Research - Scream analysis Ms B

How is the opening sequence of scream conventional to a opening?

I'm going to be analysing this opening scene of scream using these 4 elements;
Cinematography which is the way the shot is framed and the angle its taken in and also the movement of the camera. Also going to be talking about how lighting effects the mood and the atmosphere in this scene/film as well as the angle of the lighting and the types of lighting. I'm also going to be looking at the sound and how it creates suspense and tension in this scene and what responses it creates from the audience from the type from the of sound used. Within mise en scene I'm going to look at the elements of mise en scene. Mise en scene is everything you see in the frame/scene.The elements of  mise en scene are:setting, iconography, lighting and colour,costume and body language facial expressions.Within this scene I'm going to be looking at how these 5 elements of mise en scene bring something effective to the scene that the audience will response from. Lastly I'm going to be discussing how editing is used to represent meaning and represent characters and action in this scene.

Parallel sound is used, when shes on the phone talking to the killer. This is used to have the audience on edge as the girl looks scared and clueless also its effective because they can actually hear what the antagonist is saying to the female victim.This has an effect on the audiences because they don't know whats going to happen which gets them nerve racking . 

Diegetic sound is used when the phone is ringing , this is used to create a scene that shes going to pick up the phone and the  phone is the most significant iconography that later leads to her death. Diegetic sound is used when the girl is talking and screaming this is used because its to let the audiences be aware of the fact that shes scared. The audience have sympathy towards her as she looks innocent. None Diegetic sound used as she starts running , the killer then says something about her which freaks her out , creating a reaction from her.The sound slowly builds up and gets faster, scarier,this is to build up tension. Makes the audiences jumpy ,unaware of the next movement.

Close up shot is being used when the girl is on the phone to the antagonist as he scares her and realises that the killer isn't joking around with her. This shot is used to capture the girl's facial expression and let the audience know how the character is feeling. Also long shot is used after the second phone call from the killer where it shows the setting, showing outside the house, its dark outside the house is big and seems to be the only house we as the audience can see, the audience get sense of fear.Another effective shot is mid shot, it being used when the girl is walking out of the kitchen towards the living room this is to give information to the audience in whats happening in the scene. When girl sees her boyfriend in the chair tied up and the killer keeps frighting her , she starts crying and that's when the camera zooms into her face here's where the audience feel sorry for her and it also grabs their attention. The shot sizes used are conventional to thriller because in thriller films they use a lot of close ups to capture the characters facial expressions making the audience be aware of how the characters are feeling.

When the girl is setting next to the TV on the phone and crying at the same time , low angle is being used, this angle is effective to the audience because it shows how small/innocent the girl is and how weak and terrified she is.

There's a lot of camera movements in this scene but the ones used the most is panning shot ,crane shot and point of view and some others. Panning shot is used as the girl is walking , the camera  follows her allowing the audience to see whats going on. When the girl is looking at the garden the camera movement its taken from is point of view which creates tension and adds suspense to the scene and also when she turns the garden lights on and we see her boyfriend tied up we as the audiences see this as the girl's point of  view to what shes looking at as we see her reaction afterwards.

In this scene most of the lighting low key lighting as its a thriller, everything needs to be dark with small areas of light to add shadows and grab the audiences attention to a particular objects or the character's emotion.Also its to set the mood and the fear in the scene.

The second time the phone rings and as she turns around and walks towards the it , we can see that low key lighting is used and the lighting is coming from the back of the character also the angle of the lighting used is top lighting, its highlighting the objects seen.

Every object you see in this scene is put there for a reason and creates meaning to the scene. The phone is a symbol of her death as it lead to her death. The colour of the phone is white ,white can sometimes relate to death. The knife that she gets killed with is a typical iconography to thriller films, the denotation of this object is pain, death , blood all these are conventional to a thriller and what the audiences expect to see.

The protagonist is wearing a white jumper,shows that  shes innocent. In addition her wearing lipstick makes her appear more feminine and the audience assume that the character is being represented in a sexy way also this is conventional because in thriller films you always see the protagonist wearing light clothing to signify the characters purity.The antagonist is wearing a black custom and we as the audience can't see his face ,this makes him emerge mysterious and black associates with darkness and evil, from watching it.We notices that its clear that the killer knows the victim so the audience wonder and get drawn in.The Light clothing and dark clothing is conventional to thriller films because those colours between the protagonist and the antagonist represents 'good &bad' and the audience recognise the who's who by the colour clothing of the characters.

This scene is set in a big house. The connotation of a house is that it is warm, safe and the audience think that the character is in a safe place and there is no harm to be bought upon her. However, the audience learn that she is alone and the killer is very close by, so this information makes the audience respond in a very cautious and scared way for the female victim. Through out the scene,we realise that as she keeps talking to the antagonist , that he knows every part of the house. He reveals that he knows that shes alone and there is nobody to help her.This makes the audience feel nervous and scared for her as they know that her death is near.

At the beginning the girl's body language is quite flirty towards the antagonist , we can tell this from her facial expressions and the tone of her voice. The audience respond to her in a friendly way they warm up to her.

Never the less her body language changes through out the scene as the tone of her voice changes to scared , you can see the fear in her eyes because her gestures emphasises her words and when shes next to the TV kneeling down her body language shows that shes trying to protect herself.

Further more the body language of the antagonist is aggressive because of the way his holding the knife when his about to stab the girl as she runs from him and tries to get away , sadly she don't.The audience respond to this in a ireful way this is because they are sympathetic towards the girl. In a thriller film the antagonist is always meant to be evil and have some sort of haterest towards the protagonist therefore the opening of scream is conventional to thriller films.

Meanwhile the more she gets scared, we see her facial expressions change through out the scene this is conventional to thriller because the characters normally look scared.From her facial expressions it can tell the audience a lot about her emotions. This helps the audience understand her character.

Straight cut editing is used when the girl hangs up the phone for the second time and the shot goes from inside the house to showing outside this editing shot is used to not confuse the audience Another editing shot used was reaction shot when the victim sees her boyfriend tied she reacts to it and starts shouting at the killer shows sense of anger. The more the girl talks to the killer the more tension that's being built up, this is where slow editing is used and its also to capture the actions like when his about to stab her and when he breaks through the window. when she starts running fast editing is used and that's when suspense and tension kicks in to add more thrill to it and get the audience shacking and jumpy,this is conventional to thriller films because in thrillers tension is the main element. Zoom editing is used when she says what did you say, it slowly zooms in to her face for the audience to see her reaction.

Over all i think analysing this opening scene of scream made me think about my own opening scene when it comes to making it.This opening sequence of scene of scream is conventional to thrillers because it had all the typical conventions of a thriller. We see blood and the girl getting murdered by the killer its something the audience expect to see. However the director plays around with the setting of this scene because a home is meant to be a safe place as the house looks comfy and homely but he plays with that idea and changes the expectation of the audience. The lighting is mostly low key but he uses different angles of lighting to create different effects on the audience.Also the sound he uses to build up tension and suspense is another conventional.The iconography the killer uses to murder the girl is a knife , which shows pain. For my own opening sequence of a thriller ,i would want to play around with the typical conventions and want the audience to have that expect the unexpected feeling and make it more thrilled. Most of my editing i would want it to be slow and fasting editing get my audience on the edgy. more over i want to use dramatic irony to get the audience talking and get involved and also for them to have that connection with that certain character. The setting is not something i would change conventionally because to me the setting plays a big part of a thriller film , the audience would know a lot about the genre by the setting.