1. The film starts with the opening credits. The screen is black when you hear the sound of a telephone ringing followed by a loud "bang" noise. After this the sound of girl screaming is heard while the the word "Scream" in a blood red appears contrasting against the black background the word then starts to increase in size and starts to blur with the screaming still in the background which is stereotypical of a horror film. There is a close up of the phone shown with the girls hand going to pick it up after it starts to ring. The shot then cuts to a close up of the girl talking to the mysterious man on the phone, she puts down the phone and walks away into a different room but rather than the camera following her the camera stays in it position and we Drew Barrymore's character walking away from the shadow from the french windows. An establishing shot is then used to show the location of the house while outside you can hear the repative drone of the crickets you can also hear the creaking of the rope swing with which gives the location a sinister feel to it. This shot also let the audience know that this is set in the night as it is dark and thi again starts to create tension. The camera then moves to the inside of the house, we then hear the phone ring again and then hear the the convosation between the girl and the man on the phone, the camera is filming at a medium close up we can also hear the non digetic sound of the popcorn will the girl is on the phone. The camera then pans around the island in the kitchen and follows the girls movements. A medium close up is still being used when the girl pulls a knive out of its block which is followed by the noise of the blade scraping. A close up shot is then used to show the expanding popcorn packaging on the oven hob along with the black iron kettle. As the girl walks through the house the camera is following her at this point she is still talking on the phone about horror movies which is when we see her locking the doors as she walks past them. While the camera is following the girl it never changes from a mid shot. She then puts the video in the VCR player which is when the creepy man says the iconic line of the movie, "I want to know who I'm watching" which is when the eerie music which is associated with horror movies begin and the medium close up becomes a close up to show the girls reaction to this threatening line.
2. The costume used in this opening sequence would be easy to replicate as we only see one character who is wearing casual tracksuit bottoms and oversized jumper which is appropriate as she is home alone about to watch a scary movie with comfort food (popcorn). The location of the house is rural and this becomes apparent after the establishing shot at 1:03 as well as when the girl is on the phone to the unknown male he sales how that it would take to long for the police to get here to save her. The house also has a large number of windows or large glass doors which helps to build tension as you are anable to see anything but darkness through them but the audience are almost expecting something to happen behind them.
3. There are only ever 2 layers of sound happening at one time whether it be the noise of the popcon and the phone ringing or the sound of the knives scraping the block and the girl speaking. This is possibly done so that that all of the audiences attentions are focused around the phone call which is becoming more sinister as it goes on. Whenever the phone rings rather that letting it simply fade into the background it has been made louder because the director wants you to imediatly understand the importance of the phone.
4. From this technical analysis I have realised that there are far more shots in an opening sequence than I originally thought at that the opening sequence has to catch the audiences attention in the first couple of minutes otherwise the rest of the film may not have as big impact as wanted. Also from this analysis I have realised that in a horror film that it doesn't not rely on a fast cutting rate to create tension.
Well done, a proficient technical analyusis with perceptive observations. Can you use bullet points/ subheadings to lay this out - it is a block of text at moment.
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