The scene begins with an eerie non-diegetic soundtrack to establish the genre of the film, A black screen appears with the title ‘SCREAM’ accompanied with the sound of a woman screaming.
As the scene goes into the first shot, we see a blonde girl answer a phone. A pretty blonde girl in a movie is usually the first to die.
We see her continue to walk around the house as the phone continues ringing. The voice of the man at the other end of the phone is fairly normal, however the fact he is continuing to ring makes the audience ask the question ‘Who is this man?’ After being on the phone to this man several times, he asks her what her favourite scary movie is. After replying ‘Halloween’ we see her pick up a knife. In terms of mise-en-scene and iconography in thrillers, a knife is usually the weapon used as they have connotations of blood, death and pain. As she picks up the knife is is smiling, oblivious to the danger that will come soon.
As the conversation continues, the man on the phone asks for the blonde girls name, after asking why he says ‘Because I want to know who I’m looking at’ A look of terror is seen taking over the girls face as the camera zooms in. Eerie music begins playing as she turns on lights and looks around her house. Outside it is dark, the time of day where a thriller is usually set as you don’t know who could be hiding in the darkness. After hanging up, the stranger at the other end of the phone continues ringing and after revealing that he knows her name, a handheld camera is used to show the frantic actions taken by the girl to protect herself, locking doors and looking outside windows.
“I am two seconds away from calling the police”
“They’ll never make it in time, we’re in the middle of nowhere”
This is an ideal location for a thriller to take place in. Isolated from everyone, no one can help her get away from the stranger on the phone to her.
After seeing her boyfriend trapped outside, the voice asks if she wants to play a game. A game is something usually seen between children, not a teenager and a murderer on the phone, making the audience aware this isn’t a normal, ‘safe’ game. After getting one of the questions wrong, pleonastic sounds of a knife stabbing someone is heard from outside. As a chair is thrown through the back door the music changes, adding suspense to what’s going to happen next. We see a silhouette run across a corridor. The blonde girl runs outside and a car is seen pulling up near her house, a symbol of hope for her. However as the eerie music is continued it suggests to the audience she is still not safe. The suspense is soon ended as we see a character in a scream mask jump out and run after the girl, as he catches her she is killed after being stabbed.
The girls parents soon arrive home and notice that something has happened in their home as their house is full of smoke and their daughter cannot be seen. After looking outside they see their daughter hanging of a tree, dead. The camera zooms into her so the audience can see what the murderer has done, and whats to come for the rest of the film.
In terms of the typical codes and conventions you would usually come across in a thriller, ‘Scream’ matches them well. The opening scene creates enigma’s for the audience such as ‘Who is the male on the phone?’ or ‘What is going to happen to the girl?’ Typical iconography is also used such as knives and sounds such as 'Music stings' when we see the killer for the first time. Also, the male character is a threat which is often seen in thriller films.
Drew Barrymore is usually the star of movies. The fact she is killed off in the first scene would be a shock to the audience. This is similar to the film 'Psyco' Janet Leigh was a famous actress at the time of the film coming out, famous 'stars' were not usually killed in films.
By Katherine Scott
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