Normal Activity - Trailer Analysis

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Normal activity

• Analysis of the trailer for -

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• As in any other trailer I have analysed, the
  trailer we created begins with the typical shots
  showing rating and the production companies, we
  have used existing, known names purely for the
  purpose of this media coursework.
• There is a sequence of these three shots, music
  begins to play when Dimension Films appears.
• The music is slow, notes are being played on the
  piano repetitively creating an eerie atmosphere
  and tone from the start as we learnt from our
  research that horror/spoof trailers begin giving
  off a scary impression so the music we added
  works well and is very appropriate. We used the
  programme Soundtrack Pro to source this music.

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• As one of the main films we were spoofing was
  Paranormal Activity we decided to use a similar
  font to them when using text, a white font using
  a slight glow effect in courier new, we also
  intended to make sure the same style font was
  used on the magazine cover and poster in order to
  tie the three products together.
• To display the text in a different way, we
  decided that it shall enter the screen in the
  type-writer style, quite slowly as this creates
  more tension

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• This first shot was a close up of character
  Graces face as she brushes her teeth to show
  every day action occurring before she notices
  something and looks scared, this is meant to
  intrigue the audience.
• This shot is followed by a fade, consequently
  into more text appearing.

• As the first shot of action begins, the gruff
  narration is present which is a convention we
  came across in our research and wanted to follow
  it as it is vital in creating the true sense of
  horror.
• However, to show that this is a spoof film, the
  line was This summer, in winter, next spring...
  mocking the release date of the film which gives
  the audience a clue that this may not be a simple
  horror film.
• We recorded actor Daniel Beaton with a Zoom H4
  and microphone for the narration and edited the
  voice to a deeper pitch to create a gruff and
  harsh tone.

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• An example of shot reverse shot being used in the
  trailer is when the couple are conversing as
  Logan cant see what Grace did, you can see that
  they are in the same location due to the high
  angle shot used on Grace and the low angle shot
  on Logan.
• During this sequence of shots there is also the
  ambient sound of running water out of the tap.
• Many of the cuts are fades, adding to the
  suspense as the fades are quite slow, elongating
  the tension felt.

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• There is a large variety of different shots
  throughout the trailer, showing different angles
  and sizes, for example an over the shoulder shot.
• In this sequence of shots we obtained the sound
  of a doorbell to place over them to lead nicely
  into the opening of the door introducing the
  pivotal character.

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• This is an interesting take on a medium close up,
  something different from the conventional shot as
  it shows the shadow of a mysterious character,
  perfect for the horror genre as this shot builds
  tension.
• Once Tobias is introduced a sound effect is used
  to mix up the rest of the trailer, introducing
  the spoof element of the genre, this brings on
  the end of the piano music and begins with the
  playing of a quick, upbeat soundtrack. This was a
  typical convention we had noticed when analysing
  other trailers in the horror/spoof genre.
• One moment which occurs giving off the danger
  element of the trailer which will intrigue the
  audience is when Tobias is dragged into the
  bedroom in medium close up.

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• This over the shoulder shot, displaying Tobias in
  the centre is an important moment in the trailer
  as it makes specific reference to and mocks
  another horror film The Devil Inside
• This helps bring in a wider audience as it would
  intrigue fans or critics of the film as they
  would be interested in seeing which similarities
  occur between both films.

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• This trailer helps demonstrate different filming
  and editing methods which we as a group felt we
  accomplished through our texting of the
  equipment. A variety of things are done in order
  to show this, for example, editing the speed of
  certain shots so they are in a fast motion-
  increasing chaos.
• This shot shows the character Tobias looking
  directly at the camera, this would make the
  audience feel quite uncomfortable as they are now
  more involved in the action.

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• The lighting throughout the trailer varies but is
  mainly mid-key, however in some of the scarier
  shots they decrease down to low-key lighting and
  in moments on comedy this increases to high-key,
  this helps represent and portray the genre well
  to the viewer.

• This is the darkest shot of the trailer, it is
  also the shot which is meant to leave the
  audience hanging as it shows the shadow of a
  weird creature and the couple looking petrified.
  Using a shadow rather than an actual creature was
  a good idea as we wanted to give the viewers
  something to talk about and question, this will
  then ensure that they attend to watch the film
  when released.

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• We took influence for the title shot from the
  trailer for Paranormal Activity. We also decided
  in following conventions from other trailers in
  our genre as they generally kept to a white/dark
  colour scheme.
• The title looks bold and the eerie glow around
  the text helps represent a type of paranormal
  activity which intrigues people.

• The date is also in the same font and it is
  important that the date it included alike in
  other trailers as this helps arouse attention
  towards the film.
• There is also a website address at the bottom of
  the shot for the film, this helps the rise in
  interest as anyone can look into the film, it is
  also a goo example of cross-media advertising.
  Other methods we could include in the future are
  Facebook pages or twitter sites.

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• As part of the mise-en-scene the costumes are
  important and I believe that the costume that the
  actors are wearing portray their characters well
  and arent over-the-top how some may design for a
  spoof film.
• The composition of the trailer overall, I believe
  to be good and consistent and represents the
  genre very well by following and also breaking
  some typical conventions.