Opening Sequence Analysis - Scream

Notes:

Scream was released in 1996.

It was written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven.

The main stars of the film are Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette.

Opening Conventions:

The first two shots the audience see is of  ‘Miramax International’ and ‘Dimension Films’ which are the companies that produced the film.

It continues to show the viewers the title of the film. Starting with Scream stretched vertically across the screen in white, bold, capital letters and as it bounces together it produces a bang and the sound of a ringing phone with a faint screaming noise. A red background around the text flashes as the sound changes into a more distinct scream and the sound of the ringing phone is only a faint noise in the background meanwhile a flashing red background gets faster causing the text to turn red as a text effect creates a zoom.

Narrative Functions:

The opening sequence to this film clearly shows the genre of the film, it shows it is horror. We can tell this by the dark atmosphere of the film and the voice on the phone. The killer is still a mystery however the way he killed her boyfriend also makes us assume that it is horror.

Characters:
One of the main characters Casey (Drew Barrymore) is introduced in the opening sequence; the audience can tell she is one of the main characters because she is the main focus in the scene. Also we assume that the person on the phone is also going to be a main character in the film. Although we are introduced to Casey’s boyfriend Steve, the audience believe he is dead and will not be a main part of the film, however they are not told that he is dead so he may be a main part if the film.

Hook audience/enigma/action codes:

The opening sequence starts in slow pace and as it gets further and further through the sequence the faster the pace gets. The end of the opening leaves the audience not know who the caller is and whether her boyfriend is dead; this makes the audience want to watch on and see what happens.  We ask ourselves; why have they chosen her? Who is the caller?

Film Lang – MES, cinematography (light & colour):

The film looks a little old fashioned. Her clothes look out of data and the phone is not modern; it has a cord and a base, and it is quite big. We can tell it is set in America because of the accents. The genre is clearly shown in the opening sequence as being horror through the kidnapping of her boyfriend and the strange calls.

Film Lang - Movement, Framing, Editing & Sound:

Most of the sound in the sequence is digetic, although from about a third of the way through there is non-digetic sound of background music: which is dark and slow which adds to the horror of the scene. There are a lot of both on and off screen sound because Casey talking on the phone and when you see the boyfriend squealing are examples of on screen sound, however the unknown caller speaking is an example of off screen sound. Many different camera angles are used. There is a close up on the phone, and mid shots of Casey. They also use a long shot of her house.  A zoom is used to go from a mid shot to a close up on Casey as the tension rises in the scene. An extreme close up is used to show her lock the back door. A scary music is used in the background to build tension and set the scene.