Reaserch- Scream Analysis- Mr Smith

Scream Analysis

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

The opening scene in scream is conventional to a thriller because it is very cliché everything that happens in the opening scene is very expected.

The first scene where she is picking up the phone, when she is picking up the phone. The cinematography that is used is a tilt shot, because we can see the camera moving up and down, when she is picking up the phone and putting it near her ear. Also when she’s on the phone it’s a close up shot as the camera is near her face.  In the first scene the sound that is mostly used is the diegetic sound which comes from the phone at first the phone is onscreen but then you can see the phone ringing,  also the onscreen sound is heard from the man who is speaking on the phone you can hear where the sound is coming from. The setting in this scene is in what looks like a suburban home, the iconography would have to be the phone as that’s what the viewers would mostly be focused on and that’s what the character is mostly focused on as well. On the body language and facial expression subject in the first scene the body language of the girl is very relaxed and she seems calm and innocent, her facial expression when she picks up the phone though is very confused. The protagonist costumes though is very typical of a female protagonist as she’s wearing casual clothing, jeans and a beige jumper the light colour in her jumper portrayed her innocence, making the audience feel a connection with her as they will feel like they have a connection with her as she’s an ordinary person just like them. Also her makeup looked very natural. The lighting at the beginning was coming from the top as it was highlighting the facial features of the protagonist making her look soft and innocent. And also high key lighting was being used as the lighting appeared to be more natural and realistic to the eyes.

In the last scene where she is fighting the antagonist, you can see that at first when the antagonist stabs her it’s in slows motion to emphasize the scene, and then all of a sudden you get a middle shot of both the characters, then you get a point of view camera movement when you see the protagonist on the floor from the point of view of the antagonist. In that scene you can hear a jingle in the background which would be known as a non-diegetic sound which is not part of the film world. The costume of the antagonist, is the opposite of the protagonist as the antagonist is wearing dark colours and making sure that it covers his whole body, so that his identity will not be show. The lighting then turns very dark as they are out which then changes the mood, the type of angle of lighting that is used would be back lighting which adds shadows and siluate, and also the type of lighting that has been used would be low key lighting.

Conclusion

The opening has taught me that to make my film more relatable I should make the characters more realistic and something that people can relate to. From this thriller I think I would use the different types of lighting because it will help change the mood of the viewers.