The Strangers

The Strangers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lm2hZ50sN4 

 The Strangers - 2008

Horror/Mystery/Thriller

A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorised by three unknown assailants.

Shot by shot:



1. The film trailer opens up with an establishing shot of what seems to be an old looking house, the shot is from a long distance away so it appears that someone may be watching whoever is in the house. The lighting is done especially so that the viewer can only see parts of the house but they are not introduced to the rest of the scenery, the establishing shot is accompanied by a non diegetic slow paced song played on the piano which adds to the tension and mystery of the shot. It also has the diegetic sound of nature - Crickets, birds etc.

2. A panning shot of rose petals on the bed makes the viewer think that these people are on a romantic weekend away celebrating an anniversary or something special. The fast paced shots fade in to each other whilst the non diegetic sound of a slow romantic piano being played continues.

3. The previous shot fades into this mid close up of a table which is set out nicely - The fact that there are candles, a bottle of wine, wine glasses and again rose petals scattered onto the table adds to the fact that whoever is staying here is a couple. The shot blurs out the background and focuses on the table that is nicely set out.  

4. All of these shots fade into each other, they are fast paced shots that slowly introduce the scenery and also introduce the characters. The fact that there are so many shots gives us the idea that time is passing by.

5. This over the shoulder shot is accompanied by the woman whispering the diegetic sound of 'What do you want to tell me.'  There is a shot reverse shot between the woman and the man that appears to be a couple, at this point they seem to be having a romantic conversation - everything seems like it is happening how they planned and nothing appears to be wrong.

6. This fast paced close up that we only see for a few seconds reveals the reason of why the couple is here in the first place. It shows the man holding something which appears to be some sort of jewellery box - possible a wedding ring, necklace, bracelet etc. There is also a sound bridge of the man whispering "You are my girl".

7. It moves onto a close up of the man and woman embracing in a hug whilst the woman says 'I love you Jimmy.' this romantic moment makes every appear to be normal.

9. The previous shot is quickly interrupted by a diegetic sound of a big bang, this then stops the couple from their moment. We see a close up of the couple and their shocked faces which then moves onto what seems like a POV shot of the couple looking around the room for the source of the noise.

10. There is a quick blackout which adds text saying 'INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS', this has a diegetic sound of a squeaking swing, the trailer has quickly jumped from being romantic with a piano playing soft music to loud squeaking of the swing - this shows the contrast of how the trailer has changed. There is also a low rumbling noise as the woman says 'What is that'.

11. The diegetic sound of the squeaking swing continues like a sound bridge through the extreme close up of the woman peering out through the curtains, it contrasts between the lightness of her face and then jumps to a very dark shot of the swings moving which are almost pitch black and very hard to see.

12. There is the constant repeat of a black screen with faded in text which keeps reappearing, the writing they use and the way they phrase it almost adds to the spookiness. The text used is very thin and is made so that it has a dark shadow.

13. There is a close up of both the man and the woman looking at something, I like how the darkness blends in with the back of the head and the audience can only see their facial expressions. As both of them look out, the viewer is made to think that everything is okay as the man says "It's okay there's nothing here.", all of the shots fade in and out of each other. There is another repetitive screen of text, I like how the background is plain black and the text is so thin that it almost blends into the background. 

14. The next shot is an establishing shot, the fact that it is so dark makes it almost hard to see but you can just make out certain things in the room. I like how well thought out this shot is, although it is very dark, it adds to the fact that anyone could be watching them at that minute. The second shot is a close up of the woman looking around, the close up lets the audience know what she is feeling. The editing is done so that the background is blurred and the shot captures her emotion. These shots are accompanied with sound bridges of the man talking to the woman. 

15. All of the shots in this film trailer flow consistently from one to another, for example, the shot of the woman opening the door then flows into an extreme close up of her hand on the door knob. The squeaking of the swing continues to play, adding tension.

 

16. This long shot of the house makes the woman seem very small and vulnerable in comparison, at this point the audience is introduced to the someone in a mask that slowly walks into the view at the top left of the screen. The fact that the shot is very wide and the way the woman is positioned on the left hand sides makes he seem oblivious to the stranger that has just appeared. At this shot, the squeaking of the swing once again stops, adding tension and a build up. Right after this shot, a black screen is shown with a loud echoing 'boom' sound.

17. After the viewer sees what is happening on the inside of the house, we then go to the outside of the house. There is a long shot of the man with his car, which then quickly moves on to a mid shot of the same previous shot but more zoomed in. There is diegetic sound of the car door slamming and a cat meowing but nothing else, this makes the audience stand on edge and wonder what will happen next.

 18. We then see a very dark POV shot of the woods, the fact that it is dark and we can't see anyone gives the audience the impression that no one is there. However, as it is so dark it means that there could be someone watching - There is the element of not knowing what is going to happen next.

19. This shot is a mid shot of the woman kneeling down on the floor as she says 'There's someone out there', the words she says in itself are enough to scare the audience as there is this idea of everyone thinking they are safe in their own house. However, how safe are we?

20. The idea of this shot fits in very well with the genre, the horror genre is all about people standing in the shadows. The fact that we are not sure on who is actually behind the mask leaves the audience in suspicion. There is a non diegetic soundtrack of what seems like glass smashing constantly which adds to the fact that someone is watching them in the shadows.

21. We then see a mid shot of the man turning around, the fact that someone is watching him would pull people in as they immediately start asking questions - Who is the person in the mask? What will happen to the man? Will he say the man in the mask?

22. This shot is almost identical to the shot before, at this point it is clear that the person in the mask is not longer there and has disappeared into the shadows.

23. With mysterious shots like this one, there is the constant sound of glass smashing. I especially like this shot because it doesn't give too much away - If they are male or female and it is only a few seconds of the trailer yet makes the audience ask so many questions. 

24. I like how the lighting in this shot is done, there is a woman peering out of the window - The fact that we can see her reflection means that we can't actually see what she is looking at. Not only this but the street lamps are reflecting onto her face which ultimately means that the audience is exposed to little light as the rest of her body except for her face and shoulders blends into the shadows.

25. This shot is an exact replica of the shot before the previous one, however, this time it is more zoomed in but sticks to the same position. In this film trailer they seem to play on peoples minds - One minute the masked person is there and next minute they're gone, did I really see them or did I imagine it? There is little lighting again, this builds up tension and makes it even more spooky. Throughout this film trailer there seems to be a lot of replicas of shots, they seem to use the scary concept of something being there, then they move to another shot of one of the characters, go back to the previous shot and the thing is then gone. 

26. We then see another repetitive shot of the woman looking out the window again, however this time it is a close up of her face and not a mid shot.

27. The fact that someone in a house where they should feel safe in is peeking out is scary enough. This shot again makes the man feel very small compared to his surrounding, at this point we can hear some very old and creepy music playing in the background.

28. This close up of a record player gives the audience clues, not only does it break up the tension a little bit, but makes the audience ask a variety of questions - Who turned on the record? Who else is in the house?

29. This film trailer portrays the man as being the typical hero, as the woman is whimpering behind him (the audience can see this with her facial expressions alone). The shot is directly focused on the woman in order to give the viewer an idea of the atmosphere.

30. There is then a panning shot of the room, which gives the idea that both of them are looking around for the intruder - At this point everything once again appears to be normal. This shot is then followed by a close up of the fire with something burning and a squeaky sound.

 31. We then see a shot of the window, this shot slowly zooms, this shot is accompanied by a sound bridge of the the woman saying "Oh my god". This shot immediately makes the viewers ask questions as this shot is a clear tension builder.

32. This long shot of the woman walking into the room allows the viewers to see what is happening through the whole room and adds suspense.

33. Next we see a mid shot of the man talking calmly, the fact that there is no soundtrack to this shot gives the viewer the idea that everything is calm and that the characters are making a big deal out of nothing. The next shot we see is a close up of an axe breaking through the door, this shot happens so fast that it is very likely to make the viewers jump, something very common in horror film trailers.

 34. From the point of the axe hitting the door, we then see some very fast paced shots of the characters reactions. At this point, the soundtrack becomes more intense and the editing pace quickens. The next shot is a fuzzy shot of a kitchen which shows the chairs falling over ~ adding to the chaos.

35. We then see an extreme close up of the music player, the music player is a running theme throughout the whole trailer. As we see the shot of the music player, we are then introduced to a diegetic sound of the music player which becomes stuck and keeps playing the same thing ~ adding to the creepiness.

36. This over the shoulder shot of a girl in a mask sitting on the swing immediately makes the viewer start asking questions, as the trailer goes on, we are then introduced to more of the 'villains'. The light on this shot makes it so that the girls body is in darkness whereas her face is the main focus. 

37. We then see a mid shot of the woman who appears to be hiding, the lighting of this shot is slightly yellow, which gives the impression that one of the street lights is reflecting off of her face. The non sound of the music player stuck continues throughout these shots to add mystery. 

38. There is then very multiple fast paced mid shots of the man and someone in a mask following behind him, we see him slowly looking back but do not see what happens afterwards ~ this shot leaves the viewers in the dark and doesn't give too much away, but also links to one of the previous shots as he is holding an axe. 

39. This shot is very jumpy with an emphasis on light and dark. The jump in between makes the 'killer' seem almost unreal, the light is emphasised on the mask in order to give the message to the viewer that the main characters are not alone and that they are everywhere.

40. There is then a sequence of very fast paced 1 second clips in a row like the shot to the left of a man in a mask running. The fast paced shots compliments the fast paced music player that is stuck. 

41. This close up of the girl in the mask looking through some holes goes back to a previous shot of the woman hiding in the closet, the fact that all of the shots are jumbled together adds mystery and tension and makes the viewer want to go and watch this film.

42. I particularly like the contrast of light and dark in this shot, it is done so that we can just about make out who in in the car closest to the camera, but focuses on the man in the mask in the other car.

43. This shot, along with a few others is done so that we do not see all of the man crawling so that the shot jumps and the woman in the mask appears to be getting closer and closer ~ showing that the trailer is nearly over but leaving the viewer in suspense as it does not give much away.

44. We then see a close up of a knife which again jumps like in the previous shots, accompanied by the music of the music player which continues to jump like it is stuck. Next we then see a close up of the window which says 'KILLER', again making the viewer asks questions 'who is the killer?' 'who wrote that?' etc.

45. We then see a sequence of shots of both the main characters and the people in masks that appear to be in a random order and are less than a second long that represent just how fast the film trailer is and how much is happening at once.

46. At this point the non diegetic music of the music player which seems to be stuck gets louder and faster and we see a shot of the man and the woman sitting down whilst people in masks are staring at them.

47. The title screen for a film trailer is a fuzzy/blurry shot of one of the 'strangers' with the mask on, the woman seems unconscious at this point and says 'Why are you doing this to us?' to which the stranger replies with 'Because you were home'. The text alone is a very weird thing to reply and is the final chance to hook the audience in and make them want to watch the film.