Paranormal Activity screening guide and response prompt

Instructions:
1. Complete the following table as you watch the film.
2. Use the questions below to guide your observations, notes, and analysis. At this point in
the course, your observations should be more targeted and less random. Try to write
down only those observations you find interesting or appealing in some way or that relate
to the guide questions below.
3. Respond to the prompt below with a 250 to 300 word response.
4. Review the rubric to make sure your table entries and response meet the criteria for the
grade you want.
5. Submit the typed table and response via the Blackboard submission page or as a hard
copy in class.
Observations

Notes and analysis

Use the following questions to guide your observation, notes, and analysis:
1. What formal elements of the film make it appear like we are watching a home video?
2. In what ways do the stylistics of a home video differ from those of a film and how do
those stylistics affect the emotional tenor of Paranormal Activity? In other words, is the
film scarier as a home video and why?
3. How does the technology of vision and sound represented in the film relate to the
paranormal activity in the house?
4. What is Katies attitude toward the camera? How might her attitude toward the camera
figure into the fears underlying the film?
5. What anxieties or fears about modern life might this film be repressing?
Respond to the following prompt in 250 to 300 words:
Use two or three of your observations and one or two of your critical notes to answer one of
the questions, two through five, above. Do not respond to question one.

RubricI will grade your journal entry according to the following criteria:
90-100 points

At least twenty-five observations covering the complete length of the film have
been made in the first column. Observations are accurate and contain specific
details.
At least ten notes and analysis comments covering the complete length of the
film have been made in the second column. Notes and analysis link the
observations in the first column to the screening guides questions and prompts.
The written response to the prompt answers the prompt question(s) using
detailed observations from the film. The observations used as examples are
relevant to the question and response and their relevance is clearly explained.

80-89 points

Between fifteen and twenty-four observations that may or may not cover the
length of the film have been made in the first column. Observations are
somewhat accurate and are somewhat detailed.
Between five and nine notes and analysis comments that may or may not have
covered the length of the film have been made in the second column. There is a
tenuous relationship between the notes and analysis comments, the observations
in the first column, and the screening guide questions and prompts.
The written response only partially answers the prompt question(s) and
observations may or may not be detailed. The observations used as examples
are somewhat relevant to the question and response and their relevance may or
may not be clearly explained.

70-79 points

Fewer than fifteen observations that may or may not cover the length of the film
have been made in the first columns. Observations are not accurate and lack
detail.
Fewer than five notes and analysis comments that may or may not cover the
length of the film have been made in the second column. There is little
relationship between the notes and analysis comments, the observations in the
first column, and the screening guide questions and prompts.
The written response does not answer the prompt question and observations
may or may not have been used to support the response. If observations are
used, they may or may not be relevant to the question and response and their
relevance may or may not be clearly explained.

Paranormal activity screening guide and prompt

Develop some of your observations into a 250 word analysis of how TVs haunted
nature.