Research: Scream analysis

How is the opening sequence of Scream conventional to a thriller opening?

In this essay I am going to analyse the wide range of microelements used in the opening scene of scream that are conventional to a thriller.

In the beginning of the scene we are introduced to the victim. She is wearing light pastel colours and has blond hair. She has a pretty face with natural looking rouge lips. The audience are able to recognise the innocence of this teenage girl as she seems to fit the ‘American Sweetheart’ image. This innocent look portrays her as an easy target as she can be stereotyped as weak; the perfect victim.

The lighting starts of quite natural and the editing slow paced to help set the scene. The scene is set in her house where the lights are on as it is night. Next we see an establishing shot of the house and its surroundings. We are shown the large house which the girl is staying in. A home is somewhere we would consider to be safe; however it is surrounded by nothing but tress. The relevance of this is to allow the audience to identify the fact that the victim is completely isolated; she has nowhere to run and no one to come to her rescue. This makes audience to feel empathy for her.

We then see the use of iconography when she begins to receive phone calls and behaves naturally, showing she does not feel she has anything to fear. However, when the antagonist asks for her name  and says he wants to know who he’s looking at, we see a reaction shot, close up on her shocked facial expression as she begins to realise these phone calls are more serious than she initially thought. This allows a sudden build-up of suspense amongst the audience as they can identify something disastrous is about to occur. Another use of iconography is when she’s in the kitchen and we see her playing with a knife; ironically this is the same knife the antagonist uses to stab her to death with. When we first see her touching it the audience can connote that this knife may cause her harm.

The camera then starts panning as she slowly and cautiously around the house. As she moves around the house the camera follows her; often from behind. The house no longer seems bright as she enters areas of the house with dim, low key lighting; creating shadows around the room which connotes danger. Together these techniques may represent her being watched and followed. The shadows representing that she is not alone and is unsafe. The use of these techniques creates a build-up of tension and the audience are aware that the antagonist may appear at any time.

She starts looking the doors in panic and we see a range of close up shots on each lock; this may be significant to the audience so they can identify that she is trapped. As the conversation with the antagonist continues her face looks more and terrified. She continues to scan the room and the editing starts to move at a faster past. This starts to put the audience on edge and makes them feel anxious to see when this villain might make an appearance. The main turning point in the scene is when the victim decides it’s time to make a run to lock the front door and remaining unlocked windows. The editing pace speeds up rapidly which puts the audience on edge as they feel something ghastly may be about to

We see a point of view shot of the front door which then begins to zoom out as she begins to panic and scan the room showing the terror she is feeling. The importance of this technique is to show far away from society she is. She's completely isolated and the use of zoom may symbolize how trapped and alone she is. This may make the audience to empathise with her and sympathise for her as they feel there is little hope for the victim.

Throughout the scene she has popcorn preparing over the stove; as the scene unfolds the popcorn begins to make noise and pop. Throughout the scene the popcorn gets louder and louder and the scene gets more dramatic and editing paste gets faster. It is at the end of the scene when the antagonist murders the victim when the popcorn eventually sets fire. This use of diegetic sound is to put the audience of edge and to build up the tension as the scene goes along.  This creates more and more anxiety amongst the audience until the scene reaches a shocking end.

The opening of scream uses a range of techniques such as iconography and low key lighting; along with different camera techniques such as close up, establishing shot, panning and much more to create suspense and tension amongst the audience. All of these techniques are conventional to a thriller opening.