Research: Scream opening scene, Mr LSH

Scream opening scene

The in the opening we are introduced to the victim who is Drew Barrymore. She is in the kitchen making popcorn for a night in but she starts to recieve mysterious phone calls from a male as we can tell from the voice. He asked questions to the female and trys to play games with her. Then she is told by the person on the phone that if she answers incorrectly she has to face the consquences which is that her boyfriend is killed in front of her in her garden. Afterwards the victim is killed and the killer with the mask disapears and the parents of the victim turn up at her house find her body hanging from a tree infront of the house.

 The audience would be able to sense trouble from the start of the scene, her being alone, means that there wouldn't be anyone around to help if there was going to be some sort of dilemma.

 

Sound

The first thing we are introduced to is the phone ringing  diegetic and the scream sound which is non diegetic as it is added on afterwards. This creates mystery as the audeince wants to know who is calling and the scream effect makes the audience fear of what the phone call is for.   We can also hear the sound of the popcorn at the back. Moreover, non-diegetic soundtrack was used when the female victim runs around to lock the doors as she fears that someone might be around to get as she is receving unusual phone calls. 

 

On the other hand, non-diegetic sounds have been used in the opening scene. Thriller specific music has been used when the female victim starts to run around the house trying to hide herself from the killer when she realises that she is being watched. The non-diegetic sounds that is used in the scene adds suspense and shows to the audience that the lady is in danger however, her locking the doors when she panics shows that she is wear and vulnerable to the killer. This makes the audeince feel sorry and also worry about what she could face on her in a big house. The audience is aware by this point in the scene that the intensity is increasing as well as the use of non-diegetic sounds. Using diegetic and non-diegetic sounds allow the atmosphere of the scene to be more realistic to the audience.

 

Body language

Throughout the beginning of the opening scene of Scream we see the young lady having a calm form of bofy language with her not being  scared or intimidated, with slow walking and a normal form of tone as she gets on with making popcorn for the night in. However, the young lady carries on recieving the phone calls she starts to panic  which leads her to run around the house  trying to lock the doors to keep herself safe inside the house. The change in the body language as she starts to panic displays how the feeling of the character suddenly changes when she feels that she is under threat as the killer is coming closer to her with the questions that he is asking on the phone. Moreover, the character portrays through her body language that she might be in trouble, this creates a chilling response from the audience.

 

 

Here we see the protagonist sitting down talking on the phone. However, from the body language we can infer that she might be hiding from someone from the was she has sat down. She also looks upset as she is crying which may show that she might be in danger.

Lighting

Low-key lighting is used frequently in the opening scene. For example, low-key lighting was used when the young lady realises that her boyfriend is being held by the antagonist as he is tied up on to a chair. This key lighting technique is a key to make things more effective as it mainly focuses on one object and everything around that object  is dimmed. This allows the audience to understand the characters emotions clearly. This immediately causes  a feeling of suspense and shock.

 

Costume and iconography

The costumes used were very effective and it allowed the audience to clearly see who the protagonist and the antagonists were which is conventional to a thriller. Firstly, we see the protagonist which is the female victim wearing a white jumper and the antagonist wearing a black hooded cloak allowing him/her to cover his/her identity.

The victim wearing something white may show to the audience as her being innocent and vulnerable towards the killer. Whereas the antagonist wearing black is used to portray the antagonist as being evil and dangerous.  

When the female victim is on the phone to the killer we see that she is just next to knife rake in the kitchen later on in the opening scene we see that see is killed with a knife by the killer. This is a typical iconography used in thrillers.

Cinematography

Mid shot:

This is a mid shot used when the female character is speaking on the phone to the killer. This shot captures the action of the character very well and allows the audience to understand the emotions of the characters as they can see the character from waist up.

Reaction shot
This shot shows the facial expressions of the father of the protagonist. It is a effective shot to capture the emotions or the reaction of a character. In this scene the shot shows the shock of the father as he sees his daughters dead body hanging from the tree. High-key lighting was used in this scene.