Paranormal Activity 3 film analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90r3CnPI0AM

I have decided to base my second horror film analysis on paranormal activity 3 which is an American supernatural horror film produced in 2011. It is the third film that has been created of the Paranormal Activity series and it supposed to serve as a prequel to the first two films, being set as though it happened 18 years before the events of the first two films. The whole Paranormal Activity series has been a big hit on the screens, breaking financial records upon release. This film was directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, with the production side being handled by Jason Blum, Oren Peli, Steven Schneider and Akiva Goldsman. The main stars of this film include  Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown and Christopher Nicholas Smith, which aren't names I have come across before in films or any other screen performances; however the inimitability of this particular work makes it a must see for viewers. It interprets every day life, making it possible for the audience to engage with the complete realism of the work. The distribution company responsible for the marketing of this film is Paramount Pictures.


The narrative structure of this particular film does, a great deal of the time, follow Todorov's narrative structure. For example, as the film commences an equilibrium is shown where the film recapitulates over the first two works. This gives the audience the ability to understand completely what is going on and that the film has skipped backwards in time. The film commences with a birthday party of one of the protagonist characters, showing everyone to be content and enjoying themselves, further demonstrating the equilibrium. I find that the equilibrium is disrupted after not very many minutes into the film at all where the audience are shown the sister of Kate, called Christy, communicating with herself (later revealed as a poltergeist) in the house. This possibly presents the first sudden disequilibrium as it makes the audience aware immediately that there is something very wrong. There is then a further disruption to the calm where the poltergeist is seen for the first time. This shows the audience that there is something further wrong with the certain happenings inside the house. The fact that Christy tells her mother that she has secrets from someone named Toby presents to both the audience and the characters that Toby is the ghost within the house. Following this, a link is shown towards Todorov's theory who believes the next stage is the recognition. The film presents the recognition when the mother and others in the household start placing video cameras around the house to try and catch footage of the spirit by camera. They have realised that something is wrong and they are trying to do something about it. Todorov believes that the next stage within a typical horror film is the stage of trying to repair the disruption caused. I find that Paranormal Activity 3 however challenges Todorov's view here as the poltergeist defeats and completely takes over the family. This is where a new equilibrium within the film presents itself.

The audience would expect Paranormal Activity 3 to be follow the same typical conventions of Paranormal Activity 1 and 2. They would expect it to contain similar supernatural elements so that it is more realistic and not as though a completely different film has been created. Also, to make it follow the previous two, the same setting would be used which is inside the house. This will make the audience appreciate the realism of the film even more. The fact that this movie is filmed in the style of "found footage", where the couple in the film set up the camera in an attempt to catch the ghost makes the film even more like real life, and no music is played, causes the audience to feel more involved and therefore making it easier to scare and shock them. The audience would probably expect the ghost to be the one defeated in this horror movie, like he/she is in the vast majority of horrors out there; however it is actually the ghost who wins which will possibly annoy the audience as it isn't very conventional and they won't be used to it.

It's difficult to place Paranormal Activity 3 under what year it best suits in horror film history as it is so inimitable; however in my opinion it works with the 1960s-70s horror decade with the use of ghosts and Satanism in that vast majority of works. I find it works well with this particular decade in history as this was when paranormal incidents began making an appearance within horror. It would appear that numerous ghosts started to make an appearance within these ten years of horror. Paranormal Activity 3, to be successful, has to use certain aspects which other horror films use to make it fit in properly with the genre. I find that it does this well as it includes a great deal of shock elements, where the characters are unexpectedly and suddenly dragged down in their house. The fact that it is so realistic with the way it has been shot as though the characters are filming it is very effective and it creates eeriness due to the natural sounds  used instead of effects, further highlighting that it is a horror.

This film, yet again, is a tough one to link in with Vladimir Propp and his theory of character roles. I would say that there is only clear evidence of a villain within the film, who is obviously the ghost, Toby. Some may look upon the Grandmother as a villain as well as she is the one who kills the mother, her own daughter and the children; however one could argue that it is because of the ghost's influence that she has done this, therefore he is even more of a villain. I wouldn't say there is evidence of a hero within the film as everyone is defeated.

With regards to Binary Opposition in horror, I would say that Paranormal Activity 3 does present a clear boundary between the good and the evil. The evil, quite clearly to the audience, is the poltergeist, Toby. The good are the innocent humans whose lives are being taken over by this evil poltergeist. However, the grandmother does turn evil at the end which portrays that possibly the divide isn't actually very clear, as one would not be anticipating this to happen.

To conclude, in my opinion Paranormal Activity isn't a very conventional horror piece as it seems to create its own style of genre which isn't directly similar to any other film I have seen. I find that this makes the work even more scary for the audience as they won't be used to it, Also, the fact that it is so much like a real story taking place with the "found footage" and natural effects, makes the audience feel as though they are there and experiencing it themselves.