Research: Scream Analysis (Ms Begum)

Analysis Of Scream Opening
A thriller is a genre that is made to create a chilling feeling amongst the audience, most thriller films are designed to keep the audience on their toes during the main parts and often use low key lighting and loud sounds to scare/shock the audience.

The opening scene of scream shows the protagonist who is a young girl believed to be in her teens attending high school as she later refers to her boyfriend who is on the ''football team''. The girl is first seen as friendly and in a happy mood but that is soon portrayed to be vulnerable and scared. In addition, we are at first able to hear the antagonist's voice through the home phone that the young girl answers throughout the opening scene, the voice of this mystery character sounds as he is a middle age man trying to impersonate a young boys voice who's at the age of 10 for example.  The mystery character over the phone also comes across to be friendly and outgoing as he was having a casual conversation with the young girl until he stated person facts of the young girls life e.g. her name, at this point that is when the soundtrack changed into something more serious which suggest tension would then start to build.

Opening Scene Plot
The opening scene of scream tells the audience what the story may be about, A high school student named Casey answers a flirtatious phone call from a mystery character which at first seems friendly as he continues to ask the girl questions. The situation escalates and tension slowly starts to build amongst the audience as the mystery character's phone call turns aggressive and threatening as he threatens to take her life. He then reveals that the girls boyfriend Steve is tied up outside and if she does not answer a question about horror movies right he will then kill her. Steve is then murdered when the young girl fails to answer the question right, Casey later fails to co-operate with the mystery caller. She is then attacked and murdered by mystery masked killer, leaving her body hung by a tree and parents who just arrived home in shock as they witness the gruesome reality of there murdered daughter.

Location and setting
The opening scene is set in a girls house who lives by the looks of it in the country side far away from any close neighbours as we see what it looks to be farmed crops and oak land forest. The scene actually starts in the girls house then later escalates to just outside her home as that is where she is attacked then murdered.
In addition, just by looking at the house the audience can straight away be reminded of the genre of the film, this is because of the connotations which may come with the house such as Scary, danger etc...

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Narrative

The opening scene to this clearly shows the genre of the film, which is a horror/thriller. We can tell by the atmosphere and the creepy 

voice on the phone the girl answers. Even when the killer kills Casey's boyfriend we still cannot see his face as he is a mystery masked man which may have the audience assuming he is going to go on a killing spree later on during the film, specifically target teenagers  However, from this the audience can also infer that this is more of a horror movie as it is all maybe too predictable.

I believe this follows Vladimir Props theory as this is a layout of a traditional Beginning, middle and end movie.

How are micro-elements used conventionally in the opening of Scream?

Cinematography

Both Zoom shot and reaction are both used in the scene when  the mystery character says something to Casey that changes her hole mood towards the Phone call. The  mystery character on the phone says to Casey ''Because i want to know who i'm looking at''. The camera then instantly zooms into her face to capture her reaction to this comment, this is when the soundtrack changed to create a more chilling and dark atmosphere and also tension started to build. This is done to capture the emotions created by Casey's facial expressions as she is going through a stage of insecurity and shock.

A medium shot was used when Casey picks up and the phone and begins yelling at the mystery caller while she was completely forgetting about the popcorn that she had on the stove which was clearly done as the smoke shows. This suggest that as she was so rapped up in her conversation on the phone with this mystery caller she forgot about the popcorn as she is terrified, She also kept walking around which is another sign of paranoia.

Another reason why this mid shot was used it to let the audience focus on Casey's body language. As she was standing straight only using her arm to hold the phone against her face suggest that she was serious and the once friendly conversation escalated into her fearing for her life.

Reaction and zoom shots are also used when both Casey's parents notices her body hanging from beneath a tree. The zoom shot was effective here as it allows the audience to put themselves in that situation and would allow them picturing there own child in that situation which would of had most of the audience feeling sympathy for both Casey's parents.

These two camera shots are both conventional to a thriller film as it allows the audience to get a close up view of the characters facial emotions. This can then make them feel sympathy for the character as it allows them to put themselves into the characters position.

Dolly Shot

The dolly shot is used in this scene when Casey's punches the masked attacker in the face and makes a run for it outside. The Camera then zooms out as it captures Casey's hole body along with a bit of her garden it moves backwards and begins to move side ways as it follows Casey's running movements. The camera follows Casey as she tries to make a run for it but then the scene changes as she spots her parents car approaching.

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Soundtrack

Most of the sound in the opening sequence was Diegetic sound as you hear the phone ring at the start of the film. This counts as Diegetic sound as the noise the ringing phone produced is what you'd expect to her and not a cry of a baby zebra for example.

Non-Diegetic sound is used when the background music starts to slow down and become more dark. This builds tension and helps to outlines or remind the audience that this is a thriller/horror film.

On screen sound is when there is sound in a scene and you can see where its coming from. The part where Casey begins to talk on the phone to the mystery caller is a on screen sound as that is Casey's voice that is being portrayed, and also when you hear the boyfriend squealing while he is tied up against a chair is another example of on screen sound.

Off screen sound is when there is sound in a scene but you cannot see the source of the sound. For example the mystery characters voice over the phone to Casey is a off screen sound as the audience could only hear his voice and not see who was talking at the other end of the phone.

Iconography

The clothes that are worn by Casey in the opening sequence of scream suggest that the film fashioned her clothes as we would dress 10 years ago. We can also infer this as she is wearing a cardigan, fluffy trousers and no socks which suggest that she is at home as you wouldn't expect to see someone at someone else's house without at least sock on.

We can also tell that this film was set in america as the accents of the character and also the clothing Casey's boyfriend was wearing, which was a football jumper with american footballers wear. In addition to this, Casey also states that her boyfriend ''Is big and players football''.

The phone that the mystery caller rings and Casey answers suggest that this film was not a modern day set film. We can tell as the phone seems to be very old just by looking at the colours used which are dull colours. As the mystery caller then recall Casey on her wireless phone then suggest that the phone Casey was using before must be even older as it weren't even wireless.

Many people also noticed that to heat up the ready made popcorn Casey placed it on the stove. Whereas, nowadays 

most people would just pop it into the microwave. Which is another way that suggest that this movie was not a modern day set as the popcorn making method is out-dated.

Thriller Elements

The opening sequence of the film scream shows the audience different horror elements which all relate back to the film logo which is a blade. a example is when Casey begins to play with a kitchen knife while she was on the phone to her first seemed friendly mystery caller who she assumed was prank calling her, as she was on the phone this created a horror element. Another example of this is when the situation already escalates and the mystery character asked her a question about a phrase a character in a horror movie used. She mentions the right movie but the wrong character However, the movie she mentioned the killer also used a knife as the weapon to murder his victims.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the opening sequence to scream was well put together and it was also very slow paced to build up tension amongst the audience until the point where the tension escalated  and the background music began to play a sound soundtrack to create a dark atmosphere. All appropriate sounds where used to take real effect and camera angles and shots. For example the reaction shots were used in great effect as it captured the emotion on the Casey's face.

From looking at this movie opening it has allowed to me start thinking about the different conventions i will use in order to make my thriller conventional and appeal to the audience. I thought the analysis of scream was also very effective as it allowed myself to take down idea's in which i can replicate into my own thriller.