MG: Technical Analysis

Paranormal Activity (Peli, 2009)
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1. Transitions between shots are as if the handicam has been paused and resumed between the small scenes:

Camera	Duration	Mise-en-Scene
Handicam	Throughout whole opening	Inside a modern house
Pan to left about 90 then back half way	5 seconds	Used to set the piece: begins with a shot of the television and pans round to the stairs and then back halfway and the person with the handicam is walking - very realistic situation.
Mid Establishing shot	3 seconds	Shows a man holding the camera in the mirror - introducing the protagonist - he is wearing a casual t-shirt and has stubble presenting the fact that he is just an average young man.
Low angle shot	2 seconds	Looking up the stairs to the landing, lights are all off upstairs, modern banister.
POV shot	14 seconds	Bleeping noise, his hand reaches out and holds down a button on a phone and says ‘Hey Babe, What’s up?’ and he releases and walks towards a door and goes outside as a white convertible car pulls up into the driveway. Text comes up on screen saying ‘San Diego CA, September 18th, 2006’. The car parks and a girl asks ‘What is that?’ referring to the camera that her boyfriend is filming her with.
Zoom	14 seconds	Zooming in and out on his girlfriend’s face as she gathers her stuff from the seat next to her and sits in the car watching him as she continues to ask him about the camera he has bought. She has long dark hair with sunglasses balanced on her head and is also wearing casual clothing again showing that she is just an ordinary woman.
Long shot	8 seconds	The girlfriend walks into the house and is still asking about the camera as her boyfriend walks towards her telling her to kiss the camera. The light on her face gets brighter as he walks towards her which she then states is from the light that is on the camera.
Close up	9 seconds	She is looking at her boyfriend and not directly into the camera as she asks in a quiet voice how much it cost, connoting that maybe money is an issue with them. He continues to ask her to kiss the camera but she refuses and kisses him instead whilst he turns the camera round to film the kiss.
Mid Close up	5 seconds	The camera has been paused and then resumed again in another part of the house but still with the girl in front of the camera. She is still intrigued by the camera and is looking at it and is trying to look from the other side of it.
High angle shot	5 seconds	The camera tilts down towards the floor as her boyfriend shows her something on the camera.
Canted angle	3 seconds	The camera then tilts on its side slightly, again because he is showing his girlfriend something on the camera.
Low angle shot	7 seconds	The camera then tilts up showing the lights on the ceiling and the stairs and the bannister on their landing again as he talks about how they are going to film ‘the paranormal phenomenon’.
Long shot	6 seconds	Of his girlfriend putting something in her handbag. As she continues to question how much the camera cost, he zooms into a mid close up of her.
Tracking shot	10 seconds	Filming behind her as she walks up the stairs, presumably to her bedroom, laughing at him filming her and asking him if he’ll cook the dinner - average conversation in an ordinary home.
Mid Long shot	7 seconds	The camera is positioned on the kitchen worktop showing the man preparing food. His girlfriend then walks into the shot and pours them each a glass of wine.

2. There is no musical soundtrack - just direct and diagetic sound to make the piece more realistic, for example, the dialogue between the two characters. Selective sound is also used to increase the realism, such as the door opening when the boyfriend goes outside to meet his girlfriend and the engine of the car as it pulls up onto the drive.  

3. The way that this opening is so realistic and looks very spontaneous is very effective as the audience are led to believe that the rest of the film is true. This is the effect we want to achieve with our opening and we will possibly use some of these shots to make our piece look more realistic, for example, the high angle and the canted angle one after the other whilst the man is showing his girlfriend how to use the camera. We could use this when someone picks up the camera at the party and doesn't know how to use it to make the piece look more natural.