unforum

[Roswell]

Paranormal Activity 4 and Marble Hornets Tropes

[ChaosDoctor07]

Distortion. Check.

Entry 1 head-turn. Check.

Coincidental? Most likely, though it's still interesting (I've only seen the first Paranormal activity, and I don't recall there being distortion in it, though perhaps the later ones did include it....)

[Starkley]

It's not that new of a theory to have distortion in horror movies when people try to record stuff. Hell, the whole electromagnetic interference thing is pretty normal. For example, there's White Noise, it kind of happens in 1408...Ghostbusters...a lot of the episodes on things like Ghost Whisperer and whatever...

The main unique thing about Slenderman is the character's background and appearance.

[Roswell]

I suppose, but to my knowledge Marble Hornets was the first time it was utlized in the found footage format to distort what's being seen by the audience.

I haven't seen the third yet, but from what I understand there's no distortion in it either. The first two didn't contain any.

Also, has anybody here seen V/H/S? I only ask because I read a post elsewhere that described the trailer as a "V/H/S ripoff", but it premiered this year at Sundance, so Marble Hornets has been doing its distortion thang a little longer. Seems like an interesting film though.

[Starkley]

[Zebez]

The thing about these kinds of stories and stories and art and whatever else in general is that rarely does something come along that's completely original. What makes something special though, is how it is handled. Any artist should know that and if they don't then they don't understand art and are just trying to use cheap tricks.

[OllieRaiden]

I started laughing when we found out her name was Alyx. Or Alex. No clue how it's being spelled. That coupled with the other MH-like bits gave me a giggle.
I'll probly go see this. Only seen 3 in the cinema thus far, and I've enjoyed the series thus far, so why not.

[paladin181]

The found footage started with Blair Witch, IIRC. Which was great. The second one however didn't use the same format and was decidedly worse. However, that had no distortion of any sort other than the camera being dropped (at least that I can remember). MH is pretty popular, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

[Oscar Langley]

"What's going on?"

"I dont know it's weird"

"Alex what's going on?"

"I don't know"

"Alex please tell me you have 20 dollars on you right now"

"What?"

[JustJim]

I understand that Marble Hornets didn't invent many tropes in the found footage genre, but that shot at 1:00 is direct mimicry of Entry 1. An homage, perhaps?

[Starkley]

I dunno, the whole "stare at a still figure and have it suddenly turn around" thing isn't exactly a new idea either.

[pravado]

i'll say it once and i'll say it again

this is another movie that kirill baaru is involved with that is copying marble hornets in some fashion... dude needs to chill

[Stanislav]

Kirill worked on It's Always Sunny though, so he gets a pass

[saksxalmo]

[Lithp]

It might be a coincidence, but I find it a little fishy just how much the end mimics a Marble Hornets entry. You have your heavy distortion, faceless figure standing in the background, increasing distortion, screen cut, & escape punctuated by choppy distortion. All it needed was narrative text at the end.