Analysing Paranormal Activity Opening

Paranormal activity is a perfect example of a pshicological thriller. It opens with a black screen with white writing on with writing that portrays the film to be real life. The first shot the audience sees is a long shot of a flat screen television and the camera then moves around in a wobbly way. This straight away shows you it is a hand held camera which makes the audience feel that it is real. The camera leads to a reflection of a middle aged man holding a very big and heavy camera in the mirror. This shows that he has a lot of money because of this big expensive camera. The camera then shows the audeince around the lounge and shows the stairs. This gives the audience a sense of welcome into the house. The phone then starts ringing in the background and the audience are then led to the kitchen by the camera. The middle aged man then answers the phone and the camera then cuts to outside the front door watching a small white convertable that has a young woman inside. Obviously they are partners by the way they speak to eachother. The man calls her "baby", and straight away she asks what he is holding in his hand. This shows that the two of them have a very close relationship. The camera is slowly zooming in to the woman sat on the drivway in her car while chatting. The man is obviously experimenting with his new camera by the tone of his voice. The man then asks her to park the car and the camera cuts to the woman walking through the door talking to him. They are messing around with the camera and she kisses him which then shows they live together and that they are very close, young partners. Still hand held the man shows the womans every move. He watches he go up the stairs and shows thier everyday life which makes the film look even more realistic. It is based in a bogstandard house with normal furniture in a normal street, which makes the film seem more real because it could happen to anybody. She then starts messing around and experimenting with the camera herself and only seeing the archway of the lounge, you hear in the background them talking why they have the camera. She asks him if he thinks it will work and he says that it will catch whatever "paranormal activities" that are occuring in the house. This gives away the story and the audience then understand what is going to happen and the storyline .