Deconstruction of Paranormal Acitvity 2

Deconstruction of film opening scene: Paranormal Activity 2

Genre: Horror

Effectiveness: (camera angles, editing, sound, mise-en-scene):

The effectiveness of the supernatural horror that is portrayed in Paranormal Activity 2 is portrayed through many different techniques below are some of the main ones that help convey the genre of horror.

In the opening scene the sounds at the very beginning it starts of silent with non-diegetic sound of a camera recording and silence and then after a while of silence a baby crying which automatically signifies that something is happening. Diegetic sound of footsteps is used when the different rooms are being shown towards the beginning of the first scene, the diegetic sound of footprints makes the viewer think that there is someone in there but the viewer cannot see anything they can only assume through the use of diegetic sound.

The lighting that is used throughout the first scene at the beginning is very blue dark tone and this creates the idea of horror because it is different to lighting used in other films and it creates an eerie effect because it is dark creates a lot of shadow in the corners of the rooms shown in the blow screenshot from the first scene of paranormal activity 2.

 

 

The mise-en-scene in this is usually what is shown in a horror film the living room is shown in the first room and this conforms to common representations of horror films because horror films always show usual home like situations so that the viewers will relate and this will make them feel uncomfortable. This is done in paranormal activity as shown in the below screenshot when they show their family living room with everything that is expected to be in a family living room e.g. a family dining table, sofa, chairs, and a baby’s highchair.

 

 

 

 

 

The camera angle used here is a high angle where the camera is looking down upon the baby going up the stairs shown in the above screenshot. This shows that the baby is in danger and from this being in the first scene the viewers see the baby as one of the victims. This is shown in the above picture.

In the first scene of Paranormal Activity 2 there is lots of cuts when it is showing the different room it jumps quickly from one room to another and eventually takes us to the baby’s room where this leads to tension for the viewers and the fast movement up to then builds them up for this.

One of the editing techniques that I used is a cross fade where the first shot shown below emerges into the second shot shown below. This happens quickly and is unexpected. This in paranormal activity in the first scene could show that there is something about to happen in a different location that the viewers need to see. A cross fade shows a change in location in paranormal activity.