The opening of scream begins with the opening text which is white lighting which looks of a ghosty representative, and then stretches into red text and red lighting which highlights the horror feature, and the audenice can relate to what is upcoming. as this is happening there is a phone ringing in the background together edited with a girl screaming, finishing with the title flashing red to white which is a good contrast. This whole introduction to the film presents the terror and the sense of warning towards the audience. The establishing shot is straight away focusing on a phone with a girl answering it, the story kicks in quickly with a mysterious voice on the other end of it. there is a simple close up which is generally used alot within the phone ringing scenes which shows the emotion on the ace extremely well. after the first couple of calls, the camera edits to a vertical slow pan showing the set, which is a big americian house, typical of most horror films in the middle of the suberbs. deserted and set at night is a clear indication it is disaster awainting, also showing a swing gently swinging which is a ery effect. shown later on is the white picket fence and clear cut gardens which represents a standard wealthy community.
after the first death of the blonde girls boyfriend the music kicks in which is loud string instruments which give the deathly cutting sound, with strong beats while the character is running away. there are dramatic sounds when someone dies which is the use of typical classical music, there is a lot of dramatic changes in music while the character is running the music speeds up while the character is waiting for the killer, it is very slow and daunting. the end of the opening finishes with a cliffhanger, the death of the young blonde teenager with the camera zomming quickly in an almost jaggerd running effect on the dead body hanging with the on going screaming and thunderous music in the background. then with the black screen edit to show the start of a new scene this is very effect as it jumps to a new set a new charcter at a diffrent time.
characters within scream are clearly indicated a group of reckless teens and the unidentified psychotic killer there is a stereotypical, dumb blonde who gets killed first who is entirely helpless, usually the main victim, have some sort of relation or past connection with the killer so in this case sydney is harrassed by the killings to do with the passing of her mother however to her suprise it is her best friend and boyfriend who is going on the killing spree. the authority within scream are like most horrors, very unreliable. however with great authoritativeness these scary situations and deaths would not happen or be nearly as horrific as they are. however without any authority at all, makes it less believable, and intern leaves the audience questioning.
the narrative within scream is based on the typical horror convections, the use of the phonecall gives the sinister realistic force but at the same time a mysteriuos effect because both audience and character dont know who is on the other end of the phone, aswelll as the phone can be a portable device so it gives the the impresion the killer can be anywhere. As well as the phone seperating the horror as the approach is not be direct face to face with the killer. there is some use of authority and voice over narrative, as there are a lot of media coverage and news reporters used throughout the film to explain the deaths, the use of these non diegetic sounds give a realistic effect along with the ambient sound of people chatting and discussing which is common in a public place. phonecalls and door bell ringing are used throughout the film as diegetic sound.
the props used within scream are nationally well known, the famous scream mask is unique, by having the killer(s) wearing a mask hides thier identity and therfore keeps the audience and characters intrigued onto who it is which causes a emotive big enigma of who is the murderer? The mask is also a scary image and can be used as a frightening device, as well as in this film it is available to buy as a fancy dress costume so suggests anyone can buy it. the scream mask itself is so well known it promotes the film by getting it distictively out in the media. the use of knives in the film is frequuent as the knife is a common weapon, it is more brutal than a gun and can be fought off which creates suspense in a scenne. Also the cell-phone is also a main prop used as it is referred to throughout the film.
There is a strong reference to horror films within scream they mention, frankenstein, silence of the lambs, Halloween Freddy krueger and friday the 13th which adds to the whole 'game' aspect which is used in a lot of horror films. within scream the killers are playing a game getting the victums to guess along and answer questions for them. the references also gets the audience to understand the fetaures of a horror film aswell, as the characters explain about the main convection's themselves.
One convection which is used in probably every horror film is the ongoing deaths, when someone supposedly dies and the audience think they are dead and then to thier surprise they wake up and then get hurt then wake up again this creates the thriller and adrenaline and gets the audience on edge 'are they really dead?' However this is used several times in scream especially towards the new state of equilibrium when many come back for a second chance of killing the scream killers, this can get a bit repeatitve and boring.
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