Paranormal Activity Analysis

The opening of the film begins with a wide shot from a hand held camera as
Kristi films her sister Katie and son Hunter. The characters wear casual clothing
and is set in the house back garden as they sit outside by the pool enjoying the
sunshine. Through the use of diagetic dialogue Kristi
tells Hunter who sits on his aunts lap Hunter this is
for you from your favourite aunt Katie as she
hands him a present. This scene portrays a natural
situation, the family spend time together and
sharing gifts to display their love as a family.
Continuity editing is used to then show Katie leaving
the house, again through the use of the hand held
camera. Dialogue is used as Kristi says to her sister Bye sis displaying their
caring sisterly bond.
The use of normality in this scene is extremely clich for a thriller film and so the
audience can guess that something will happen to break the family relationship.
This is then shown when there is a cut to a blank screen displaying information
that tells the audience that the baby Hunter was abducted on the 9 th October
2006. Abduction is a convention of thriller films and also supports the idea that
something is going to happen to the family.
In the next scene we see a use of a high angled shot displaying night vision and
the current time acting as a security camera. This gives the impression that
something has previously happened in the family home that makes them want to
be alert of what is going on in the house. Kristi is seeing to her son who is
unsettled, she cradles him around his
bedroom. The room is stereotypically
decorated for a baby with a changing
station and toys on the floor, accompanied
by a cot with a mobile, which has
connotations of sinister effects as in thriller
films they are seen to spin and play music
by no accord of human action. Both of the
characters wear pyjamas to portray the night time setting and the idea that
scary things happen during the night.
Again through the use of the high angled security camera we see Katie standing
in the messy living room which illustrates the idea of a messy well worked family
home. She holds a glare at the wall and is also wearing her pyjamas which leads
the audience to know that she isnt supposed to be in the house. We then see
her stiffly walk out of the door and another high angled shot shows her walking
upstairs. Her silent nature and the silence of the house causes tension, her
previous glare and rigid movements connote to the idea of being possessed
another convention of thriller films.
We are then taken back to Hunters room which shows Katie walking towards the
bedroom door in suspicion showing her anxiousness to the atmosphere in the
house. She then steps backwards into the corner of the room clutching onto the
baby as Katie bursts through the door. Her NVC displays anger to which she then
throws Katie into the camera and pleonastic sound is used to create the sound of
a crashing and diagetic sound hears the baby crying. The shot continues to stay

within Hunters room as Katie leaves to show no activity from Kristi which allows
us to understand she is dead which is a typical convention of a thriller film.
Continuity editing is again used to show more high angle shots of Katie leaving
the house with Hunter, displaying her walking down the drive way holding the
baby in her arms.