NOT SINCE ?THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT? has a ?little? film turned Hollywood on its ear as the current sleeper hit, ?Paranormal Activity.? Produced for only a few thousand dollars, the ghost story is the quintessential indie production?but the waves it?s been making are of tsunami height and strength.

Even better, the production has firmed up novel marketing and promotions gambits that can save other indie producers a lot of money if they use them for their own benefit.

In the film, a couple documents ghostly apparitions in their small apartment with a simple video camera?and get much more than they bargained for in terms of creepy chills and thrills. The very smallness of the movie ends up working in its favor, punching up the neurotically intimate sense of psychic dread that the production needs to scare its viewers out of their wits with its empathetic sense of terror.

Aside from the film?s fear factor, its success can be attributed to its savvy marketing scheme. Since its makers were left with just about zero money after shooting the film, they couldn?t drum up interest in their movie in the usual way, by advertising it. Instead, they set up a series of midnight screenings in college towns, and the positive feedback generated by that creepy early exposure created a groundswell for follow-up screenings in other places.

Savvy move

This was a savvy and economical move, because the production correctly identified its target audience, effectively sharpening its focus on the young but educated demographic, an impressive percentage of which did go out of its way to catch the indie chiller, chalking up big returns for very little money.

So, other new producers can learn a valuable lesson from ?Paranormal Activity?: First, determine your particular production?s most suitable audience?then go for it.

The indie movie also benefited a lot from the positive buzz that the film?s early screenings engendered, which made other viewers ask for the movie to be played in their own areas. They didn?t want to be left out in the cold, so they practically demanded access to the movie. As any marketing person will tell you, this is the opposite of what usually transpires, so it?s a great ?problem? to deal with!

Of course, for these and other budget schemes to work, you?ve got to have a really scary movie to offer, and you should know how to work the Net to your movie?s psychological advantage. If you have a knack for that, your ?little? film could end up making you very rich.

Even more interestingly, the movie?s success has made some big-time studios rethink their own much more expensive promotional and marketing gambits. If this catches on, it could even bring down some blockbuster productions? grossly inflated budgets, making film production a more affordable and efficient industry for everyone concerned.