BBK: The Strangers (Bertino 2008) Opening Sequence Analysis

Genre

The opening sequence of 'The Strangers' (Bertino 2008) opens with the narration of a story 'inspired by true events', the audience are then presented with what seems to be the aftermath of the story that is about to unfold these violent images and iconography (shotgun, blood splatters) are anchored by a distressed 911 call.

  

Form and Style

Although many conventional techniques are used within this sequence such as the 911 phone call it may be argued that the manner in which Bertino uses them is adapted to his own style. The use of a deep pitched narration increases drama and is used as a device to convey context to the film, the facts used such as '1.4 million violent crimes a year' creates a sense of foreboding and sets up a theme for the media text. The use of a formal font which doesn't go over the visuals could be scene to anchor the statistical nature of the sequence as almost a report or as a dramatisational reenactment.

The use of an aftermath scene is used to introduce the audience to what awaits and is also used to give a sense of foreboding however is leaves the audience with no real perspective of the events to follow and creates suspense along with the repetitive voice-over towards the end 'help us, help us' 

Film Language

Props are used predominately as a mise-en-scene technique in the sequence do to the lack of character exposition, the use of iconographic weaponry and imagery such as the knife and the blood splatters conveys the fatality and and horror that awaits the protagonists. These visuals are anchored by the distresses chaotic voice of one of the boys depicted in the sequence presumably just after the discovery of the scene and although the audience are not shown the full picture the terror within the scene is conveyed to them through the dialogue of the voice-over.

These techniques could prove very effective within our own piece, a 911 call can create an atmosphere of foreboding and the way in which the audience trust the characters empirical view can create an impact of impending horror throughout a film. Also the use of iconographical weaponry could be visually familiar when conveying the intentions or 'evil' of an antagonist. 

Narrative

During the sequence the chronological pattern of the shots is skewed leaving the audience struggling to work out what is happening reflecting on the chaotic nature of the theme of violence within the text.It would seem that the fade in/fade out shots of suburbia from a moving car connotes the victims drive to their summer home as informed by the narrator previously. These visuals relate to common environments of the key demographical target audience of the film as many of the (18-29 male) frequent cinema goers will come from a suburban home and this will create a sense of realism. The structure then cuts to the aftermath of the story anchored by dialogue supposedly given after the discovery shown in the visuals, disorientating time once again for the audience. During the sequence the audience are positioned with the two boys as these are the only two characters we are introduced to, Bertino makes the audience aware of their importance in the scene by introducing them in a heart shaped gun shot whole through a windscreen connoting the characters as the discoverers along with the audience.

Representation and Ideology

In this sequence the only two characters introduced to the audience are the two boys, they are seen to enter the house and peek through the door portraying the dominant hegemonic representation of youthful curiosity and naivety to the horrors of the world, this is emphasized through the distressed nature of the police call "Help us, help us" which connotes a vulnerable nature to the characters challenging the dominant ideology of male bravery and heroism. 

Media Audiences

• A dominant view of the sequence will e the belief that the couple is murdered and it is the two boys depicted that find the scene.
• A subjective view may ask why the boys were there and question whether it is the couple that are dead.
• A oppositional view may think that the couple have survived and it is the antagonists that have been killed or that perhaps it is the boys that kill the couple and their 911 call is a façade.