Textual analysis- Identification of genre in the film Scream (1996)

Scream (1996)

Over the last media lesson I had, I studied the first five minutes of the film scream from 1996. After analysis the opening of the film i discovered many aspects that indicated the genre of horror. These factors are all categorised into different elements which include Sound, Camera Angles/Movements, Editing and Mise en Scene.

Sound
As soon as the opening begins and a title of scream appears, there is an instant screaming noise that indicates to the audience not only the name of the film, but also the identification of the film obviously being a horror. After the scream there is also a heartbeat sound that has connotations of someone being in danger due to there heart beat increasing in time. This heartbeat is then followed by the sound of a knife slicing which is key iconography of a horror film. Also, the fact that there is a heartbeat sound followed by a knife sound effect may foreshadowing what later commences in the film, that being numerous murders. When the antagonist first starts to ring the girl there is subtle non-diegetic music playing in the background. As the character becomes more worried and tension begins to rise so does the music. The none diegetic music begins to get louder and louder until the climax when the antagonist says "can you see me?", the music then stops. This allows the audience to begin to feel frightened as it portrays a sense of surprise, the lack of non diegetic sound allows the audience to feel as if something is going to happen. When the person on the phone says :because i want to know who  I'm looking at", the audience then hear a diegetic sound of a dog barking. This illustrates to the audience that there is someone outside because dogs only bark when they're distressed and disrupted by someone or something.

Camera Angles/Movements
Firstly, at the start of the opening the first sign the phone the audience see is a close up as it rings for the first time. When the phone is viewed by the audience the came angle is slightly on a slant. This subtly hints to the audience that something isn't quite right within the situation, it shows that the young girl is in danger. Secondly, when the girl is seen in a medium shot talking about her favourite scary film she is seen holding the taking hold of a knife, the noise the knife makes as she slightly places it out of the knife folder is adapted and edited to make it sound louder to address the audience to the knife. This is done to foreshadow to the audience what is going to happen. Also just before that happens, the camera shows the young girl preparing the popcorn, while the tracking shot shows the girl doing this, the knifes are never out of sight. This depicts to the reader that the girl isn't going to be able to escape the fait of her death. Later on in the extract, there is an editing cut to an external shot. This is then followed by a slow pan shot down a tree, this creates an enigma as the audience can hear a sound, however they don't no what sound it is until the came shows the swing slowly swinging at the end of the pan. Also this slow pan creates an increase in tension as the audience have no idea what is going to happen. The slowly moving swing illustrates to the audience that there is definitely someone there watching the young girl. After this when the character realises there is someone outside, there is a from tracking shot of her running through the house locking all the doors. This creates suspense for the audience and adds that essential sense of fear because she is leading the way, therefore the audience are unable to see the antagonist, it is almost as if they're looking into the fear of the unknown.

Editing
Many editing techniques added to the identification of the genre horror in the film Scream. Throughout the whole extract of the opening, there were frequent cut shots going back to the phone ringing then the girl. Every time it showed the slight zoomed cut shot of the phone, then the medium shot of the girl, the girls facial expressions indicated the rise in fear that she had. As the cut shots became more frequent they also became more zoomed which adds anticipation to the scene. This is because, as the girl and the phone become more zoomed the more tense it becomes because the audience then know something is going to happen, however thy just don't know when. The fact that the girl is cooking popcorn acts as a visual imagery of narrative. This is because as tension rises within the scene, the popcorn gradually becomes more and more heated with more popcorn popping louder and more frequently. The filming of the popcorn consists of fast cut shots on a slant, showing the audience that something isn't right. Also, just because the climax of the opening the popcorn is seen in a cut shot at its longest point with the popcorn burning and being out of control. This illustrates to the audience that the popcorn symbolises the girl and her life. The fact that the popcorn is now burnt, there is know going back to the popcorns first state. This symbolises the girls life and how she cannot escape the danger.

Mise en Scene
The title that is shown at the start of the film is in the colour white. White normally has connotations of purity. This could symbolise to the audience the purity of the young girl in the opening. This is then disrupted quickly to flashes of red behind the writing. Red has connotations of blood and danger, therefore it may indicate to the audience that the young and pure girl is in danger. This is then reinforced when the white writing then turns red after a scream sound effect. This highlights to the audience that in fact the young girl is in absolute danger and connotes to her death. The actress is, Drew Barrymore, a very successful and famous actress. The fact that Scream used her as a character within the film shows the development of horror films as there is an obvious increase in popularity with horror films if successful actresses are willing to be filmed in them. Drew Barrymore as the character has blonde hair. This stereotypically labels the character as stupid and in denial, which makes a brilliant target for a murderer. Also the fact that she is a female strengthens the vulnerability of the young girl making her more suitable to be targeted rather than a strong male actor. Also when the actress screams "He's big and he plays football and he'll kick the shit out of you ", while describing her boyfriend adds to the stereotypical teenage American. This is because the young and pretty American girl is usually portrayed to be with the popular football hooligan of the school.