Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones Trailer Recreation Project

In order to be organised and efficient in recreating our trailer, we created shot lists of what clips we wanted to recreate and what we wanted to retain. This helped us remember what shots we wanted and what type of shots they were, as we wouldn't have access to the trailer at all times filming. For example, we described the action briefly in the shot, and the type of shot and angle the shot was. These were important factors to remember if we wanted our trailer to be as similar as possible to the original, so we took the sheet out with us filming to jog our memory of the scene we were recreating.

Once we had established exactly what shots we wanted to recreate, we had to figure out where we were going to shoot them in order to look as accurate as possible to the original trailer. We tried to stay within the school grounds as much as possible to obtain optimum filming time which would enable us to take multiple shots of the same scene in order to get the best shot available. For the most part, we did indeed stick to the school grounds, however for one shot we had to go elsewhere - an underpass, to create the most accurate shot possible. This list also helped us schedule our time better as we knew what we needed to do each day and when. An example of this would have been when me and George needed to film for the underpass scene, we both knew when and where we were filming which made the process a lot easier. 

The casting list was useful in our organisation as it meant we knew who was playing what character in each scene or throughout the entirety of the trailer. As you can see, the three main characters from the trailer were played by different people, to make sure the audience was not confused by the multiple characters. This also helped to create an accurate recreation of the trailer. As we were deciding on who was going to play what part, we took costume into consideration, which was a quick way of deciding who had what role. For example, George played Jesse as he had a snapback and t-shirt very similar to the one shown in the trailer.
The prop list was also helpful in organisation as it meant that each person in our group knew what to bring and on what day.

The shooting notes were key in organising what days to shoot where, and when. We took these notes with us whilst we were filming to remind us of what we need to do in order to get an accurate recreation of the trailer. Whilst deciding on the lighting and mise en scene, we had to think about the time of day that we were filming as most of the scenes described were on the school grounds. This meant that we had to be careful not to get any one else in the background that wasn't needed and to get the 'set' as quiet as possible. This meant that some scenes needed to be filmed after school to ensure this would happen.

Trailer Recreation - Paranormal Activity