Scream opening scene textual analysis

The first thing the audience hear is a non-diegetic sound of a women screaming.  This is an audio representation of the title of the film, and helps the audience infer that the genre of the film is likely to be a thriller/horror as someone generally screams when they are in danger. The scream creates suspense and curiosity from the audience as they wonder as why the character is screaming and what danger they could possibly be in, which makes the audience intrigued of the storyline of the film from the beginning. Whilst the audience hear the scream, they also hear a non-diegetic heartbeat and phone call. The heartbeat build tension and the phone call creates suspicion in what a phone would have to do within a horror movie. The phone ringing acts as a soundbridge into the first scene and the screaming introduces the audience to a female character. At first the title is white, which may suggest a vulnerability and innocence of the characters in the film, which would make sense to the audience because usually in horror films there are often many victims. However, in seconds the title turns red, which way suggest a more sinister and evil undertone to the film. Furthermore, we usually associate the colour red with danger and blood which foreshadows possible future event in the film.

In the opening scene, the camera shows a phone ringing and then pans upwards to show a young women answering it. The fact that the main character in the film is a women is stereotypical as it is likely she will find herself and unable to defend herself. In addition, the women is wearing a white top which connotes purity and innocence.

A medium close of shot of the women is used to show her facial expression and the window behind, the showing that it Is dark outside.






It could be said that this is a symbolic code through the use of binary oppositions as the victim is dressed in lighter clothing also showing innocence and goodness whereas the use of the surrounding darkness and the killer is dressed in completely black representing unknowingness and evilness.