Scream(1996) was directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson.
The description of this film (posted on IMDB) :
One year after the death of Sidney Prescott's (Campbell) mother, two students turn up gutted. When a serial killer appears, Sidney begins to suspect whether her mother's death and the two new deaths are related. No one is safe, as the killer begins to pick everyone off one by one. Everyone's a suspect in this case. Written by FilmFanUK
The budget of this film was $15,000,000 (estimated)
Gross:
$161,600,000 (Worldwide)
DEM 14,564,502 (Germany) (8 December 1997)
ITL 4,694,955,000 (Italy)
€1,166,055 (Netherlands)
Copyright Holder:
Production companies:
- Dimension Films
- Woods Entertainment
Distributors:
- Miramax Films (USA) (video)
Opening scene:
The opening scene shows the title of the film one the scream.
The title goes from being white and stretched across the screen to being reduced in size and red. The white connoted innocents whereas, the red connotes evil/murder/blood. This signifies that the film goes straight from good to evil in the matter of seconds.
Whilst this is happening there is screaming over the top, signifying that is a horror.
It soon then cuts to a medium shot of the phone ring, and a hand picking it up.
Casey(Drew Barrymore) answers the phone, this is a medium close up shot of her speaking on the phone. There is a man on the other side, suggesting that it could be a prank 'chat up' phone call. Instead of having an actual conversation the man on the other side answers Casey's answers with more answers. This shows that it's not a normal conversation between friends, it's the fact that they don't know each other, makes it more daunting to the viewers. Also the tone of voice he uses on the phone, it doesn't make him seem like the phone call was by accident, he knew what he was doing.
When Casey is walking away, there is a slight panning shot, and when the phone rings again, it zooms in a tiny bit, not so much that the audience would notice. There is then another close up on Casey picking up the phone, which is then shown to be a low tilt movement, to then show the phone next to Casey's ear. This time he says 'Wait don't hang up, i want to talk to you for a seconds' this may signify that he wants to know Casey, maybe before killing her. She refuses and hangs up, she disappears out of the shot, and leaving the french doors on display which is viewing a quiet back garden, this makes the audience think the person who's calling Casey will appear, walking past. However this does not happen, this is used to build up tension and make the audience on edge. The shot cuts straight to the outside view of the house from the back garden, this make signify the killers/stalkers P.O.V, this shot is a high angle tilt from the tree down to the eye-line match of the house from perhaps the person who keeps ringing Casey. It cuts to Casey putting the hob on to make some popcorn, this makes the viewer jump as they weren't expecting it as the were expecting something more terrifying. There is then and zoom out of the popcorn pan to the view of Casey. The phone then rings again, there is a panning shot of her walking to the phone and answering it, the shot then turns into a tracking shot. By the voice of the person on the other side we can tell its the killer/stalker. In a way he's playing a 'game' with Casey, by answering her questions with another question. The start talking, the idea of horror films were mentioned, this therefore links the film with the genre of the film. The man asks 'Whats your favourite scary movie?' she then goes on to say that Halloween is her favourite movie, and then goes for one of the knives in the knife block, it just so happens to be the biggest one. There is then a medium shot of the popcorn cooking, the signifies that Casey is not paying attention, this also builds up the tension as if the popcorn is about to explode. He continues the quiz Casey on typical horror classics, such as Nightmare On Elm Street, and describes the killer within that, which is known to be Freddy. She then goes around locking all the doors, this this signifies that she doesn't feel safe... in her own home. The questions then go on to be more personal, such as 'do you have a boyfriend' she jokes on to signify that she isn't scared by him.
The mood soon turns when the man says 'I want to know who i'm looking at'. She looks up, then there's a zoom up of her. This reveals her face expression to be scared. There is then a dog barking in the back ground, this makes her feel even more uncomfortable, and makes the audience on edge. There is a slight change in mood when he changes his answer it 'Talking to' but this still builds up the tension of the audience. She then puts the outdoors light on, so she is able to see out the back to see if he's there. There's shots of outside from Casey's P.O.V, she is unable to see anything. However the tension is still there. There is then a close up of the popcorn still cooking, however the foil is bigger than it was the last time we saw it, this shows continuity as it shows the development within time.
