Analysis of scream opening
The horror genre is well known to follow stereotypes, females are always presented as weak and males are always portrayed as strong and powerful. This is shown throughout the opening of the movie “Scream”.
The scene opens with non-diegetic screams playing at the start to add an intense feeling as well as a rapidly beating heart, it foreshadows the events of the film to come. This then cuts to a close up of an old looking phone, this is picked up by our main character who is the victim of a potential crime, she has stereotypical blonde hair and blue eyes, she is also very innocent looking and friendly like a stereotypical murder victim within the horror genre. She playfully answers a strange man on the other end of the phone, she then tells him to “take it easy” and hangs up.
The character then walks away from the phone, the camera tracks into a close up of her face as the phone rings again, she looks very shocked and it is our first insight to the fact she might be scared.
The camera follows the main character so that the audience can see her facial expressions and she answers the call again, she talks to the stranger in a playful and friendly way again completely unaware of the danger.
An establishing shot is used to show that the scene is set in a middle class house in the countryside. The house is surrounded by trees and bushes filled with flowers to symbolise the wealth of the family. The camera then cuts to an extreme close up of a flame being lit on a stove, this could foreshadow the characters death, it gives the audience a hint that this is how the character may die. The main character then puts popcorn on the stove to cook. There is then the diegetic sound of the phone ringing again, the character then grunts in frustration and answers the phone. She then talks to the character about popcorn and movies. The camera then cuts to a long shot of the female character holding a knife, this could also foreshadow the death of the character, it creates a feeling of mystery upon the audience as the character has now come across two things that will kill her, which one is it?
The two characters continue to have a flirty conversation, the conversation suddenly cuts when the strange man on the end of the phone says “I want to know who I’m looking at “ at this point the camera tracks into a close up of the shocked and scared expression on the main characters face. The characters continue having dialogue but the tone in the female characters voice changes to very scared and shook up. The camera uses an establishing shot to show us more about the family, we can see a pool and more flowers and trees to represent the status and wealth of the family. The camera tracks into a close up shot the female characters fear every time the phone rings. Non diegetic music starts to play to show the scene is about to get very intense and scary. The camera then zooms out into a long shot as it tracks the camera running through her house in fear, the intense music continues to represent the fear in the character.
The main character threatens to call the police, this fits in with the stereotype of the female character being stupid as she continues to pick up the phone rather than actually calling the police after the third phone call. The camera continues to follow her as she stumbles around her home which has now become like a maze to her. At this point we know her killer is going to be the stereotypical male on the other end of the phone, whom we will be able to presume is a white or Caucasian male.
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