The Strangers

The strangers was directed & written by Bryan Bertino in 2008. Three A-list actors starred in this movie; Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler and Gemma Ward which helped this film to hit $20,997,985 on its opening weekend of the movie premiere. The genre to this film is Horror/ Thriller, due to the plot of the story which contains a lot of violence. The Film is based on a newlywed couple going to a vacation house to find them getting more than what they bargained for. What ensues is a violent invasion by three strangers, their faces hidden behind masks. The couple find themselves in a violent struggle.

 The lighting from the trailer contrasts with the poster as it focuses mainly on the characters expressions. The outside of it is blocked out with a pitch black light, this makes the person look more effective as the main light is making them stand out to the rest of the poster. However, in the poster it could connote that something bad is going to happen due to a dark colour blocking out the light; this could suggest evil taking over good. Is there something in the dark? Live Tyler is the only thing to be seen in this scene of the trailer which shows us she is alone. It could cause us to interpret that the movie is a dark film that has to be revealed to get into the light, and see what is revealed behind the scenes. Another interpretation of the enclosing lighting could be that the poster is clearly telling the audience that the main character is Liv Tyler as she is standing alone in the poster with the lighting directly shining directly on her face. This suggests that Liv Tyler faces something terrible by herself as she is by herself in both the trailer and the poster, with the dark surrounding her, nothing to be seen expect her terrified face.  In this scene of the trailer it shows Liv Tyler is scared, with her arms above her head which could tells us that she puts up a fight but only for so long as she is facing something terrible with nobody but her and her reflection. If you look closely you can see Liv Tyler is wearing a white & red chequered shirt the red may connate blood and violence, however, on the other hand the white could suggest innocence and some sort of hope for her. In the poster her whole body is used in the camera shot, where as in this scene of the trailer they have just taken a long shot of her head and the background.

This image is from the trailer, its shows Liv Tyler undoing the back of her dress which could suggest she is unwrapping something that is supposedly meant to be hidden. The angle in which the trailer was filmed was a medium long shot, it shows us a view of many things but stops halfway down her waist. This could connote something being half seen with a double meaning to it. Indeed, a mirror has been used which also shows another side of the character which could suggest there’s another side to her that we may not know about. Similarly in the poster there are 3 masked characters, this could relate to the this scene in the poster as both have double faces, or unmasking who each character is by trying to figure out what each one is about. Although Liv Tyler isn’t in a mask there still her reflection which suggests to us that there could be two sides to her character in the movie. There is a door halfway open which could connote there’s a little bit of hope for Liv Tyler to escape before it too late.  The poster shows Liv Tyler’s innocence in the movie where as in the trailer is shows there could be two sides to her, with a ray of hope which could be the reason of the lamp being there and it shining on the side of her face. The way the camera has been positioned to suit Liv Tyler’s head so we can’t see here face could suppose that shes hiding something, or shes going to reveal something to her husband after a nice night get ready for bed un zipping her dress wondering whether she wants to tell her husband a big dark secret. In contrast the poster shows her face with a big expression of fear; it shows her emotions which is giving the audience a sense of tension between her and something. In the trailer a slow mysterious sound of music is used for this scene to get the audience thinking what is about to occur after this. In the movie trailer the way Liv Tyler’s hair is in the way of her face can also connote something is watching her but she cannot see it coz she is unaware, therefore she needs to look more carefully hence the reason why there is a mirror right in front of her.

In conclusion both, trailer and poster have contrasted really well together, due to all the high/low key lighting, also the way the camera angles/shots have been used. It helps the audience to capture what is happening through the poster, which conveys them into seeing the movie trailer which gives them a better idea on what the film is about. The trailer of the movie relates really well to the poster as a  lot of similar lighting and facial expression where used in both trailer & poster but the movie trailer explains it in more depth giving the audience a better idea of the movie’s plot.