Final Cut Comparison #2

Paranormal Activity (2007) Opening Scene

Both the opening to our film and the opening to Paranormal Activity included a scene with a car pulling up to the driveway, which was just coincidentally an element that we both decided to include in our narratives. Of course, both of our films featured a long shot from the inside of the house with the main character entering. However, a lot of the kinds of shots and angles that were used in Paranormal Activity we did not have to include in ours. The major reasoning for this we used were because Paranormal Activity is a found footage film, so they had more restrictions as to where the camera could be placed. Additionally, a lot of shots involve a full view of their characters' faces, as they both have the ability to speak directly to the camera. This also ties to another major difference, which is the fact that their film includes dialogue, whereas ours does not. This is because there are two characters in their film, and it is necessary to establish context/a relationship between them. 

Paranormal Activity's opening similarly has dimmer lighting and lower video quality because their film was independent and lower budget as well, but this also makes sense because of the found footage style. This contributes to an eerie ambience in their film, but it still appears brighter/more normal in comparison to ours. You can tell that nothing spooky is meant to happen this early in their film, as opposed to ours, which still has that lingering implication. I found it amusing that both their film and our film included a dolly into the living room and a dolly out from the living room respectively. The reason for this is simply that they were trying to draw attention towards the main character, while we were trying to draw attention away.