Paranormal Activity is the latest phenomenon to sweep the world. With its low budget and huge box office returns, it is perhaps the most profitable film ever.

Content and substance aside, what truly interests me about the film are the technical aspects behind it, or rather, its production. As an, dare I say, up and coming filmmaker, these aspects of such films are what I focus on in order to broaden my possibilities.

First off, director Oren Peli has no formal film training. He was previously a video game designer and worked as a day trader during the 90s. This is very exciting because suddenly, I’m only a video camera and a few credit cards away from having a film I can call my own. When I read about Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and the like, I become discouraged because their endeavors are too massive for me to even think I can accomplish something like that. It is too long a road. I know they too started at the bottom, but all that is out there is information about their next big budget blockbuster.

The film was directed on the directors own personal computer. This is great news for everybody, especially for computer enthusiasts, which I also happen to be. Since computers get faster by the day, so to speak, I foresee more and more people ditching editing services, their subsequent cost and instead, preparing a system that can not only edit one’s current production, but many more in the future. I, myself have stacks of computer hardware I can put to good use.

Filming was done in the director’s home. The first thing that comes to mind is the money you don’t have to spend and the hassles you don’t have to go through when you use your own property as a production location, especially when the entire film takes place within the confines of that property. (Note: Oren Peli spent a year prepping his home for shooting. The costs of these preparations were not part of the film’s production budget, however, if you settle for a place in decent enough shape or are willing to use any given location in whatever condition it maybe, then the savings would be substantial.)

There was no need for a camera crew. As can be seen on the film, the actors themselves also served as the camera crew. This was due to the film’s format and I’m sure it wasn’t done this way just to eliminate a film crew. I like the notion of no camera crew because being in charge of a large group of people makes me nervous and for that reason I welcome anything that might get the crew size reduced. Or maybe, I should just get over it and do what has to be done. What do you think?

One thing they couldn’t escape however, was the grueling hours of work. Even though production took only one week, they were working 18 hours per day.

These production notes are great and useful tips for those of us looking to make films. I will be back with more of these tips from other low budgets features, so that together we can broaden our possibilities.

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Since the devastating Law & Order: Criminal Intent news, I have had two more Law & order related experiences; I saw Jeff Goldblum and the production of part of an SVU episode. I mention it because I find it interesting; so much Law & Order.!

I was crossing eighth avenue at the forty-fifth and eighth intersection in New York City, and as I was about half way across, I noticed Mr. Goldblum. He was coming in the opposite direction, and walked right by me. He was accompanied by another gentleman, whom I didn’t take the time to focus on. At first, I saw him and had some sort of block, I couldn’t put my finger on who this guy was, but it all clicked when I heard his voice –he had said something to the other guy. We both continued on our ways and well, that was that.

Seeing him was a very pleasant surprise, I guess you could say that I was star struck. After all, I do like the guy, just not In L&O:CI. That whole experience came as a rude awakening for me because television—and by that I mean, the kind of television that indulges in celebrities’ personal rather than professional lives—has always depicted celebrities being harassed by the media and followed everywhere they go; and that is something I have gotten used to. So seeing Jeff Goldblum calmly walking the streets of New York City, came as a bit of a shock. Sometimes we forget that these are regular people like the rest of us.

I came to find out about the shooting of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, by way of a notice that the show’s location scouting department (or something along those lines) brought to where I work. It was on a Friday I believe, and the notice said that the following Tuesday SVU’s crew was going to be around from 5:30AM to 10:00PM. So it was no surprise to me to see, as I arrived at work, a group of people redirecting pedestrians and setting up cameras on rails and talking on head sets. What did come as a surprise, however, was the way production took place. I confess, this aspect of a TV show I had never thought about. But in the back of my mind, I guess I saw it as a major film production; lots of famous faces, trailers for the stars, catering tables and maybe extras waiting to be directed. This was not the case. It all turned out to be very targeted and specific; they closed off the number of yards of sidewalk they needed and extended that out toward the street, about a quarter of the way across. Then they put cones out to alert the oncoming traffic, and had pedestrians walk around the sealed area. It was crowded, since it was a sizable crew and there were a number of bystanders watching them work .

It all had a cozy and comfortable feeling to me because it turned out to be just about the opposite of how I think a feature film production is. It wasn’t a media spectacle or something that wanted attention, in any way.

I know, some of you out there are probably saying that there is no need for trailers and catering tables, since this was a quick “on location” shooting that probably did not involve the major stars and that since this isn’t the show’s lot, the crew must make as little a racket as possible. And while that, I agree with, I guess I just wanted to convey that I was excited to see it happen, before my eyes, for the first time.

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