Table of contentsDesignDevelopmentInfluencesScriptingCastingProductionVisual effectsMusicMarketingReleaseReceptionFinding: Critical responseStranger Things, released in 2016, pays homage to the '80s and the cult classics of that era. Introduced on the streaming service Netflix, it took the world by storm, not only because of the nostalgia of the series, but also because of the adorable cast, which has since become the most followed cast on social media due to the release of the series. Stranger Things is set in the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana and follows the story of Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp, disappearing through the eyes of his friends Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas. (Caleb McLaughlin) as they meet a girl with psychokinetic abilities played by Millie Bobby Brown. This scenario is accompanied by two others; one that shows Will's mother, Joyce, played by Winona Rider, trying to find her son with the town's Sherriff Hopper (David Harbour) and the other that follows Will and Mike's older siblings as they They fight against the supernatural as well as trials and tribulations. from high school. Stranger Things features several different age groups to follow in the story arc and so it's interesting to see how that contributed to the success of a series and, looking at the production and design, what the series brought to Netflix who made it such a big success. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayConceptionBehind the creation of the series are the Duffer brothers: Matt and Ross. After producing their 2015 film Hidden, which unfortunately did not see a wide release, the Duffer brothers were unsure what the future held for them, but they were approached by Donald De Line, a producer television, who was impressed by their script. for Hidden and thus offered them the opportunity to work alongside M. Night Shyamalan on Wayward Pines. Following this, as they were mentored by Shymalan, the brothers felt ready to produce their own television series. Development The Duffer Brothers created a three-page script and a 20-page pitch book which they distributed to several networks , who rejected the idea after the pitch. It was said that a plot centering on children as the main characters would not work and most networks requested to focus on Hopper's investigation. After airing on fifteen networks, the script was presented to Shawn Levy, who founded the production company 21 Laps and saw the script's potential. As he told the Beast, “You knew you were in for an experience.” Levy worked with Dan Cohen, who would become co-executive producer of the series, to bring the script to Netflix. The Duffer Brothers said that Netflix liked to "break the rules" and so, since it was the start of the "streaming boom" and the Netflix landscape is very different from what it is today, they took a big risk. After reading the pilot, Netflix purchased the entire season for an undisclosed amount and was later slated for a 2016 release.InfluencesThe Duffer Brothers were heavily influenced by pop culture, particularly classic film and television from the 80s. Among others, Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter and Stephen King have been cited as main influences. The Duffers said their influences come from a thousand different places, and while there are some intentional homages, "it's not us trying to find moments to pay homage to things." This is shown through the series atthrough small accessories placed around the decor. They are not particularly obvious, but are positioned so that those with whom they will resonate due to nostalgia will be able to recognize the objects, one example being the Trapper Keeper memorabilia featured with Nancy and Barb. The plots of the three generations of the series were imagined with their own atmosphere and setting, inspired by different genres of films: children in adventure films, like The Goonies or Stand By Me; teenagers in a classic horror film, like John Carpenter's Halloween or Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street; adults in a classic Spielberg film, like Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Using all of this as inspiration, the series successfully targets many demographics by dividing the plots into three different genres and themes. Scripting Since Netflix doesn't limit The Duffer Brothers to the typical 22-episode format, the brothers opted for an eight-episode approach. Since they wanted to “tell a cinematic story,” they were cautious because airing 22 episodes would make that difficult. With an eight-episode format, this allowed the brothers to realize their narrative development and characterization according to what they had envisioned and also, thanks to Netflix's distribution, allowed them to explore the ambiguity within the series that would lead nicely into the planned subsequent seasons. In speaking with The Beast, Ross explained that in the writers' "room," the most important discussions, especially early on, were about how we captured the mood of these films. their television and imbuing it with something otherworldly. Such discussions have led, for example, to Christmas lights. Let's take something very ordinary and bring it to life in a very different way. When it came to writing for different age groups, the Duffer brothers, who considered themselves outcasts, used their personal experiences to write for children and Barb and took inspiration from Richard Dreyfuss' character Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, for the character of Joyce. Casting The Duffer Brothers both noted that "everyone understood early on that if we had even one kid who wasn't good, it would bring down the whole ship." So we started looking very, very early. At that point, we just had the pilot script and we had so little material that we had them audition with scenes from “Stand By Me.” They were able to find a fantastic cast of four children, who the team used to shape their interpretations in the script. It was also revealed in 2015 that Winona Ryder and David Harbor had both joined the cast, which began to create buzz for the series thanks to Winona's reappearance and her success in the '80s classics. Below, a figure shows the production timeline since filming of the first season was postponed to 2020, where filming of the fourth season had to be pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic. With this timeline, you can see that it didn't take long for the new seasons to get the "green light." by Netflix, demonstrating the success of the series. Plus, you can see that they took the same amount of time to shoot the series, and the length of filming meant for multiple takes, so there were more options to choose from to find the right take. Visual effectsTo achieve a nostalgic feel, film grain was added to the images, captured by scanning on 1980s film stock. Both brothers agreed that it was "much more about mood,