Paranormal Activity - Deconstruction

• The trailer starts with sudden, deep noise to set the audience on edge; this noise sets the film up as a horror.
• The anchorage tells us that the scenes shown are of one of the first audiences to ever see the film and by showing us how other audiences reacted to the film warns us that it is a horror that will keep us on edge and be unpredictable.
• The scenes show that the film is a supernatural horror: the characters tell us that they think ‘something’ is in the house; we see parts of mise en scene be moved apparently by an unseen character. Other parts of mise en scene are used to signify supernatural activity e.g. we see a ouiji board in one scene to show that a spirit or demon will be involved in the film.
• There is a backing track to the trailer but, other than this, there are only diegetic sounds; the film is made in a documentary style and the lack of non-diegetic sound makes the idea that the film is a documentary much more plausible. 
• There is some voice over towards the end of the trailer. The non-diegetic sound used is taken from another part of the film and tells us that the couple we are watching are in danger more so for recoding the film we are watching; the voice is foreboding as it is most likely taken from a scene earlier in the film than the short clip they show.
• Though the scenes on the screen start calmly and seem to be ordinary life we are made aware from the conversation that the situation is darker than it appears; the couple talk of something being in the house that they can’t see and this plays on people’s fear of what we can’t see or understand. The scenes in the trailer develop from ordinary ‘home video’ scenes to more violent and dark situations.
• The camera angles are quite limited as the camera is either being hand held or set on a tri-pod. This hand held camera movement at times creates canted angles which helps the audience feel confused and unsure of what is really happening – this is how the characters are feeling and this camera movement allows the viewer to empathise with the characters and puts us in there place. The hand held camera also keeps a  eye line match as we really are seeing what the characters are seeing.
• The audience is made to believe that the camera is being controlled by the characters (mainly the man) we see; because we are being controlled by the man we are, both when being hand held and when on the tripod, looking down on the characters – especially the girl. This can tell us that the girl is going to be the target of the villain in the film and she is the one who feels the most powerless.