Textual analysis of Scream

The first opening scene of scream straight away demonstrates the genre of the film with the non diegetic and diegetic noises mixing to give off tension and suspense, firstly the non diegetic heart beat with the diegetic phone ring connote the sudden shock that something is going to happen also due to the diegetic cricket noises showing she lives in an isolated rural area and the mixture of both sounds already signify it is a horror film as you are made to feel tense and anxious. Additionally the mise en scene of the opening scene in scream plays a key role in showing the narrative of the film with the blonde girl. Blonde girls in horror film straight away connote her vulnerability and that she will be killed this fills the audience with suspense and therefore waiting for death. During the opening scene the house is seen by a wide shot this insinuates not only how big the house is and how far she is away from civilization but also the fact that she has no hope and therefore dramatic irony as the audience know what will happen to here before she does. Throughout the first 10 minutes of scream the camera also tracks her this shows the magnitude of the house and how she is alone in this massive house and basically isolated. The first few minutes of scream really start the film as they mean to carry on and the house plays a key role on understanding how there's no way out for the girl representing no hope and death suggesting it is a horror film.

Further on in the opening scene of scream the camera is used to its advantage to scare the audience for example the camera pans down to act like someone or something is watching her and she's being tracked and its sudden zoom and close ups on the girl expressed her fear and her real facial expression which are sometimes covered by the way she acts. Furthermore, the plethora of signs are given that tells us something bad is about to happen  through the mise en scene where it is very late at night and extremely dark and gloomy which all adds up to horror also the girl demonstrates her vulnerability by acting nice to the physcopath on the phone again stating her defenseless nature. In addition, the non-diegetic sound picks up and the tense noise suddenly changes to very serious and realisation noises to suggests something awful is about to happen. The director of scream uses eye line match with non-diegetic sound to not only increase suspension but to make the audience feel tangible to the situation she is in and this engages the audience to the film. The 4 main components of a film are used in this scene in a way to symbolise a certain aim of the film and a general idea what will happen throughout.

Moreover, as the non diegetic serious sound increases we hear a diegetic dog bark this connotes the fact that someone is in the garden and the non diegetic noise becomes more sinister and the audience become more anxious and scared to what is about to happen. The mise en scene, sound and editing all work together in this scene aswell by the fog being outside in the garden symbolises death and suspension and the fog is spotted via eye line match and as she scans the fog the non diegetic heart beat and footsteps increases and is amplified to increase tension. The mise en scene creates a realistic feel to the killer now as we see the blood on the boyfriend as he dies and now strongly confirms the horror nature of this film. Again the eye line match the garden door shows vulnerability and she is tracked around the house locking every door which shows her terror and fear this also demonstrates that she liable and nowhere to go. The camera angles are used in a very effective way in this scene as the Girl is shot in a wide shot which orchestrates she's startled and afraid of this killer. It also shows an extreme close up of her crying and as a result brings apprehension and unease as she now knows death is close. 

Lastly, in the ending of the opening scene the garden door glass smashes as this happens the non diegetic sound increases and changes from serious and tense to action music this demonstrates that she is about to run away from this demon killer. The editing technique used is match on action and as she leaves the door it shows her on the otherwise really scared looking at the killer and this adds huge amounts of tension. As she is running from the killer she is stabbed and the mise en scene here uses blood to make the kill more gruesome also while she is running the scene is in slow motion this editing technique makes the kill more dramatic and morbid. After the girl is stabbed she falls to the ground and a camera angle named Dutch tilt is applied this signifies that the girl will not make it to her parents who the camera shows through eye line match. Also there is a diegetic crow noise which symbolise death which therefore represents she will die. In the last bit of opening scene we see the fast zoom on the dead girls face through the mums eye line match giving the audience excitement for the rest of the film.