Scream analysis - nicole davidson

Scream analysis (1996)

Director: Wes Craven
Plot: ‘A psychopathic serial killer is stalking a group of teens just like in the movies.’
Released: 2 May 1997 (UK)
Genre: Crime / thriller / mystery / thriller
Awards: 7 wins & 4 nominations
Runtime: 111 min
Certification: UK – 18
Company: Dimension Films

I chose to analyse ‘Scream’ due to the fact that it is of the horror genre and therefore will have similar aspects included that i will want to use in our opening sequence.

When watching the opening sequence to ‘Scream’ the first credit that appears is the name of the film. The writing used is white and the background is black, this is a stereotypical code of a horror movie. The white writing makes the title stand out and the black creates a mysterious atmosphere and automatically creates tension. This colour scheme helps the audience to understand that it is a horror genre before the film has even begun. After the writing appears white it then flickers between both white and red and then fades into red. These are both stereotypical colours related with the horror genre, and the red symbolises blood and danger. This creates a tense and eerie atmosphere before the film has even started.

The first shot used when the film begins is a close up of a telephone. A diegetic sound is then used for the ringing of the phone, this creates suspension within the audience as that is all that is seen and heard. The setting or location cannot be viewed at this point and no characters have been introduced, as a result the audience stay waiting. This is a good effect to have on the audience as they stay interested from the very beginning and want to know what is going to happen.

When the character is finally present on screen, similarly to the girl present in ‘The Ring’, a blonde haired teenage girl is present on screen. This reinforces the fact that this type of character is stereotypically used within a horror movie in order to convey innocence and vulnerability. She has short blonde hair that is childlike and this helps shows the audience that she is the type of character that is likely to be targeted within the movie and therefore they stay interested and watch everything that is happening.

When watching horror movies there are similar features used in order to make it clear to the audience the type of genre that is being shown. This is evident in this opening sequence as many dark and dim colours are used to create an eerie atmosphere, and the lighting is also very limited and dimed. When making our opening sequence we need to be aware of these things and take into consideration the type of lighting and colours that we will be using in order to get our desired effect in the audience.