Paranormal Activity 4 Trailer analysis

I am going to do an L.I.I.A.R analysis of the Paranormal Activity 4 official trailer directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.

As usual the trailer starts with institutional distribution information and appropriate audiences for this trailer and the movie itself. This is a legal warning for the audience as not all audiences are suitable for a horror film, depending on how many horror codes and conventions have been used.  For example swearing, disturbing images, violence and supernatural presence. Majority of the horror films are 15+. I know this because most horror films are there to create a negative visual image and make the audience feel uneasy. Although younger audience like to challenge themselves to watch horror films, it’s up to them as they’ve been advised to watch this film 15 and over so that you’re left less traumatised. This film was distributed by Paramount pictures which means this film has been produced to mainly appeal to a mass audience therefore the ideology of the film would be good quality, mainstream actors, personal music producers and a variety of props and locations. 

In the cinematography this is an extreme long shot of the house from a CCTV point of view. This shot gives the connotations of mystery and suspense. The time and the colour effect of the footage creates tense because the audience are in for a surprise. The timing on the bottom corner of the shot tells the audience that it’s late and conventionally supernatural presence happen at night time.  In the mise-en-scene there are frames of family pictures and a pram, this tell the audience that a happy family are about to experience terror.

This shot has a subtitle introducing some characters and giving a brief idea to the audience what’s happening in the narrative.  In the cinematography a high angle of the girl walking gives the connotations of weakness and vulnerability. Stereotypically women are portrayed weak this however will keep the audience excited, as they’d want to see what happens to the girl. In the mise-en-scene the lighting is dark this tells the audience that something is coming in the narrative. Also it’s conventional to have dark lighting to create suspense for the audience.  The sound during this scene was a non diegetic sound of a baby crying this suggests that the baby is a victim and innocent this would also make the audience feel sympathetic and scared for the baby. 

In the cinematography this is a close up of a girl looking shocked. This tells the audience that she’s just seen something and it’s quite scary. This camera is also hand held to create a documentary feeling and a sense of reality for the audience to feel more engaged to.  The black background is a contrast to the character as she looks like an innocent victim as her makeup is very light giving the connotations of vulnerability and perhaps foreshadows something is going to happen. In the sound there was an asynchronous sound of the police siren to suggests that danger has already occurred, this will engage the audience as they'd like to see what's happened and what might happen to to the girl if she see's the danger. This siren also links back to the first subtitle '' Katie and Hunter's whereabouts remained unknown'' as usually polices are part of cases for missing people. 
 

In the editing there’s a subheading ‘’This October’’.  We know that October is Halloween month and therefore creates excitement for the audience, as they know that to watch this film in autumn season when days gets shorter, it will be more fun and scarier.  This is a marketing of the product to be established of the release date.

In the mise-en-scene the characters costume is shorts, this links with Laura Mulvey’s theory as she said that women in media are seen as objects for male audience to gain pleasure from. Although this character isn’t as revealing in her costume there’s P.O.V shot and a tilted close up of the TV screen. This signifies that the person watching this has a lot of control. This also makes the audience excited because they finally get to see what the enigma is. The little boy to walk in the room with her back to his face creates suspense for the audience as they also get an insight of what’s happening in the house. 

In the cinematography A close up has been used to demonstrate the child’s facial expression and also for the audience to see the green light effect happening on the little boys face. The green light looks scientific and alien-fied; this suggests to the audience that this little boy has a mystery that the audience need to solve by watching the film. The fact that there’s a little boy in a horror film will perhaps relate to an older (parent) audience because they’d want to relate to the child physiologically to gain more knowledge perhaps.  This little boy could make the older audience feel they have an attachment with him because in this scene he looks scared, lonely and looks confused with no one  around him. In the sound there was an asynchronous sound of a girls dialogue; ''it's 3 in the morning...... Robbie tell me who you're talking to'' this creates suspense for the audience because child has an unsolved mystery. we then hear a scream and the camera shakes as if the character was being attacked or she had a shock. This suggests tot he audience that there's something unusual happening in the house which no one guess why. This scene will leave the audience feel surprised as it's different to other horror trailers because we don't actually see anything scary or fantasy. In the editing there was a continuity editing used to create a sense of reality and a documentary feeling and to also match the hand held cinematography.
 

In this clip, the cinematography is a medium long shot of the girl’s body lifting by the supernatural presence. This gives the connotations of how supernatural presence controls people’s lives and body. This also gives a negative representation on a female as she’s being controlled which gives the connotations of weakness.

In the cinematography there’s a medium long shot to show the audience the spooky location. In the mise-en-scene we see furniture’s covered up in white blankets, this connotes that this house is old and belonged to someone in the past. In the editing the colour effect is white and black to give the effect of horror. This is a conventional way to set the audiences mood in to tense mood as they don’t know what’s coming. We know that all trailers have to be made appropriate for all audiences to watch, but this particular scene indicates that the audience for this film will be for teenagers and above. Legally horror films are only permitted for 15+. In the editing the pace gets faster to connote fear and panic and by in this scene there's an asynchronous dialogue ''someone help me'' coming from a girl.  Once again the girls been portrayed weak. 

Finally at the end the title of the film appears. This is used at the end so that the audience remember the film name and watch it at cinemas.  The green glow from the font gives the audience a hint that this is about a little boy who had the green light effect on his face.

The narrative structure of this trailer is using Todorov’s theory as the trailer starts off with a calm household and develops in to a the story line. This is a typical structure for a film or a trailer which also makes it easier for the audience to have a clue what the film will be about.