Task 1.2 (Research - Genre Comparative Study)

I decided to look at Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity for my Genre Comparative Study, As I feel theese are two sucusessful horror movies with very effective trailers.i intend to compare the simularties and diffrencances in this post whilst picking up on the key caractristics in the trailers .
Cloverfield is a all filmed in a hand held aproch to intise you into the trailer and make you feel as if you are actaly there , which is a very simular aproch to how paranormal activety adressed there film and trailer they used a hand held style aswell also in a documentry format as the main protaginist tells whats going on why he is filming and so on for example in the trailer he says “ HD camera on , my girl friend katie thinks there is some thing in the house” this straight away shows the style of the film a hand held documentry from and everyday normal man and woman which with in the first 25 seconds of the trailer you know what the style in which this has been made.Cloverfield uses a the same style of intruducing the style of the film with in the first 20 seconds it shows handheld footage of a surprise party there is people filming on phones and a lot of movment from the camera which is in the croud of people , this is a imidate indication that this is going to be a hand held documentry style of film the film is set straight away to make you feel asif you are there in the scene. The idea of making you feel asif you are in the scene is to intise you and make it feel like a personal exsperiance with in the first 20 -25 seconds of the trailer the next parts of the trailer are furthermore similar in ways such as once the scene is set the composition of horrible noises and tension building music playing loudly and quickly in the background this applies to both of them they are extremely similar paranormal activity is a build of quick cuts of movement and loud diegetic sounds for example the door slamming closed. In Cloverfield there is also cuts of quick movement and loud diegetic sounds such as explosions and the head of the statue of liberty hitting the ground and sliding. In both films the sounds are distorted to create that feeling of vulnerability. Paranormal activity goes on to set give the viewers a little insight into what is going on , which is a few clues as to what is going on with out giving away to much the female main protagonist shows a bruise or bite on her back and the male protagonist says ” Jesus, looks like something bit you” shortly followed by a clip of a male talking about the disruptive force he says “ you can not run from this it will follow you” which is informing the audience that something is tormenting her and it will follow her she cant get away from it . Cloverfield also gives the viewer a insight into what is going on , the trailer cuts to as close up of the main protagonists face and he says “my name is Robert Hawkins , approximately seven hours ago something attacked the city. If you found this then you properly know more about it than I do.” This does exactly what paranormal activity does.

However Cloverfield and Paranormal activity address the same style of doing what they have to in two very different ways, for example paranormal activity goes straight into the documentary style by setting up the camera showing exactly what he intends to do and they have a clear knowledge of what is going to happen and providing the audience with a clear understanding of what basically is going to happen. Were as Cloverfield on the other hand does the complete opposite it starts with a party and shows they are filming the party they have no idea that the city is about to be attacked its just fortunate that they are filming at the time. This means clover field is more trying to use the element of surprise so you feel the same emotion and shock as the characters feel. Furthermore in Cloverfield there is alot of panic and disorientation and how they are out in the big city open to vulnerability in the middle of then night and mass destruction is taking place. However in Paranormal activity they are in there own house in the own room were this disruption is only involving to two people in there own house there is no destruction involved in this trail there nearest thing is the door being slammed and the main protagonist being thrown against the bedroom wall