Stranger Things

Not being much of a Netflix viewer myself, I was excited to get started with Stranger Things, a show that was recommended to me by a few friends.  Going into it, I knew that the story would be based around a group of children trying to solve some issue.  Immediately, the director made it clear that suspense and high tension were going to be major focus points for the show.  An interesting pattern that I noticed was the director's interleaving of shots that are more lax and joyful with scenes that presented imminent danger, foreboding, or distress.  Lastly, the initial presentation of rather dynamic characters and the relationships between them was markedly noticeable even for just the pilot episode.  The directors of Stranger Things made a noticeable effort to capture the viewer's interest, fully utilizing every character and every shot to further the plot and lay foundation for future episodes.  

Beginning with the sharp contrast between shots that presented a more joyful mood and shots that stemmed from tense moments, the director’s use of mixing them together and allowing them to help explore different scenes is extremely noteworthy.  The episode begins with a lab scientist being chased by an unknown creature, which sets the tone for the show.  The very next shot depicts the main protagonists playing a board game together.  This scene is then followed with one of the main protagonists biking home from playing the board game at his friend's house; however, he is then chased by perhaps the same unknown creature that chased the scientist and then disappears.  This alternation of moods from scene to scene continues throughout the remainder of the episode.  As I continued watching and recognizing this pattern, it gave me a noticeable sense of foreboding as if I already knew something terrible may happen, yet the directors kept it obscure enough so that I did not know exactly what might happen.  This seemingly simple mood dynamic in the show allows the viewer’s mind to imagine and think about what will happen next, thus leading to elevated levels of excitement throughout the episode.  

Next, the way the directors went about introducing certain characters made them both memorable and increasingly interesting as the episode continued.  Beginning with the presentation of Chief Hopper, the camera pans through his house, first panning over a table covered with garbage and beer cans, then moving to a shot where he’s shown sleeping on his living room couch, and then moving to a shot, soon after he wakes up, showing him having a morning smoke on his outside deck.  Within the first thirty-five seconds of Chief Hooper’s debut, the audience has been giving enough evidence to conclude that he may not be the most inviting or wholesome character in the show; however, what makes him quite interesting is his development throughout.  Despite being depicted as quite a care-free character, Chief Hooper, who we come to find out is the chief of police of Hawkins, Indiana,  takes his job seriously and treats his duty with respect.  Most notably, soon after the search for Will, who went missing early in the episode, Chief Hopper and a few other policemen stumble upon Will’s bike.  Without any other clues, Chief Hopper’s first action thereafter was to go to Will’s home after deducing that Will may have been in danger and made the obvious decision to get home as fast as possible if moving by bike was not an option.  A few scenes later Chief Hopper finds another clue which leads him to immediately dispatch a search party to find Will.  This particular shot depicts a side of Chief Hopper that is sharply distinct from the Chief Hopper that was shown sleeping on his living room couch and then having a morning smoke to wake up.

Stranger Things  caught me by surprise with how quickly events spurred, how quickly tension manifesting, and the pace at which characters were developed.  Just from the pilot episode the show already had many things to continue building upon and methods of keeping the audience interested.  Once again, I personally do not watch much Netflix; however, Stranger Things  may be the first step I take.