when a stranger calls opening sequence

The opening sequence of 'When a stranger calls' starts off with a blank screen. This creates a sense of mystery and also conforms to the genre of the film, thriller. We hear the diegetic sound of a phone conversation. It's between a man and a Teenage girl, we hear the voices but we can't see the characters. This is significant because it creates enigma. This makes the audience want to keep watching to find out what is going on. The man seems quite mysterious and dangerous. The audience expectation after seeing the first few shots is that there is going to be a chase to catch the 'killer' or the 'caller' and we expect for there to be a few killings.

Typically like any other opening sequence the credits appear to show case the industry. In this case it is ' A Davis entertainment production'. The colour of the font is white and it fades in and out of the shot. This is very ghostly and mirrors the tone of the film; it also indicates the genre very clearly.

There is an establishing shot of a house and the camera slowly pulls away to a fair ground nearby. Through the use of a montage we see various shots of families, children playing, lights and we hear laughing and people having a good time. Although this is taking place we still hear the sound of a teenager getting mysterious phone calls. This introduces the story line of what the film will probably be about. The montage is also probably used to speed up time here and also to frighten the audience. An example is when the camera shows a shot of some silver spoons dangling down and blowing in the wind, it quickly changes with the sound of someone screaming back to the fair ground.

There is a non-diegetic soundtrack that sounds very eerie as though something bad is about to happen. At one point the camera goes into a point of view shot of a character. This character appears to be the 'killer', he watches the woman carefully and we hear heavy breathing. This really mirrors the genre of a thriller. It’s generic to have a 'killer' spying on their victim before they kill them.