LILY: Contextual Analysis of 'Scream'

Here is Lily's research into the film 'Scream' and what makes it effective. 

I took 8 screen shots from the opening to minutes, 30 seconds, and wrote about what made those shots work well.

The opening 2 and a half minutes of the movie 'Scream'

Here is the clip I used- from the beginning until 2 minutes and 20 seconds in.

THE CLIP BEGINS WITH THE TITLE SCREAM IN WHITE WRITING.

White is used for the beginning title, on a black background because the ghost is white and black, so it symbolises him. Instantly suggesting the theme of the movie.

IT THEN FLASHES TO RED.

As it changes the sound of a scream is used to build tension. It changes to red to symbolise blood, and death.

This is done to build suspense for the audience members. As more of the background is shown, it makes the audience more nervous as they then expect something to jump out, especially as they get a view of the window- they expect something to be outside.

Sound used is firstly used in the titles. The white text 'Scream' enters the screen and as it does so there is a bang. Many sound effect are then used, including a heartbeat, which builds tension, and a telephone ringing, which we later find out is a sound-bridge of the next scene. As the text changes to red, we hear a scream, which gradually gets louder, until the whole screen turns red. It then cuts to a close up of the ringing telephone, and that is the only sound remaining.

A CLOSE UP OF HER FACE IS SHOWN WHICH THEN SLOWLY ZOOMS OUT AND PANS TO SHOW MORE SURROUNDINGS.

Showing the surrounding and a view to outside if done to scare the audience, as they then expect something to happen, or something to jump out.

Diegetic sound is used in the establishing shot scene. This consists of a creaking swing as it moves forward and back. This is used as a sound motif.

ESTABLISHING SHOT OF HOUSE, AND GARDENS WITH SWING IN.

CLOSE UP

This close up is used because it has the reflection of her in the glass. This is clever because it at first looks like someone else.

MID SHOT OF HER FROM ACROSS THE TABLE.

 The editing in this scene is very slow, at first, and contains many long pans of her walking around the house, on the phone, to set location and show the miss-en-scene- a young couples first home.

Close ups, such as the two above are used. These are predominately used just to focus on objects as supposed to the  girl, or storyline for a second.

THE FINAL SHOT, OF THE OPENING.

This iconic shot of her face changing, the first time she feels afraid, is used. It is a close up of her face, once again showing the window and reflections in the background. The shot first begins as a mid shot but on the line 'because I want to know who I am looking at' it zooms in to become the close up above. As this happens an asynchronous, non-diegetic sound if used to scare the audience.