Institutional context - Paranormal Activity - AP

Here is part of the traditional marketing campaign:

Director: Oren Peli

Production company: Paramount Pictures

Budget: $15,000

Box Office: $193,335,800

Paranormal Activity (2009) is an independent film which can now be seen as a franchise and there are now 4 films, all based on similar stories and from the same sub genre, supernatural horror. The film centres 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 cameras set up by the couple in an attempt to document what is haunting them .Oren Peli, the writer and director, initially got the idea for the film after he moved into a suburban house with his “then” girlfriend, Toni Taylor. When they began hearing noises at night, Peli got the idea to set up a camera at night to see if they caught anything interesting on film—this, then, turned into Paranormal Activity.

Production

• There was no real script in the production of the film as the dialogue was 'natural'.
• The film was shot on digital cameras.
• Most of the time, the camera was on a tripod which meant there was no need for a camera crew which helped to keep the budget down.
• In casting the movie, Peli auditioned "a few hundred people" before finally meeting Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. He originally auditioned them individually and later called them back to audition together. This meant there were no A-Listers in the film which helps to attract audiences, yet the film was very successful.
• Originially the actors were paid $500 for their work.
• Low budget film

Distribution

This expansion of the film was driven solely by viewers. Paramount announced that if the film received 1 million hits on the Internet where people demanded it for their town, they would release the film nationally. Paranormal Activity marks one of the first films to successfully use viral marketing and integrate social media into their advertising.

• To help create buzz for the film, Paramount signed a deal with eventful.com which allowed their to be an online fanbase for the film.
• They used the fanbase to look at the ages and locations of those involved to decide where the intitial releases would be.
• Viral marketing was used in conjunction with social media to gain notoriety. Viral marketing of the film also included an interactive website, where on one section viewers could type in one word describing the movie.
• Fans were also given the chance to tweet their visceral pleasure to the film, their screams.
• Through the use of a viral marketing campaign, extensive social media and word-of-mouth, Paranormal Activity has illustrated how films can successfully utilize burgeoning technology to advertise and drive profits.