HS - Task 7 - Deconstruction of an opening sequence

HS - Task 7 - Deconstruction of an opening sequence

Scream (Craven, 1996)

Genre:

Scream is in the 'Slasher' sub-genre of horror, a specific genre with a general trait of featuring a mysterious villain who stalks and dispatches multiple victims. In Scream, there is an antagonist with a white mas wielding a knife who invades the homes of teenage/young adult victims. This is conventional of the slasher sub-genre, putting scream into this sub-genre.

Camera:

During the build-up of tension in the opening sequence of Scream, lots of close-ups and medium close-ups of the protagonist are used in order to convey her facial expressions, usually of confusion. An example of one of these shots is when the antagonist says to the protagonist over the phone "I want to know who i'm looking at", suggesting he is watching the antagonist as she speaks on the phone. Instantly after this, the camera zooms into a close up of the face of the protagonist, showing her fear and confusion. This marks the part of the sequence where the events become more sinister, so the change in facial expression from calm and happy, to scared and confused helps to signify this event. The use of a fast moving handy-cam creates a present feel and more visceral pleasure for the audience. This because it is a present techniques so the audience feel more like part of the action, therefore creating more visceral pleasure as the events seem more realistic. An example of the use of handy-cam can be seen when the camera is following the protagonist when she is running around the house to lock the doors. The creates a sense of urgency and panic which is reflected in the visceral pleasure the audience receive and creates sense of jeopardy for the protagonist.

Editing:

The use of continuity editing helps to create a build up of tension in the opening sequence. There is a conversation between the antagonist and protagonist over the phone, so long cuts are used to show the exchanges of dialogue which used to signify events in the sequence. The whole telephone conversation is edited using long cuts to represent the scene as being calm and controlled, however when the tension rises and there is a sense of jeopardy, there is a change in cutting rates, and the cutting rate increases to represent panic. Shorter more frequent cuts are used to represent action, and in this case, the protagonist running around to lock the doors to protect herself from the antagonist.

Mise-en-scene:

The use of a the young female character is conventional to the slasher sub-genre of horror. This because the dominant ideology is that females tend to be weaker and more vulnerable than males so the use of female characters in horror films increases the sense of jeopardy and creates the sense of a 'Damsel in Distress', creating more tension and therefore more visceral pleasure. The use of a house for the setting of a horror film is also an effective technique for creating fear for the audience. This is because the idea of an antagonist being in the very personal space that is someones house is disturbing to the audience, and therefore more visceral pleasure received.

Sound:

The use of dialogue is an effective way of building up tension slowly. As the antagonist and protagonist begin exchanging dialogue it seems innocent and a friendly conversation but when the antagonist says his iconic line "I want to know who I'm looking at" that signifies the start of the more sinister action of the scene, allowing the audience to know that the atmosphere of the scene has changed. This is also signified by the introduction of an eerie, non-diegetic backing track to anchor the narrative. This also signifies the start of more sinister action, along with the dialogue, creating a complete change in atmosphere of the scene, all crated by the use of sound.


Narrative:

The narrative of this scene is conventional to the Slasher sub-genre of horror. The use of a knife wielding murderer stalking down his victims is a very common narrative for this genre, as can be seen from other films in this sub-genre with the same narratives, such as 'Halloween'. Although common, this is a very effective narrative for instilling fear into to audiences due to the isolation of vulnerable victims, creating an extreme sense of jeopardy and lots of visceral pleasure for the audience.

Representation and Ideologies:

Media Audiences:

Institutional Context: