done to know what she is doing/saying and her interactions with other characters.
There is an extreme close up following from the family time of the ghost scaring the viewers. This is done to magnify the human eye would experience in reality. This was used to create a dramatic effect as at that very shot it frightens the viewers.
There is an establishing shot in the film used in where the mother is coming to check her baby toddler in his room. You could see a typical baby’s room with toys, crib and a baby. This is used to show the viewer one of the scary moments in the film and to show there is more to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment