The opening sequence of the film Scream establishes an atmosphere of horror and tension. It begins with the movie title against a black background in jagged white text with added visual effects like flashing red and the sound of a heartbeat. The first scene shows a woman answering the phone at home while wearing casual clothes, speaking to an unknown caller with a deep voice. As the conversation continues, the atmosphere becomes more unsettling with strange noises and the revelation that the caller is watching her. Camera techniques like close-ups, zooms and pans track her increasing fear and sense of being threatened by someone outside her home.

1. Opening Sequence Analysis 2 – Scream
Scream first of all opens up with the creators of the movie and then this
suddenly enters into the title with a sudden reveal of the name of the movie
and plays an immediate sound of something like thunder which we would
associate with fear and this shows us that something bad is going to happen at
the start. The background is black and the text is white which creates the
atmosphere of a horror as we associate it with darkness and this creates
vulnerability in the victim as it obstructs the victims view, the font also adds to
the horror theme as it is quite jagged. The text has a blur around it which the
audience could also associate with some type of mist or fog which also links to
this idea. You then hear a phone ringing which then ties in with the first scene
of the movie, still during the title the white text flashes red with the sound of a
heartbeat as red usually indicates blood and so therefore this links in with the
horror theme we then hear a gunshot sound and the text turns red with a
Scream afterwards which we would see as a woman being murdered.
The thick, jagged text that adds a misty/foggy
effect with the blur.
http://puu.sh/c4At2/fed748254b.png
The text then flashes red on the outside.
The text then turns a dark red colour to
indicate death.

2. The first scene of the movie opens up with a close up of a phone that is ringing
and the furniture suggests that we are in somebody’s home. The lighting is
high key and is bright to show that it is a homely and comfortable atmosphere.
We see a female character answer the phone she is wearing clothes associated
with the fashion that was back then and it was the casual type of clothing that
we would expect that shows us that she is in the comforts of her own home.
We get shown a medium close up shot of her face to show her facial
expressions whilst she is talking to the unknown caller on the other end of the
line. The man’s voice contrasts to the females, his is a deep voice whereas the
female has a higher pitch voice which makes her look more innocent and
vulnerable compared to the unknown caller we then get suspicious as he asks
who the person is even though he was the one who called her.
An image of the phone that was ringing, with high
key lighting and the furniture.
Image of the woman who answered the phone,
example of a close up shot – wearing casual clothes
and makeup.
When the phone rings again the camera zooms into the woman’s face to add
to the horror atmosphere. The shot then changes to the outside of the house,
this changes the atmosphere a lot from being high key lighting and a
comfortable atmosphere to being dark, low key and uncomfortable, we then
get a pan down to reveal a swing that is attached to a tree swinging in the wind
which again adds to this atmosphere as it also makes a sound like a noose
being pulled or some type of stretching. We also then get a shot of the house
that we suspect the woman is in and we get this feeling that something bad is
going to happen.

3. When she is in the kitchen there are many different camera angles, we first of
all get a close up shot of the oven and the popcorn that she is making it then
zooms out till we get a long shot of the character when she picks up the phone
to answer it, we get various pan shots as she moves from the oven to the
phone and back. At this point the character is happy as she is normally having a
conversation with this caller and doesn’t look uncomfortable at all as shown
with her body language.
Example of a close up shot. The woman’s relaxed body language.
Another example of a shot is also then a tracking shot as she walks into the
next room. Afterwards it is then revealed that the voice on the phone is
actually watching this female and this comfortable feeling suddenly changes as
random piano keys are pressed to show a change in atmosphere and the fear
on the face of the woman is shown.

4. A dog is then heard barking which adds to this horror and makes the audience
notice that something is out there in the darkness moving about to make the
dog unsettled. After she turns on the lights outside we get a good shot of the
outside due to the darkness of the night there is low key lighting with only a
couple sources of light and there is also an added effect of steam which adds a
foggy/misty affect to impair the audience’s and the woman’s vision of the
outside to make it even more atmospheric as the person outside cannot be
seen.
The camera jitters about from side to side to act as the woman’s point of view
for frantically searching about outside to see where the caller is, the piano
noises in the background also add to the atmosphere of tension. She then
turns off the light and we then get a close up of the woman locking the door to
add to this increasing tension, the music then picks up some speed as she says
she is hanging up the phone and the caller has a rougher tone in his voice as he
warns her not to hang up. We then get another close up shot of the popcorn
that is crackling loudly and has expanded, this adds to the increasing tension
that something bad is going to happen and the audience expect for the
popcorn to explode and for everything bad to happen at once.
Close up shot of locking the door Close up shot of popcorn

5. She then walks into a room where the lighting is a lot lower key and this is
where the caller phones her back so this adds to the horror.
The tension continues to rise as the popcorn that she left on is now smoking
and this shows us that things are starting to get worse and that things are
beginning to get more chaotic. The face zooms on to get a close up shot of her
face when the caller rings back and the way they talk is a lot rougher and the
facial expressions of the woman show the fear and the caller begins to talk
more smoother which creates this sense of uneasiness and disturbance. The
music then gets very fast paced as she runs to all the doors to lock them which
adds to the sense of urgency and the movie begins to speed up with the pace
of horror, we get a point of view shot of her looking through the window in the
door and panning from side to side to see who she is talking to.

6. The use of the doorbell ringing adds to the horror as it confirms that he is
actually out there and is close.