When A Stranger Calls Opening Scene

The first 25 seconds of the film is just simple dialogue between a 2 callers, one a younger female and the second an older male. You can tell this by the tone of their voices, however the title of the film suggests to the audience that this opening dialogue isn't going to be all what it seems. During the last few words of the call the camera takes a quick zoom into the window. This first shot also establishes that fact that it's night time.

 After the phone conversation has ended the camera pans to the right showing that the house where one of the callers is, is backed onto by a fairground. Connotaions of a fairground would be: Fun, Bright, Exciting. And this is the flip side to what the film is about. Fairgrounds also suggest that children may be involved as it's where they're likely to go to have fun with friends etc.

The camera then quickly changes direction and zooms into the centre of the fairground, and tracks two children running, shouting and having fun.

A shot is then established of a strange dark figure walking a dog in an isolated part of the fairground, this automatically makes the male figure seem mysterious. Two jump shots then occur zooming into the males face again making the figure seem myserious and concealed.

The call is then re-dialed and the camera pans straight back up to the house which we recognise as it was the first shot of the whole scene. This then makes us aware that this house is maybe where some of the film may be shot ans some of the main action could take place.

The mysterious male figure is then caught on shot once again, next to the same post he should have previously walked past. As this show is further on in the scene this may suggest to the audience that the man had been stood near the post perhaps watching something. The older male sat on the bench then waves and the younger male figure then waves back, which all seems completely normal.

The shot then cuts to a house on what seems to be a regular street in America, in the distance however we can see a blacked out figure stood at the door with their hands on their hips. This body language may suggest that the person is waiting for something/someone and is getting increasling impatient.

The camera then tilts upwards towards a brightly light sign, the main focus point on the sign being the word 'JESUS' this shows that the neghbour is obviously religious, and therefore the audience wouldn't expect anything bad to happen here. However in the background of the house where the shadowed figure is standing we can notice the fairground once again, showing that this is the house that has been previously shown in the first shot.

The camera then makes a sharp zoom into the figure, and in the background we can hear this happen also due to sound effects. The camera then zooms in once more and we can tell that the figure at the door is a woman who is frantically calling childrens names. This suggests that the children have been outside, and due to the body language in the previous shot, they're maybe late home or something similar.

The shot then cuts once again to the fairground scene and we start of with seeing children jumping at the fence waiting for the ride. However after a few split seconds we see a figure walk briskly across the scene, and as the figure is similar to the male one in previous shots we can quickly connect them together.

The camera then again cuts to a shot at the back of the house which we previously seen during the first shot. The phone line then starts ringing through again ans a young girl answers saying 'Hello? Hello?' This shows that the person calling is unknown to her, and is a stranger calling. This connects with the title and therefore shows the audience what the film will be about, and based around.