'SCREAM' film opening analysis

The film begins with the name of the production company ‘Dimension Films’.

The title of the film, ‘SCREAM’, appears on the screen with the sound of a telephone ringing starts in the background. The writing changes from white to red with the sound of knives now in the background as well.The red could represent blood and the noises in the background give you an insight into the film before it’s even started. You get the impression that a telephone will play a key part in the film. You hear a scream as the title fades away -  representing the title of the film..

 The next shot you see is a close up of a phone ringing and a girl answering the phone. There is a man on the other end of the phone, with a deep voice, that the girl does not know. She insists he’s got the wrong number and hangs up. He rings again but this time tells her not to hang up. She does anyway. This adds to the vulnerability of the girl. You want to carry on watching the film to find out what this man wants.

The scene changes to outside of the house. The camera slowly moves from the top of the tree to the bottom where a swing is swinging by itself. This adds suspense to the film. You get the impression that this girl is not alone. The fact that it is at night and it’s silent adds to the suspense of it all.

The scene quickly changes to an extreme close up shot of the girl making popcorn. This reminds the viewers that she is still young. The phone rings again and it is the man from earlier, this time asking why she doesn’t want to talk to him. You begin to think that he will play a main part in the film. The conversation carries on and they start talking about horror films, ‘Halloween’. As they are talking about this, she picks up a knife - representing the violence.

As their conversation carries on the girl starts walking around the house locking all the doors - you now know she’s alone. The suspense reaches its climax when the man on the phone asks for the girls name. When she questions him as to why he wants to know her name, he replies; “Because I want to know who I’m looking at.”
He is watching her. At the same time, a dog starts barking representing the madness and confusion of the scene and what the girls feeling. The low lit room also adds to the scariness of the scene.

 The girl turns on the patio lights and the camera changes to a close up shot of her face looking into the garden. The suspense keeps on building as you are expecting something to happen soon. She hangs up on the man after he tells her not to. She runs round the house hysterically as the phone carries on ringing.
  


The camera then moves to a close up shot of the popcorn she had starting making earlier. The popcorn is about to explode - representing the climax reaching it’s highest point and something is about to happen.

The man rings and the girl picks up. She tells him that if he rings her again she’ll tell her boyfriend. The man replies “He doesn’t happen to be Steve does he?” She asks him how he knows and the man tells her to turn on the lights.. Again. - You know he’s been watching her. She turns on the lights and slowly turns round to see her boyfriend beaten and tied to a chair. She tries to open the door but is locked inside and can’t get out. You are scared for the girl.