Scream Opening

Directed by Wes Craven, starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette.
A killer known as "Ghost Face" begins killing off teenagers, and as a body count begins rising, one girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the "rules" of horro films as they find themselves living in a real-life one. Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/

The opening credits show the title SCREAM in capitals flashing red and white, the red shows danger and the non-diegetic scream played over into the background puts the viewer on edge. This then fades to a shot of a phone and the scream fades to the sound of a phone ringing. We then see the character Casey, who is the stereotypical thriller victim - Blonde haired teenager, who is home alone - The damsel in distress.

The whole opening scene has a low key lighting to signify the time of day it is and it also gives it an eerie feeling. The next shot is a tilted shot of Casey on the phone to 'Ghost Face' - this shot includes Casey and the view of outside through the patio windows, this confirms the audience that it is night and the fact that there you cant see much outside adds to the tension.

There is a pan outside showing how isolated the house is and there is ambient sound played as the camera pans.The audience then see a swing swinging on its own, again stereotypical of a thriller/horror movie.

As Casey talks to Ghost Face about scary movies, she begins to play with knifes; this is a suggestion of violence to come. As she walks around the house the camera follows, this shows how she is alond and its also showing the audience that there are a lot of windows and doors making her seem exposed and vulnerable.

When Ghost Face says, "I want to know who I'm looking at," there is a non-diegetic music sting and a zoom in close up of her face reacting to what he has just said. This adds tension and enigma. The camera takes a shot of her garden showing it is empty and also showing how there is a typical scary movie fog outside. The loud popping of the popcorn and the speed of the popping adds a panic to the scene as it begins to explode - this could possibly signify time running out before it explodes.

The phone rings again and there is a creepy soundtrack played over as Ghost Face shouts and swears at Casey, showing how he is now a threatening character. He then says her name and there is another music sting as she runs locking doors in the house the soundtrack becomes loud with a fast tempo, adding panic as the camera follows her running around the house. There is then a shot of the door as she then backs away, seeing it get smaller adds tension to the scene, she backs towards a bigger window so the audience can still see outside and that there is nobody there.

Finally, we then see a long shot of her boyfriend tied up to a chair outside, which then cuts to a midshot showing blood on his face. The camera does a close up of the lock on the door being unlocked then locked again as she goes to get him, before being warned not to; this confirm to the audience that the door is locked for when Ghost Face later enters the house.

By Sophie Tinkler.