Analysis of Opening Sequence of Scream.

Title: Scream
Director: Wes Craven
Genre: Horror

Within the Narrative Context the killer and victom have already been introduced, and it soon becomes obvious he is going to do something to her. From the opening sequence, it seems that the film will be based around the events within this.

The Enigma codes which are soon raised vary, the instant question which comes to mind is who is the person on the phone to her, who is the soon to be killer. As well as this, you wonder what is going to happen to her, you want to know if she survives or not. You also begin to wonder why she takes an intrest to the person ringing her as she does keep picking up the phone to him, as well as this she tells him she doesn't have a boyfriend when she does, which is a question the audience will wonder. Enigma codes keep the audience on their feet and keep their eyes glued to the screen, as your questions will be answered throughout the film.

How the characters are established and represented are conveyed through obvious horror conventions, for example, the obvious convention for a horror film, the main character in the opening sequence being a women, blonde, alone and in a big house, this portraying how helpless she is, therefore an easy target.

Also, her boyfriend being known as "big" to try and save his poor girlfriend. The killer, has not yet been shown until later on in the opening sequence, you can only hear his voice through the phone, this conveys the suspeciousness and terror the character is experiencing making the audience want to see who he is. Another perfect convention, being the fact that you can only hear the killers voice therefore have no idea who he is, the use of the phone creates servere tension.

The Location  in which the opening sequence consits of is a big house in the middle of no-where, with a very large empty garden where clearly no-one is about. This is the perfect location for danger to arise.

The editing techniques and their effects are used instantly, to start of with, there is a straight cut from the title to the phone ringing, which is a well known convention of a horror film, the effect this has on the audience is that you instantly know she is in danger. The rest of the opening sequence is filled with continuious cuts to create on going energy, this allows the audience to follow what is going on constantly, creating a dramatic and extreme effect.
The Camera techniques cause various effects on the audience. There are a number of slow zoom in shots, that bulid up tension allowing the audience to see the emotion the character is experiencing, also the camera plays the role of following the main character about, this demonstrates she is the main character at that precise time, therefore keeping the camera on her portrays something bad will be happening to her at one point. As soon as she picks up the phone at the beginning the camera movement known as a pan conveys how naive and innocent she is. Also, the opening sequence is filled with eyeline matches in order to portray what she is looking at which creates suspence.
The diegetic sounds in which we can hear is the telephone ringing and the phonecall between the killer and the women, this allows the audience to hear everything which is being said, so therefore you can almost feel her pain and worry. Half way through the opening sequence, the killer says to her "i want to know who i'm looking at" this instantly puts her into shock and the music in the background becomes louder and to the point creating dramatic tension, this is an example of non- diegetic sound within the opening sequence. Another diegetic sound is the dog barking through the middle of the opening sequence, this portrays that there is something around. As the phonecalls become more frequent and soon are shown as scary for her, the music is played more which is non- diegetic,as us as an audience can only hear it, and not the characters. This demonstrates how strange and obviously abnormal it all seems.
The Iconography is exteremely important as it demonstrates to the audience what the genre is and instantly sets the scene. Little things the women and the soon to be killer does conveys that it is a horror film, the use of the telephone ringing instantly creates tension, the fact that the converstation between her and the killer is converted to horror films themselves, shows that this film could be something to do with that. An enigma code such as why are they finding converstaion eventhough they don't know eachother, soon becomes awkward portraying that something bad must occur, as this isn't what normally happens (talking to strangers on the phone).

At the start the title appears as red, connoting  blood with a black background, as well as this, there is screaming in the background to back up the name of the film and the obvious emotion horror films put you through. Also, it is set in night time with bad weather, looking cold with servere wind. The whole of her house is dark throghout, with little natural light in any of the rooms, this illistrates the typical characteristcs for a horror film. As the opening sequence progresses, the music builds up creating on going tension.

The Intended target audience I think are those who enjoy horror films from the age of 16-30, being both genders. This is shown to me by all the typical conventions within the opening sequence and their meanings, the expected phonecalls throughout creating drama for a younger audience.

The font for the title "scream" is in block writing, this instantly shows how serious and to the point it is. The title being in white, then changing to red to signify the danger and blood which will emerge later on.

Below is the opening sequence:

Preliminary Task- Editing

Overall, the decisions in which we made for our final editing process were based around the intention of our narrative, creating anger throughout. This was presented through the use of quick cuts and a few cross dissolves in order to portray the emotion. We only made a number of small changes, within our storyboard we had a shot of the angry character banging their thist onto the table, due to the fact we couldn't fit this in while editing with any suitable cuts, we could no longer include this shot. Aswell as this, within our storyboard and animatic near the start we had a close up of the angry characters face which we planned to last approximately 2-3 seconds, as we ended up filming this free hand the shot became extemely shaky which led to us having to cut it down, therefore it was kept very short. On the other hand, these were the only changes in which we had to do as we were happy with our final animatic so stuck to it as best as we could. The changes in which we did make, however were mistakes that show we need to have better preparation for future editing tasks. As i have mentioned before, we tried our best to keep the school like things out of our narrative, unfortunauly we realised while editing that during an over the shoulder shot of one of our characters the tripod was left in the shot, this clearly demonstrates the mise-en-sence is very important. However, apart from this the mise-en-scene was just how we wanted it. Although the lighting was fairly dull, this portrayed the dull aggressive mood but wasen't that clear. The props in which we used, consisting of the table and chairs and the book one of the character reads worked well, in order for this to happen we had to move around alot of the other table and chairs in the classroom, so the room didn't look like a classroom! The expression and emotion we were hoping our characters would show wasen't always possible, the angry character didn't always keep a stern aggreeive look, however i don't think this effected our narrative and the people whom we chose are not actors, therefore they did well acting in our preliminary task.
The cinematography in which we chose to use was acheived throughout, the different camera movments such as a pan to the back of the characters head was shown as planned. Aswell as this, all of the shots worked well, apart from a close up of the angry characters face in which we had to cut down, this could of been achieved to a better standard if we didn't film a close up of his face whilst him walking, this illistrating we should of planned bettter.
The continuity rules such as the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot demonstrated how they are meant to look and the intention of them. The editing progressed the continity shots to convey there meaning such as to show on going energy from shot to shot. The music in which we used was the same music we used for our animatic, we decided to stick to this as we felt it created great tension throughout whlist fitting to our particular narrative. When the characters exchange dialogue to one another we faded out the music gradually as we felt it gives off a clearer effect rather than just cutting it off suddenly.
We managed the meet the breif exactly as the characters within our narrative did exactly what was asked of them "a character opens a door, walks across a room, sits down opposite another character and exchanges two sentences". We kept on refering back to the brief in order to make sure this was met. During the preliminary task i have learnt a number of continuity techniques and specific shot types to create the right effect, as well as this i have learnt how to edit shots effectivley creating the best effect on the intended audience possible.

Below is our finished task:

Top tips for filming!

In order to have an effective filming experience, you need to follow the following tips:

1. Make sure the location in which you choose is appropriate and suitable
2. Make sure all of the props you wish to use are prepared before hand
3. Make sure you vary your shot types to benefit your narrative
4. Make sure you choose reliable actors
5. Make sure you use the time effectively

Overall, you need to be organised and prepared before hand with the right props and location, as well as preparing effective shots and techniques that you will be using.

Filming Process

Overall, our filming was successful. In order for us to make it successful, we had to follow The Brief which consisted of "a character opens a door, walks across a room, sits down opposite another character and exchanges two sentences." As well as this, before we started filming we had to take under consideration the location, props and actors, which was something we learnt through the lessons before hand as the mise-en-scence is extremely important to empahsis the importance of your filming. For our narrative, the anger we were trying to portray needed a simple yet dull location, to empahasis the seriousness. As we only had one lesson so we were fairly limited in who was availaible to be in our narrative and where we were going to film, we decideded to film on the top of A block, using one of the classrooms. We thought this was the best area out of all of the school as the corrider in which we used is plain and simple, and so is the classroom. As we have learnt from this before, we tried our hardest to get any school like things from the background out of each shot such as boards etc. The lighting and background needed to emphasis the anger throughout our narrative. Aswell as this, the dialogue the characters exhanged worked extremely well, as the emphasis and anger was there throughout. For each shot we were able to deliver what we needed too, for instance the shot types and the emotion the character was experiencing. The filming techniques such as match on action and shot/reverse shot helped make the filming process effective in what we were trying to portray to the audience. The previous lessons where we learnt this was therefore very usefull.
I think that we matched the brief well, in order for us to show our first character opening a door we used match-on-action to portray the ongoing energy, this also showing the useful effect this technique has, to show the character walking across a room we used a long shot with moving subject walks into space this easily showing the audience the importance of the certain shot's. To show the characters sitting down opposite eachother and exchanging dialogue we used varied techniques consisting of the match-on-action technique, long shots,  mediam shots, close ups and extreme close ups, this all enablying the audience to get the true meaning of our narrative and to fit the brief precisely, which i feel we did with our own interpretation on it.

Our characters being Luke and Sally were very good at portraying the emotion needed, this then therefore helped us concentrate on the shots in greater detail. However, although we tried our best to make the location suitable for our narrative by removing or avaoiding anything school like in the background, this was not always possible therefore the emotion we were trying to create wasen't always what we wanted due to the mese-en-scence. This suggests that for future filming with more avaibile time the location needs to be thought out and planned to a better standard. From going over the different shot types and learning new techniques needed to make shots more effective, i definitely now feel far more confident in applying my knowledge for my courcework.

Storyboarding Process and Animatic

In order for me and my partner to start storyboarding, we had to take under consideration all the continuity techniques to make it effective. Early on in our narrative we decided to use the match- on- action technique with a cross dissolve to the following shot, the effect in this portrays distinctivly the ongoing energy which is converted from this shot to the next, from a different view. We also used pans and the use of tracking which implies the power and empahsis that shot has, using complete accuracy which creates good effects.
We used match-on-action shots with walking long shots for example, to keep the energy in the shot continuous. We also used match-on-action shots for the door opening within our narrative, focusing on the back of the character about to open the door, then cutting to an extreme close up of the characters hand on the door, this is effective as it demonstrates clearly what is going on. It builds up tension and emphaises how important these shots are to the character, as the aim is to produce an on edge effect, which i feel with using this technique, is done.
We also used the shot/reverse shot to emphasise the over the shoulder shot between both characters, this is very effective as it shows both characters emotion and quickly goes between the two shots, buliding up servere tension.
Lastly, we decided to use another match-on-action cutting from the servere anger in the characters face whilst exchanging the dialogue, to the characters thist clenched and banging on the tabel. We used this technique more than the others as i feel for our particular narrative, it best demonstrates the passion and anger emerging. The upbeat quick cuts fit into the situation in hand. Finally, our storyboard finishes with a long over the shoulder shot of the character walking out the room whlist saying "Argh! i'll be back". This fitting in with the selected techniques nicely.
Below is our animatic:

Preliminary Task- The Brief

Our brief is to show understanding of continuity editing. In order for us to show this, me and my partner interpreted this by having one extremely angry character, we thought this would be easy to show. We also have a more innocent character to create tension between them both. Our narrative consists of the angry character shouting fiercely "wheres my money?!" where the other character is far more reluctant with a simple responce of "I don't have it!" whilst the other character is taking this in, his reponce being abrupt and extremely angry consists of "argh! i'll be back".
The following continuity techniques in which we can use consist of the following:
- 180 degree rule
- Shot/reverse shot
- Eyeline match
- Match-on-action
These all being completetly new to me but yet extremely effective.  The following video illistrates the various shot types which can be used and how to use them:


The 180 degree rule orients the viewer in the scence, it also creates a sence of geography. The shot/reverse shot is where one character is shown looking at another character who is often off screen, then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. This creates the viwer unconsciously assuming that they are looking at each other, within our narratve, we are using a shot reverse shot to demonstrate the ongoing effect. Aswell as this, we are using match-on-action, this cutting from one shot to another that obtains the first's shots action and energy, this then gives the impression of continuous time when watching the edited final film. Finally, the eyeline match is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing, this relating to the viewer intensely as they can easily relate to what is going on, it begins with a character looking at something off- screen, then there will be a cut to the object or person at which he is looking.


The above video shows the aim of the 180 degree rule.

Previous filming experience

Having done GCSE media, i have had previous experience of filming. In year 11 i produced a music video, which consisted of learning different shot types and how to film correctly, to make it effective. However, i have obviously not been at school for a while in order for me to have had many more media lessons, therefore the preliminary task is reminding me of the different shot types and the best and most effective way of filming.