The Green Screen Declares Paranormal Activity An Eco-friendly Film
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The Green Screen is back with another movie review to determine if it can be classified as an eco-friendly film. Today, we take a closer look at the carbon footprint of producing the film Paranormal Activity. So, is it an eco-friendly film? I say definitively yes.
Why? Well, this horror was filmed with a paltry $15,000 budget. That is unheard of in Hollywood these days. Lower production costs means reduced waste, less energy consumption and fewer fossil fuels burned to make the movie. Directed, produced, written and edited by Oren Peli and filmed in his own house in Rancho Penasquitos, San Diego, Paranormal Activity delivers on the scare factor with a simple premise involving a couple and a demonic presence creeping into their bedroom at night. Peli, an Israeli-born video game designer had no formal training in film. He shot the $15,000 movie in a week in 2006 with an unrecognizable cast, a crew of several San Diego friends and a hand-held video camera. The movie has since made over 100 million dollars at the box office.
Movie sets today generate so much waste in landfills and consume enormous amounts of energy. This little horror gem had 2 primary actors, a few extras, and one location - the director’s home. I’d bet there was no Kraft food services catering meals every day. And the movie delivered, the actor’s made it seem like this was a real couple in a very real and frightening situation.
Heck, they even saved electricity - the lights are off for half the movie adding to the spook factor while helping preserve Mother Earth. And despite virtually no special effects and no name actors, it certainly entertains by keeping you on the edge of your seat each time they turn off the lights and go to bed at night. This was one of those horror movies that roped me in from the start much like the menacing shark in Jaws, the loony town folks of Burkittsville in The Blair Witch Project or even The Ring when poor Amber Tamblyn’s character was found in that closet.
Did Paranormal Activity intend to be an eco-friendly film? Well no, probably not. But by virtue of its single location shoot, a small cast and production crew, it is probably one of the greenest movies of the decade. Big kudos to Paranormal Activity as an eco-friendly film, not to mention a low-budget horror phenomenon.
Check out the trailer for “Paranormal Activity” starring Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat - directed by Oren Peli 
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