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: