Random Facts About Making Of 'Paranormal Activity' Most People Don't Know About (15 items)

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  (#8) Peli Got The Idea For The Story From His Own Supernatural Experience

  Peli is not claiming he had a ghost in his house, but a few weird things he couldn't quite explain occurred. In order to find a few answers, Peli set up cameras all around his home to record things while he slept at night. Thus, Peli came up with the idea for his first feature film:

  I thought it would make a great movie. I think a lot of people can relate to the question of what happens at night when you’re most vulnerable. You have no idea what’s going on. This taps into the most primal fear, if something is lurking in your home there’s not much you can do about it.
   
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  (#10) There Is Virtually No Blood Or Gore In The Movie

  Though Paranormal Activity is horrifying to watch, it doesn't contain much blood or gore. There is no boogieman like Michael Myers or slasher like Freddy Krueger. Peli's horror movie is terrifying because of what the viewer doesn't see. As Peli explained:

  I really love movies like The Others and The Sixth Sense, too. Movies that are subtle, not so over-the-top, or gory. I like atmosphere and slow plot build.
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  (#11) The Movie Was Filmed Using A Home Video Camera

  Peli opted to film his movie using a home video camera. The director wanted the footage of the haunted house to appear as real as possible. In contrast to a film like The Blair Witch Project, where the camera movements are extremely shaky and always moving (to the point where many audience members felt nauseous), Peli shot most of his movie with a stationary camera, usually placed on a tripod:

  I wanted to make it look as real and natural as possible, I’ve always been drawn to this storytelling style. It breaks the mental barrier when audiences see a regular film and become aware of the camera movements, they know a crew is there and there are stars. When you strip all of this away, the audience thinks they are seeing something with a higher degree of plausibility. The suspending of disbelief becomes all the easier. You have an audience that’s more invested in the story and the characters.
   
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  (#13) Peli Handled Most Of The Production Duties To Finish Making The Movie In A Week

  How was it possible for Peli to shoot an entire feature film in just one week? The first-time filmmaker took on most of the production duties himself, working day and night to get the project done in seven days:

  We were shooting at night, shooting at day and as we were shooting, I was constantly reviewing the footage, editing it myself to make sure everything worked fine. And in some cases I had to apply the visual effects while we were shooting for scenes while Katie and Micah were reviewing the footage. So I had to capture the video, do all of the processing, lay in the visual effects so the characters could view it on their laptop. It was an intense week.
   
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  (#12) Peli Didn't Write A Script Before Filming

  Much like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity did not use an actual script. The director auditioned a few hundred actors before casting Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat as the lead characters. But neither really knew any details of the story before production, according to Peli:

  There was no dialogue. There was only an outline of the story, the actors never received any script. They didn’t know about anything they were getting into. All they knew is they were going to do something about a haunted house and basically discovered everything as they were shooting. There were no lines for them to follow. Everything was spontaneous.
   
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  (#3) Paramount Pictures Used A "Demand It" Strategy To Market The Movie

  After Paramount Pictures took over DreamWorks, Paranormal Activity got stuck in production hell. Finally, in 2009, Paramount released Paranormal Activity in a handful of college towns. Their marketing strategy was to focus on social media and push people who saw the movie to "Tweet Their Screams." Most of the early reviews for Paranormal Activity were positive, and the box office receipts looked encouraging.

  Paramount then kicked off a "Demand It" campaign. Basically, if an interested person wanted Paranormal Activity to play in a theater near them, they needed to visit the movie's website or Facebook page and hit a demand button so the studio would bring the picture to the area. And if the movie hit one million "demands," it would release nationally. It only took five weeks of the film playing in the US for it to become the highest-grossing R-rated thriller of the 2000s.

   

   

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