Paranormal Activity

Yesterday on 07/12/09 me and about 10 other girls from my media class and Ms Foster all went to the cinema to watch Paranormal Activity. I wanted to watch this film anyway and seen as though Ms Foster had suggested we all go as part of our research I thought I would go along.

Once the film had started the first 10 minutes which are supposed to grab my attention did the completely opposite as I was beginning to lose interest and found it quite boring. It was in high key lighting so did not scare me at all and I was quite disappointed. But as I had seen the trailer beforehand, there was the bedroom shot which was evident throughout the film and as this shot came on screen I instantly became scared as I knew something scary was going to happen.

Most of the scary scenes happened in the bedroom shot at night and as it was in nightmode it added to the whole scary effect. The thrillers began mildly and gradually built up night after night until it reached the end that was so scary I was screaming out loud and jumped out my seat !

The first few bedroom shots were just the couple sleeping but no scary action, the reason for this was that they wanted to build the suspense so that when something does happen it appears shocking. The first scare was when the bedroom door shut slowly. Then it gradually built up with faster door slamming, heavy breathing, footsteps and shadows. The ones that I found the scariest were when Katie was dragged out of bed by the demon, when the footprints were seen in the powder and when Katie was standing watching Mika for hours and hours. I found this creepy as it made me think why she was doing it as it was really strange ! The footsteps were effective as it was revealed slowly by the use of a light. When Katie was dragged out of the bed I found it really scary but as Sophie was already laughing I ended up laughing as well!

The build up and suspense as to what was going to happen next was effective as whenever the bedroom shot came up I was guessing what was going to happen next as I had gathered that the scary action was going to increase night after night.

However, the camera angles were shaky and unsteady to show a real life home made video and although it portrayed this idea well it was annoying and uncomfortable to watch. The editing was also appalling as I mentioned to Ms Foster and she said it was meant to be like that but it annoyed me as I am currently in the process of editing our two minute film and we want it to perfection but there editing was terrible.

Everything the audience sees on screen is what is being filmed by Mika so if he is not holding the camera filming then we do not see what is happening. During one of the night scenes, Mika and Katie hear a noise and go downstairs as they are curious as to what it is. When Mika was heading downstairs trying to find the demon or some trace of it everything is seen through the video camera and the camera is used as a light source. I was constantly shouting 'Put the light on!' as it made it increasingly scary as we did not know what was to appear on screen next as we relied on the light source.

The end was the scariest as it was jumpy and I definitely found it jumpy as I jumped out my seat, screamed out loud and even scratched Ms Foster ! It also left us on a cliff hanger as the text appeared on the screen at the end with 'Katie's whereabouts still remain unknown' , this sent shivers up my spine...and then the lights came on ! The whole group had mixed opinions about it, some girls were saying ' That was so rubbish! ' whereas the likes of me and Trisha were still shocked by the end and Ms Foster was frozen !

I suppose it is the type of film that you either love or hate-I definitely loved it. For a low budget film that only took $10,000 dollars to make it is one of the scariest films I have ever watched.From watching this film I have learnt that buliding suspense throughout a film then ending with a shocking ending and a cliffhanger has such an effect on the audience.