Analysis by Heather

Wilkins:

Plot:

• When a Stranger Calls is a 2006 American remake of the 1979 horror film. In the film, a teenage babysitter receives increasingly threatening calls from a brutal serial killer who she first assumes is simply a prankster, but soon comes to understand that the phone calls are coming from inside the house.

Themes/mood: • The film is obviously a horror film, shown throughout the opening sequence, as we

see many conventions of horror, which create mood and atmosphere for the audience. These conventions include: balloons, children running and laughing and a fun fair. As well as creating mood and atmosphere these horror conventions build up tension within the sequence which foreshadows what may happen in the film, in relation to tension and atmosphere. The balloons create a mood because of their ability to make you jump. The children create mood because of their innocents being related to death which subverts the stereotype.

Characters: • Throughout the opening sequence, we aren’t actually introduced to any main characters, but we understand what

it is trying to convey, in reference to the film, through the use of children. There are several shots where the audience are able to see children running around the fun fair, mainly juxtaposed with a shot of a house with the sound of a worried mother shouting in her for her three children to come downstairs. The use of children is a typical convention to horror films as they represent innocents, and also suggest a vulnerability and helplessness. The only other character who is depicted by having him in a frame by himself, is a shadow of a man and a dog going down what looks like a dark ally. By having this character, which it typically ‘spooky’, juxtaposed with the children, the audience are meant to believe that the plot of the film is going to be about the children’s vulnerability when there is a situation which is out of their control.

Titles/ graphics: • The titles aren’t hugely important throughout the opening sequence, as we are made more aware

of the setting and the focus is drawn more on the build up of tension. However, we are made aware of the titles, and the also add to the atmosphere which is being created through music, editing and characters. When the titles appear they are white, and then there is a flash of white light which is moved from left to right, maybe conveying that the movie will move quickly, and that it will have a constant tension being built up. The flashing could also be suggestive of a life support machine, which conveys that as it’s a horror movie there could be moments of life threatening situations, where we question what will happen?

Music and sound:

• Music and sound are definitely the biggest contributors to creating tension throughout the opening sequence of When a Stranger Calls, through the use of non-diagetic music and sound effects. The sound affects are suggestive of a fun fair but are exaggerated through the use of non-diagetic music which are both used to create a sense of tension and atmosphere. The children’s laughs are used to evoke the sound of fear, demonstrated through the use of the building music, which without, would seem like harmless laughs. The eerie sound of machinery also contributes to the atmosphere of the sequence, as it could be suggestive of danger.

Editing and Shot choice:

• The editing and shot choices throughout the opening sequence all connect with each other and create a foreshadowing of what is to happen later on in the story. For example when we see the man in the window of the children’s bedroom, leaping down of them, it is juxtaposed with a boy crashing on the dodgem cars, conveying that there is something terrible happening, shown metaphorically though a pretend car crash.

• Director: Simon West

• Writer: Jake Wade Wall

• Stars: Camilla Belle, Tommy Flanagan and Katie Cassidy