Scream Analysis
How Is The Opening Sequence Of 'Scream' Conventional To A Thriller Opening?
The opening of 'Scream' uses all the micro elements very well. The tension and suspense is all built up because of all the micro elements used in the scene. 'Scream' the film has one of the best openings because of mainly how the audience is feeling as a reaction to what is happening.
Cinematography is used cleverly to build tension in this opening. When the main character is on the phone and the conversation between her and the antagonist is calm and slightly flirtatious, the camera sees her from a medium shot as the emotion on her face is neutral. The shot shows her from a calm point of view, making the audience feel calm. But, as soon as the conversation changes and the girl realises that he is watching her, the shot changes to close up to show her emotion as she is extremely terrified at this moment in time. This close up makes the audience feel what she is feeling. Camera movements like tilt are also used in this scene. This is used to show the view of the garden and the house, and the swing moving to show suspicious behaviour around the house. This shows signs of danger to the girl that is home alone on the phone inside. Point of view shot is used when the girl looks out the patio window, this shows the audience how she is feeling looking out into the eerie, dark garden. The most drastic cinematography used in this opening for 'Scream' is when the antagonist says "I want to know the name of the girl I'm looking at" over the phone, this changes her mood completely from calm to completely terrified. This is shown in a sudden zoom shot.
Editing is one of the main reasons for the building of tension in this opening. All the cuts in this opening is straight cuts but the pace of these cuts is what makes the suspense build. When she is relaxed on the phone, making her popcorn, the edits are very slow as its a calm atmosphere. But, as soon as she realises that he is watching her somewhere whilst on the phone to her, edits get faster as she is cautious of her surroundings, hurrying about locking all the doors for safety. This makes the audience nervous and feeling the way she feels.
Sound is used effectively in this scene to build tension for the audience. Firstly, Off screen sounds like the phone ringing and the door bell ringing made tension build too. But, the off screen sound which was the main focus was the antagonists voice on the phone, this made his identity hidden, making the audience think about what he really looks like. The on screen sound I noticed was the cutting of skin when the victims are being attacked, and its very disturbing to hear from the audiences point of view. Non-Diegetic sound is used cleverly through out the whole of the opening of scream, for example, when she is being chased and attacked, the music is high and quicker compared to the other parts of the scene. Other parts in where Non-Diegetic sound is present is when she realises that the killer is watching her somewhere, the music builds a little bit with small beats to build more tension, scaring the audience.
Mise en scene is divided into 4 sections; lighting and colour, facial expression and body language, iconography and settings, costume hair and make up. When the main character is relaxed, the lighting is high-key from the top angle, showing a calm atmosphere in the scene. Whereas, when the scene begins to be tense and scary things start to happen, the lighting is mainly under and from the back, with low-key lighting. Iconography and settings is important to every scene in the film industry. The iconography in the scene highlights the events in the scene too. Objects like the phone, a knife and chair are enhanced to show their uses in the opening. Their are a couple settings used in this scene; a house, garden, and it is set in the middle of nowhere. This shows the audience that this place is deserted, dark and quite dangerous. The costume, hair and make up category in mise en scene is very important. At the start, the main characters overall appearance is very tidy, for example her hair is neat and her make up isn't smudged. But when the victim is being attacked and all the tension has built up, you notice that her hair is messy, her outfit is messy and ripped, and her make up is smudged. Facial expressions and body language is crucial to all characters in all films. This shows the audience their type of character, how they react to certain moments in the scene and how they are feeling. For example, the female victim/main character is very innocent/weak and her body language shows this as she's not very open and her posture isn't great.
Conclusion.
as you can see through the scream analysis we are able to see the different ways that micro elements are being portrayed within the creams analysis and how its conventional to the thriller genre down to the iconography and the low key lighting we are able to see how the director has done through the epic scene of scream.
Editing is one of the main reasons for the building of tension in this opening. All the cuts in this opening is straight cuts but the pace of these cuts is what makes the suspense build. When she is relaxed on the phone, making her popcorn, the edits are very slow as its a calm atmosphere. But, as soon as she realises that he is watching her somewhere whilst on the phone to her, edits get faster as she is cautious of her surroundings, hurrying about locking all the doors for safety. This makes the audience nervous and feeling the way she feels.
Sound is used effectively in this scene to build tension for the audience. Firstly, Off screen sounds like the phone ringing and the door bell ringing made tension build too. But, the off screen sound which was the main focus was the antagonists voice on the phone, this made his identity hidden, making the audience think about what he really looks like. The on screen sound I noticed was the cutting of skin when the victims are being attacked, and its very disturbing to hear from the audiences point of view. Non-Diegetic sound is used cleverly through out the whole of the opening of scream, for example, when she is being chased and attacked, the music is high and quicker compared to the other parts of the scene. Other parts in where Non-Diegetic sound is present is when she realises that the killer is watching her somewhere, the music builds a little bit with small beats to build more tension, scaring the audience.
Mise en scene is divided into 4 sections; lighting and colour, facial expression and body language, iconography and settings, costume hair and make up. When the main character is relaxed, the lighting is high-key from the top angle, showing a calm atmosphere in the scene. Whereas, when the scene begins to be tense and scary things start to happen, the lighting is mainly under and from the back, with low-key lighting. Iconography and settings is important to every scene in the film industry. The iconography in the scene highlights the events in the scene too. Objects like the phone, a knife and chair are enhanced to show their uses in the opening. Their are a couple settings used in this scene; a house, garden, and it is set in the middle of nowhere. This shows the audience that this place is deserted, dark and quite dangerous. The costume, hair and make up category in mise en scene is very important. At the start, the main characters overall appearance is very tidy, for example her hair is neat and her make up isn't smudged. But when the victim is being attacked and all the tension has built up, you notice that her hair is messy, her outfit is messy and ripped, and her make up is smudged. Facial expressions and body language is crucial to all characters in all films. This shows the audience their type of character, how they react to certain moments in the scene and how they are feeling. For example, the female victim/main character is very innocent/weak and her body language shows this as she's not very open and her posture isn't great.
Conclusion.
as you can see through the scream analysis we are able to see the different ways that micro elements are being portrayed within the creams analysis and how its conventional to the thriller genre down to the iconography and the low key lighting we are able to see how the director has done through the epic scene of scream.
This is a really good post with some very good analysis and understanding of the clip.
ReplyDeleteOnly improvement is in conclusion - From what you've watches/analysed, what can you take from that into your own video / filming??