Scream opening scene analysis

The first thing you see in the opening scene is text saying "SCREAM", with a flash of colour from white to red this shows to the audience that they are watching a horror movie because red connotes blood. Also the flash of colour gives the idea of lightning which most people would say is scary.By using capital letters in the title also emphasises the word "scream", because it comes across as being loud like screaming would be.

The first sounds you hear in the first scene is a knife going through something which is a stereo typical weapon in a horror movie,then you hear a scream this connotes that someone is scared or surprised which is also a connotation of a horror movie.

The first character we meet in the movie is a girl which the audience would assume is the main character. When a girl is the main character in a horror movie it connotes that they are going to be the main victim because girls normally come across as damsels or an easy victim. You also realise that she is all alone which makes us feel that another character is going to be introduced very quickly and normally a villain because when someone is on their own they come across as vulnerable. However at the first phone call she doesn't seem bothered by a random person calling her and both the character and audience don't realise what is going to happen, as the caller carries on calling her ,both the audience and character become very anxious.

The first scene is at night which is very stereo-typical of a horror movie, the dark sky connotes mystery, drama and the unknown.

The fact that she is about to watch a scary movie herself makes her come across as quite strong and fearless however when she is put in the position herself the tables change and her reactions are a lot different. If anything this scares the audience because its such a coincidence.

As she is on the phone , they exaggerate every sound that's in room to scare the audience for example the sound of the popcorn cooking this is done because they want you to notice that she is all alone in a big house. Also they keeping flashing back to the popcorn as it is cooking when she's not watching to make you feel like something is going to happen to that because she is leaving it alone on a hob.They show the garden and outside of the house this gives the idea that someone is watching.

When the villain says he can see her they zoom into her face really quickly to show her expression.Just after this you can hear barking of dogs , this is used to scare the audience.After this they use non-diegetic high pitched ,fast pasted music.