Paranormal Activity 2 Trailer Analysis

Paranormal Activity was a popular horror film which made $19,617,650 in the USA in the first weekend of its release. Because of the success of the first film, it was no doubt that a second, third and fourth film would also be made.

The setting of Paranormal Activity 2 is similar to that of Paranormal Activity 1, where the story takes place in a family household; this is immediately scary to the average audience because they can relate to the normality of the setting and the possibility of fear in their own homes. Despite the interior of a home being typically a ‘safe base’ in horror films, the home in Paranormal Activity 2 is where the horror takes place.

The Paranormal activity 2 trailer has been edited so that it looks like it has been film by security and surveillance cameras, through the use of the screen being blue scale. This also tells the audience that it is night time which is conventional of a horror film for danger to happen in the dark and at night.

At the start of the trailer the screen is blank with flickering camera effect to give an eerie atmosphere. The audience is shown a clip from the previous film to give them a reminder of the story. This makes you jump because the camera is still and there is no movement in the shot, and suddenly a body is thrown at the camera which appears to fall over making the audience frightened and in anticipation of what will happen next. The female Katie appears in an extreme close up which makes the audience jump again.
The trailer then shows a clip of an audience watching the film in the cinema which opposes norms of films because they focus on the film; however, the use of this in Paranormal Activity 2 makes the audience feel scared because they can relate to the audience on screen. The frame then flickers and is grainy which gives the effect that the camera has malfunctioned; this also goes against norms of horror, putting the audience out of their comfort zone.
The trailer then shows footage from the current film which is also in blue scale again telling the audience that there are security cameras which log the film. The time is shown in the bottom right hand corner reading midnight so the audience knows that there is going to be fear and horror. After the shot of the young boy Hunter’s room, the trailer cuts to an exterior security camera shot and then to the kitchen of the house before returning to Hunter’s room; between each of these quick cuts there is a short flickering of the camera to put the audience on edge.  The screen flickers again and the inter-title reading ‘Nothing can prepare you’ appears and then another reading ‘For what’s next’ after another clip of Hunter in his cot with the family dog barking into the darkness. The use of separating these inter-titles allows the editors to create tension and drag out the suspense. This technique is also used where the trailer shows more security footage of the house before returning to Hunter’s room where an eerie female figure has appeared in the doorway and Hunter has disappeared. This then fades to the title ‘Paranormal Activity 2’ which flickers and fades as if being tampered with, creating a link between the film and reality. Very little of the plot is given away in the trailer leaving the audience unsatisfied but gives enough of an adrenaline rush to make them want to watch the film.

As I have mentioned before in previous posts, silence is extremely important to horror films because we notice when there is no background noise, making us pay more attention to the visuals of the trailer. This technique is used throughout the Paranormal Activity 2 trailer right from the beginning. Sounds of footsteps are heard at the start of the trailer over a black screen which creates fear because of the unknown and discomfort of no visual. The audience is then shocked by the loud crash as a body is thrown at the camera and again put into the discomfort of silence. When Katie’s face appears at the screen screaming is heard from an audience in the trailer which makes the real audience frightened too. The combination of jumpy editing and loud noises is typical of horror trailers, because not only are we shocked by the clip but also by thunderous sound effects. When returning to clips from the current film there is silence and then the familiar sound of the footsteps, telling the audience that they are going to experience the same fear from the first film. Between each clip of the house the flickering camera effect is paired with a scratchy noise, making the audience uneasy. When the dark female figure appears a loud booming sound effect is used to make the audience jump for a final time before showing the title and using scratchy sound effects. The lack of dialogue in the trailer adds fear because there is no normality for the audience to relate to and feel comfort in. Because of this there are also no hints of the direction that the trailer might go which keeps people on the edge of their seat and paying close attention.

The character establishment is limited because of the loose connection with the plot of the film shown in the trailer. The audience is able to conclude that the female figure is the same woman from the first Paranormal Activity film and can then make assumptions and draw conclusions about the other characters in the second film. Despite this lack of a connection with key characters, the audience are still intrigued by the trailer because of how restricted the trailer is in giving away the story. It leaves the audience unsatisfied and therefore thinking about it for a while after they have watched the trailer and then want to watch the film.

The theme of the film is clearly displayed as a horror film so the audience are sure whether they want to watch it or not. We know it is a horror because many conventions of horror are used in the trailer including low key lighting, jumpy edits, loud sound effects, signature sound effects, hints of uncertainty etc. The subgenre of the horror Paranormal Activity 2 is clearly evil spirits, ghosts and supernatural. There are no references to gore and torture in the trailer so the audience can assume that the film is free from that kind of horror and instead expects psychological and paranormal horror.