In this essay I will be analysing how the opening sequence
of ‘scream; is conventional to a thriller opening. ‘Scream’ is a thriller that
involves a masked antagonist which uses a knife as a weapon to kill its
victims.
Firstly, the setting is very effective. For example the establishing shot at the start clearly shows the house is placed in a deserted location which suggests that she’s lonely and can’t ask for help if there’s an emergency as they’ll take long to come. This makes the audience feel more worried about her as we know she’s not able to run anywhere as she’s isolated, Moreover, despite the fact it’s based in her own house, she still isn’t safe. People feel secure and safe at their home because they have control over who comes in and who doesn’t however, Scream still finds a way to enter. This is conventional to any thriller because it makes the audience feel discomfort which makes them question themselves whether they’re safe in their own house or not. This keeps the audience of the edge of their seats as they’re worried about the victim because anything can happen to her as she doesn’t notice that Scream enters.
As she continues to entertain the phone call, a key piece of Iconography is used; the parallel sound of the phone helps the audience understand the conversation going on between the two characters. Whilst the victim was speaking on the phone to the antagonist she was playing with one of the knives in the knife set this is a key highlighted factor as the antagonist uses the knife as a weapon to kill her and her boyfriend and this is ironic as she was killed with the weapon she was playing with. This is conventional because it’s one of the most popularly used weapons in thriller used to kill or torture people. This makes the audience feel alert and looking for more signs during the film. The editing of the murder scene was effective as it is fast paced as he chases her however; when he starts to stab her it starts to slow down to show the significance of the knife
In addition, the lighting has a huge effect. At the start, every possible light was turned on including the side lamps around the room. This caused the room to be extremely bright and suggested that she was in a safe environment as she could see everything around her. However, when the antagonist starts talking more serious, she gets scared and tormented which results in her travelling into other rooms with low key lighting to lock the door which kept the audience alert and on the edge of their seat as they were expecting something to happen as the darkness shows that she isn’t in control anymore. The victims shadow is further reflected onto the walls on the hallway. This c could suggest that the antagonist is following her and knows her every step and could illustrate that the dark shadow is her death creeping up behind her slowly.
Furthermore, the victim’s body language helps the audience interpret when something bad has happened. For example, when she first answered the phone, she was very calm and making jokes with the antagonist and kept smiling however, when he mentioned her boyfriend’s name she froze and her farce dropped. Also the voice of the antagonist is very disturbing as he laughs like a clown which makes the audience wonder if he’s mental .This was clearly shown by the reaction shot. Lastly as an audience, when we first get a glance of the female, we can infer that she’s a victim by her body language, facial expression and costume, for example she’s presented as a cute female with blonde hair and a white top. The white suggests that she’s innocent and pure with no darkness in her however; on the other hand we can infer Scream is an antagonist because the costume is dark.
Firstly, the setting is very effective. For example the establishing shot at the start clearly shows the house is placed in a deserted location which suggests that she’s lonely and can’t ask for help if there’s an emergency as they’ll take long to come. This makes the audience feel more worried about her as we know she’s not able to run anywhere as she’s isolated, Moreover, despite the fact it’s based in her own house, she still isn’t safe. People feel secure and safe at their home because they have control over who comes in and who doesn’t however, Scream still finds a way to enter. This is conventional to any thriller because it makes the audience feel discomfort which makes them question themselves whether they’re safe in their own house or not. This keeps the audience of the edge of their seats as they’re worried about the victim because anything can happen to her as she doesn’t notice that Scream enters.
As she continues to entertain the phone call, a key piece of Iconography is used; the parallel sound of the phone helps the audience understand the conversation going on between the two characters. Whilst the victim was speaking on the phone to the antagonist she was playing with one of the knives in the knife set this is a key highlighted factor as the antagonist uses the knife as a weapon to kill her and her boyfriend and this is ironic as she was killed with the weapon she was playing with. This is conventional because it’s one of the most popularly used weapons in thriller used to kill or torture people. This makes the audience feel alert and looking for more signs during the film. The editing of the murder scene was effective as it is fast paced as he chases her however; when he starts to stab her it starts to slow down to show the significance of the knife
In addition, the lighting has a huge effect. At the start, every possible light was turned on including the side lamps around the room. This caused the room to be extremely bright and suggested that she was in a safe environment as she could see everything around her. However, when the antagonist starts talking more serious, she gets scared and tormented which results in her travelling into other rooms with low key lighting to lock the door which kept the audience alert and on the edge of their seat as they were expecting something to happen as the darkness shows that she isn’t in control anymore. The victims shadow is further reflected onto the walls on the hallway. This c could suggest that the antagonist is following her and knows her every step and could illustrate that the dark shadow is her death creeping up behind her slowly.
Furthermore, the victim’s body language helps the audience interpret when something bad has happened. For example, when she first answered the phone, she was very calm and making jokes with the antagonist and kept smiling however, when he mentioned her boyfriend’s name she froze and her farce dropped. Also the voice of the antagonist is very disturbing as he laughs like a clown which makes the audience wonder if he’s mental .This was clearly shown by the reaction shot. Lastly as an audience, when we first get a glance of the female, we can infer that she’s a victim by her body language, facial expression and costume, for example she’s presented as a cute female with blonde hair and a white top. The white suggests that she’s innocent and pure with no darkness in her however; on the other hand we can infer Scream is an antagonist because the costume is dark.
Sezer, this is a good analysis, and it is written well using PEER, however there needs to be more detail for a full scene analysis. Your analysis on lighting is good, and where you discuss the famales costume is also good.
ReplyDeleteTo improve;
-discuss the character represtation of the antagonist
-where you mention the fast paced editing during the murder, this needs more detail as it is a key moment of when editing is used to good effect.
-divide the scene into sections and analyse one good use of micro-elements per section. That way there will natural discussion of what happens in the scene, and you will have lots more examples to draw upon.