scream opening analysis

In the opening scene of scream there are many genre indicators that show that the film is a horror such as: the stereotypical phone calls, a young teenager that seems annoying to the audience, an empty house meaning that it is unpopulated and the dialogue of the mysterious man on the phone.

From this opening there are many questions that may be asked by the audience such as: who is this young girl? Who is she talking to? Where could this person be? Where is she? Why is the man continuously calling?

From watching this opening we find out a lot of information. We find out that there is a mysterious man watching over the young lady in the house, as the woman preps for her movie night she continuously gets phone calls, we also find out that he is near her either outside or in her house.

In this opening sound is used cleverly as it starts off completely quiet but as you go further in the dramatic music slowly builds up till the man states ‘I want to know who I’m looking at’ when that was said a sharp high pitch noise was played to shock the audience then it causes a tense mood as anything could either pop out and scare you are any time.

This use of camera shots was really effective during this open with shots like long shots of her walking then staying still looking at the window makes the audience feel as if something is out there or that something is going to pop out of anywhere, or some other shots that made it as if we was the lady looking out the window.