analysis of paranormal activity opening.

Paranormal Activity starts with disclaimer text on a black background, giving the audience the feel that they are watching something that is a true story. This creates an atmosphere of tension as the audience don't know what to expect, and it being shown as being a true story makes it more real for the people watching it because it creates a sense of paranoia that this could happen to them. After the disclaimer, a subtitle appears on the screen giving away the date and place this was set. There are no credits or titles in this film which gives the audience a larger sense of this being real footage. Paranormal Activity is filmed soley with a handheld camera which we can identify in the first few seconds of filming. A convention of thriller and horror movies is to use handheld camera's as they show the audience what is happening mainly from the characters point of view, and because they're handheld, they're not steady and it makes it look a bit scarier. It starts with a somewhat establishing shot of the inside of their house, which is portrayed as an average american household in the first few minutes, this gives the audience a sense of belonging, like they can feel comfortable being in there. The music in the background of the first shot somewhat relates to the outcome of the film, it is quite heavy and screamy, which makes the atmosphere a bit darker. We are then introduced to one of the two main characters, Mikah. There are only 3 characters in the whole of this film, unless of course you count the scary demon person! The first minute the house seems fairly normal, and there isn't a lot that we can establish that this is a thriller from. We are then introduced to the second main character, Katie who is Mikah's girlfriend. There is a lot of dialogue that doesn't point to a reason for the camera or for why the film is a thriller in the first minute of it, it just talks about the camera. At 1:46 in the film, we are finally introduced to the fact there is a 'paranormal phenomenon' in their house, which automatically puts it into the thriller or horror genre of film.