When A Stranger Calls

• At the beginning of this film, there are black screen titles, to help establish the film company and everything that the producers believe is important for the audience to see. There is non diagetic sound, where a man is talking to what sounds like a worried girl over the phone. This is effective as the man's voice is hushed, and mysterious, and also a little scary as if you were to ring the wrong number, you would not continue to talk to the person and ask their name etc.. you would just hang up. 

• The scene then goes to an empty looking scary house, where there is no life around it, where you assume the person inside is. By doing this the audience can make assumptions that the man on the phone, could be around here somewhere, as otherwise the house wouldn't be an important part in the film. There is then a panning shot, which moves around to show a carnival, which could suggest that if something was to happen to the girl in the house, no one would be able to hear because the carnival is so loud. The size of the carnival could also make the house and the girl look insignificant in the film as something bad might happen in the carnival instead, proving the audience's assumptions to be wrong.

• There is also creepy ghost like writing when the actors names are displayed, to show that it is a horror film, so the font needs to match the mood that the directors want the audience to feel. 

• As the camera shot zooms into the carnival, you see the business and loudness of it, and the excitement among the children within it. This is effective as it causes the audience to feel tense as they assume something bad is going to happen in the carnival since the scene is focused on it. There is then a man with a dog dressed all in black, who the audience basically cannot see, which makes you wonder if this is the man who is going to do something terrible throughout the film. This man alone may make the audience feel fright, and stay on the edge of their seats.

• You then see the house, and hear a phone ringing again, like at the beginning of the film, and it is all quiet in the house. The scene then goes back to the carnival and the loudness of it, and shows the contrast between what is able to be heard and what isn't. By doing this, it makes you wonder if the carnival is not going to be the place where something bad happens, but the house is as the scene is going back to it again. The audience may then feel scared and worried for the girl as she is getting another phone call, and the person at the other end of the phone is saying nothing. 

• As the film goes on, it goes to a street full of houses which looks like a safe place as there are people sitting outside, and it is reasonably busy. You then hear a mother continuously calling out for her children, with no response, then walking out her house for a further search for her children. The man and his dog then appear again, which makes you wonder if her children missing is in fact down to him. 

• The film then goes back to the carnival, and portrays how happy people are in it, but then puts a downer on it again because the house appears and the girl is rung again by possibly the same person, but again with no one talking back to her. Creepy music is all put in to show the lead up to an event that is going to happen, and to help set the mood.

• The carnival is then shown again and there is a panning shot back to the house, where it is dark, and a light then gets switched on where you see a man in the window, and hear a terrifying scream from the girl, which no one can hear because of the sound coming from around the house. This makes the audience feel fear as you feel like you are the girl because of the build up, and wonder what has happened to her. Also you feel fright as the girl's scream goes on for so long, yet no one hears it, possibly making the audience feel in distress as no one knows what has happened to her except from the bad guy and you. 

'When a stranger calls' could help us with ideas for our film, as I like the idea of having a phone call where the bad guy hardly says anything, but lets the audience know he is around. Also by having a girl in a house all by herself, she seems more vulnerable and this stops the audience from feeling safe. Another idea could be having a window where it is black, but then when the light is turned on, a figure is standing there, waiting.