Genre Codes and Conventions Research - Paranormal Activity.

A 2007 American supernatural horror film. The film centers on a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. It is presented in the style of "found footage," from a camera set up by the couple in an attempt to photograph what is haunting them.

In this film, a lot of common horror codes and conventions are used. For instance, during the day, nothing out of the ordinary occurs, however during the night strange things start to happen. In horror movies, the dark is always associated with danger and so Paranormal Activity have gone along with this common convention. Another code and convention in a horror film is the disruption of normality and this is definitely portrayed in this movie. We can easily recognize that the family in the movie are living a normal life and through out the movie become disrupted from the supernatural presence that is in their home.

Codes and conventions in the movie however are always twisted and they don't always follow the route of a normal horror movie. One of the main ways in which the movie does this is by actually having the supposed victim of the movie in the end become the antagonist. This is is very unlike what usually happens in a horror film as their is generally an easily recognizable 'hero'. Another way in which the conventions of this genre are twisted are in the fact that in this movie, though the main atagonist is a supernatural force, it inhabits the bodies of the female characters causing them to kill. This is not what is expected of horror because usually it is the females who are seen as the victims.

The layout of the film itself is also quite unusual, the film itself is set out as if from the protagonists poitn of view or control because it is them who are actually recording the footage. This in a way creates the idea that it is them in control because it is from their perspective however through out the movie it becomes clear that this is not the case with strange things happening to them in their own home. This creates an uneasy feeling because usually the home is considered the safest place to be yet in this fim, this is where the danger is.

2007 - Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli)