Case Study Three

Case Study Three

1)Institutions

Name of thriller film: The strangers

Director: Bryan Bertino

Production company: Rogue Pictures

Release Date: May 30 2008

Location Made: United States

Box Office Returns: After its release being postponed twice the film opened in the united states and Canada on May 30. On its opening weekend the film grossed $20,997,985 in 2467 theaters. Box office worldwide the film earned an outstanding $81.6 million making it one of the highest ranking films of all time.

2)Audience

The film is aimed at anyone over the sage of seventeen as the film was rated an R to due with the violence and language. The director wanted the film to be a scary horror/thriller and not just a common one so he added scenes such as a man getting shot through his chest which caused blood to splatter on the wall.

The film is directed to the male gender more than the female one as the film contains strong violence and graphic scenes which are more aimed at males as they are stereotyped to liking horror whereas females are generalised to run away from horror and thriller films. That said it was still aimed at a more male audience.

A user from IMBM said the following about the film "At first, i was enjoying the set, costumes, and i believe the acting was pretty well done. I believe the director achieved a very creepy feeling, but too many times did he use to obvious cop-out of making loud noises to startle the viewer instead of genuinely scaring them."

3)Technology

The film uses a various amount of technology in this film with most of it being dark vision cameras as the film is taken at night however you can see the characters and their surroundings quite easily and it almost looks like they are surrounded with light even though you know that they aren't. A old piece of technology however is used in this film to create a various effect and that technology is called a phonograph which plays records.

4)Codes/Forms and Conventions Of The Thriller Genre

Camera angels and effects in the film vary from a panning shot of the house to a point of view shot from the characters eyes. All of the different shots give the film completely different reactions which could be making someone jump or to making someone feel nervous. Some camera angels and their effects on the audience etc include the following:

-shot of the female character with a man in a mask hidden in the shadows in the background which makes the audience shout out and jump as they see the male. They also think that something bad is going to happen and you want the female to notice the evil character although at this point she doesn't see him at all.

-shot of a female in the background through a window which shows the location of the movie and hints that there is going to be a scene in the woods. It also creates some questions as you wonder what the female is doing outside in the dark and on her own.

-shot of the knife with blood on it makes the audience feel shocked as you wonder whats happened, who's blood it is and why the knife is just left in the middle of the floor.

Lighting is as i pointed out before is used a lot as the filming takes place at night yet the director wants the audience to see the action taking place otherwise their would be no chance for making the film. It creates a feel around the film as the lights go off at one point which makes you wonder what is in the darkness but the film uses this to an advantage because as soon as the lights come on she gets attacked instead of it happening in the dark which is when is usually happens, this makes you jump even more than normal.

There is a lot of sound in the film, Digetic and Non digetic which is mostly used to create an atmosphere in the film. The digetic sound includes:

-bangs

-music playing

-knocking

-footsteps

These all make consumers sit on the edge of their seats as you wonder whats going to happen and these make you jump when they happen unexpectedly. That said they give the film the atmosphere that makes the film a thriller/horror. The non digetic sound is again used mostly by music playing for a chase scene.

The location for most of the film is the couples house however there are also scenes in the woods near the house and a shed that rests is placed on the other side of the woods. These makes the film scarier as it makes it more real like as it happens in someones home, making them think that it could happen to them, giving the fright factor to the audience.

The male figure on the right is one of the man characters in the film, he is the boyfriend of the couple that get attacked by the two strangers. He seems to be quite an organised and well paid man which could suggest that he is quite smart as he is wearing a suit and is in a beautiful house that is rather large. He doesn't look tough to begin with but in the actual film he seems to be rather tough as he protects the female a lot and even goes out into the darkness after the figures that tried to attack him and his girlfriend. He seems to be well looked after as he is clean shaven and hasn't got a single dirt ,ark on his face so again this suggests that he is either well paid or well known, he could even be both.

The female character on the right is again one of the main characters and she is the males boyfriend who gets stalked and attacked by the figures. In the photo she seems to wearing average type clothes which could suggest that she is working class although this is not known. The house doesn't appear to be hers although she knows her way around it meaning that she must spend a lot of time around/in it. The female isn't very brave as you can see by her expression that she is scared and frightened which gives a big clue on what her character is like, as she is just an average women who is thrown into a nightmare.

The female character on the right is another main character although this one is one of the people that attack the couple. The fact that the background is black shows that she is an evil character as black is associated with darkness and bad events. She is also wearing a mask which hides her identity making the character that more mysterious as you are not sure what she she looks like and think that she could be just about anyone. The character is also holding a knife which reflects the fact that she is evil and could also mean that she has killed before as she is holding the knife by her face showing that she isn't scared as she has done it before, she is not afraid to kill.

The genre of the film is a cross between three different sub headings which are suspense/horror/thriller which is shown in different parts throughout the film. The strangers is a film that covers quite a loud of different genres yet they all tie together to create a superb film.

The film is compared to that of the film Saw as it is about being trapped which the couple are and the fact that the attackers are masked which is just like jigsaw as he uses a doll to speak through while the strangers use masks.

The narrative structure of the film is back to front as it starts with the end and shows a bloody knife on the floor, a house broken in to, shot gun on the table, blood splattered on the wall and two children making a call to the police saying that they have found dead bodies. This makes you wonder what happened to the people in the house at it switches to the past and shows you exactly how and why the items were where they were, this doesn't ruin the movie as you aren't sure who is dead until the very end of the film so it does keep the suspense throughout the whole film.

5)representation

There is social group representations or stereotyping apart from the male character acting tough and fearless while the female is scared and cries at various points which is stereotypical for both genders of characters. This effects the film because the audience can connect with the characters as most of them would react in the same way, the females being scared and turning away from the film while the males stand tough and watch the film.