The Strangers is a 2008 psychological horror in which a couple after returning from a wedding reception to their holiday home based in a woodland area undergo an extreme case of harassment carried out by 3 masked figures that psychologically and physically torture the couple until they eventually kill them. I will analyse the text and explore different ways in which my film trailer can use the codes and conventions of 'The Strangers' film trailer to create an effective piece.
Media Representations:
There are two main protagonist characters within the film. Kristen Mckay (Liv Tyler) plays a stereotypical female character within the film. She is portrayed as being helpless and innocent which we can see through the nightgown she wears which is very angelic. Her character appears to be weak and helpless as the torment begins within the film. We can see this by the way she scrambles around the house hiding and locking all doors and windows therefore playing a typical damsel in distress which is more predominantly shown when the character is left on her own. The other protagonist James Hoyt (Scott Speedsman) is stereotypically the stronger character out of the two main protagonists. He is portrayed has being very strong and independent which we can see when he is trying to protect his partner. We also produce the idea that the character is wealthy and comes from a wealthy background. We can produce this idea by the fact he is wearing a suit and owns a holiday home that he can retire to as and when he pleases. The three antagonists that we see during the film are obviously portrayed in a negative way as they are torturing and killing people, apart from this we cannot tell anything about the characters personalities as they are hiding behind masks and do not say anything throughout the film.
Media Languages/Forms:
Mise-en-scene - The costumes that we see within this film trailer are all very basic but each tell us about the character. Kristen's costume changes within the film trailer, to begin with we see her in a lightly coloured gown which represents the idea of her being angelic and kind. Her costume then changes to a much more casual and hard working appearance of a checked shirt and a pair of dark jeans. Although this contrasts to her previous costume, the character still has an innocent appeal towards her as her hair is down and straight. James's costume stays the same throughout the trailer and is basically a black suit. This connotes wealth to the audience but also provides background information about them being at a wedding reception before hand. The antagonists costume's are all very dark, the male character has a sand bag mask on his head, and the two women both have different masks. One is a doll mask and the other is the mask of a pin up girl. This hides the identity of the characters therefore this doesn't reveal anything apart from the fact they do not want to be seen.
The settings we see are very limited, to begin with we see he setting of a wedding reception which provides the audience with an insight of what the protagonists have been doing. After this the only setting we see is the holiday home which consists of a log fire with a open plan kitchen with a great deal of homely furniture with warm red and brown colours.
Sound - The sound that we hear is all we joined together. To begin with we hear a variety of non diegetic music what seems to be a piano sound playing a light, slow tune which relates to the piano that we see in the house. This the changes to a lower pitched music which contains loud thuds and bangs throughout which the trailer cuts in time with. This then changes again as we hear the squeaking sound of a moving children's swing which is repeated for a short amount of time. As the editing speed increases the music changes to a stuck record of doll like music which gets faster along with the editing speed. We also hear some diegetic dialogue through the trailer which is slightly covered by this until the end when we hear the protagonist ask 'Why are you doing this?' then the antagonist replies 'Because you were home' which is one of the only times we hear any of them speak throughout the film.
Editing - Montage editing is used in order to emphasise main characters, themes and the narrative of the film within the short trailer. There are also some examples of continuity editing used when the characters are having a conversation in order to reveal a small section of the narrative. The pace of the editing begins slowly in time with the slow music but then as we get further through the trailer the editing speeds up significantly to keep up with the beat of the music. This creates tension within the trailer making it more appealing to the audience. Dark fades are used through out the trailer to move through the shots as well as introduce the text that is used within the piece.
Cinematography - Establishing shots are used to begin with in order to give the audience a brief idea of where the film is set. This then moves to a series of medium close ups and close ups in order to introduce the main characters in the film. These shot sizes are also used to emphasise actions made by both the protagonists which signifies to the audience that these two people are a couple. Long shots are used to introduce the antagonists within the film trailer when we see the man in the sand bag mask appear behind Kristen.
Total views: 2,750,647
| Ratings: 3780 | Comments: 9,971 | Favourites: 987 | ||||||
|
Significant discovery events
| Date | Event | Views | |
A | 02/09/2009 | First view from a mobile device | 131,175 |
B | 10/05/2009 | First featured video view | 187,288 |
C | 16/04/2008 | First referral from Google search – the strangers | 51,732 |
D | 28/03/2008 | First referral from YouTube search – strangers | 133,593 |
E | 26/03/2008 | First referral from YouTube search – strangers trailer | 87,710 |
F | 26/03/2008 | First referral from YouTube search – the stranger trailer | 44,028 |
G | 25/03/2008 | First referral from YouTube search – the strangers | 614,075 |
H | 25/03/2008 | First referral from YouTube search – the strangers trailer | 403,956 |
I | 25/03/2008 | First embedded view | 52,020 |
This video is most popular in: 
Audiences More
Less
This video is most popular with: | Gender | Age |
| Female | 13-17 |
| Male | 18-24 |
| Male | 25-34 |
(This is a statistic chart that shows what age range view this video as well as the countries it is most popular which are highlighted in dark green)
No comments:
Post a Comment