Analysis of opening sequence of Scream.

Title: Scream
Director: Wes Craven


How the characters are represented and established.
As soon as the opening sequence starts we are introduced to the young female character straight away. Already we can see a typical convention of horror movies for the character - young, blonde, female and in a big house by herself in the middle of nowhere. As soon as the girl picks up the phone the camera movement (pan) shows us that she is naive and from the way that she is talking to the man on the phone, she makes herself seem innocent. This is another typical convention of a horror film to make the main character seem innocent and not knowing what's going on. This being very stereotypical creates a lot of enigma codes and the audience can tell what is going to happen straight away. We also hear the 'killers' voice as soon as the opening sequence starts, nothing of his features but just his voice. This is also very typical of horror conventions as the audience are left asking questions about what does he look like? when will we get to see what he looks like?

Enigma codes.
From the opening sequence there are many enigma codes such as;
who is the killer?
what is going to happen to the female?
why did she claim that she didn't have a boyfriend when she did?
why does she continuously keep picking up the phone?
Enigma codes help keep the story in suspense and the audience on their seats. If all of the audiences questions were answered they would find the film extremely boring.

Editing techniques and their effects and camera techniques.
The opening sequence of Scream is based in a huge house in the middle of nowhere, as above we are seeing horror conventions straight away. It is also set in the night time (this makes everything seem more scary). This generates enigma codes to the audience that something is obviously going to happen in this location where no-one is apart from an innocent girl and she will not be able to escape it.

After the title of the film shows, it fades and cuts into a shot of the telephone ringing (another typical convention of horror films and it is showing the audience straight away so they know what sort of film they are watching). There are lots of basic sharp cuts in the opening sequence, this is keeping it focused on what's going on around and what is going to happen. There are also lots of eye line matches to show what the female character is exactly looking at and create suspense. The camera also does a lot of slow zooms in and outs which builds up tension for the audience, it also allows them time to know what is exactly happening. Throughout the opening sequence the camera focus on the girl most of the time, this creates more impact when something does actually happen to her. 

Sound.

Sound is used very well in this opening sequence. When the title is being shown there is a scream in the background. This shows the audience that it is a horror film. As soon as the film starts they is a diegetic sound of a telephone ringing and the conversation we can hear all the way through. Being able to hear the conversation creates awareness to the audience and enigma codes generate. As the opening sequence gets tenser, non-diegetic sounds start (music that the audience can hear to create tension but the character cannot actually hear it). Having the slow music shows that the character is in shock and creates dramatic tension. There is also a diegetic sound of a dog barking - this gives an indication that something has alerted the dog and something is around outside.  

Iconography.

Iconography is important in horror films to set the scene and to show the audience what the genre is. When the title is being shown, the colour of the font is red. This automatically gives the impression that it's implying blood and death and violence with blood is going to be involved. A telephone being the main source of communication for the 'killer' and the character. The girl is watching scary movies - sends out to the audience that this is going to be a scary movie. When the girl is on the phone to the 'killer' she touches a knife, this could let the audience think that when death comes about it is going to be accomplished with the use of knives. 

Mise-en-scene.

The mise-en-scene for the location of the house is typical of horror films. It is very dark - we can hardly see anything outside, it is very foggy where the swimming pool is which gives it a scary effect. The darkness and bad weather give off an unsureness of what may happen. It is set very typically as there is a big house in the middle of nowhere and there are lots of windows and doors - brings the fear to life. 

Props are played a big part in the opening sequence, this gives the audience an idea for what may happen in the future. 

Titles.

The title for Scream is quite basic but creates a lot of effect. The font of the title is quite plain and block. The draining of the red font shows that it is a horror film. The red font also connotates blood which also shows that it is a horror. It is set on a black background to make the title stand out. To start with the title is in white font but then changes to red, this could show that danger will emerge later on in the film. 

Target audience.

I think the intended target audience for this film would be men and women of all ethnicities who enjoy a good horror film which is represented by all the typical conventions. Aged between 18-30.

Here is the opening sequence to Scream.