Analysis of a similar product

The thriller Scream isn’t shown in chronological order as the last scene of the film is shown at the beginning. This allows the audience to guess the build-up to the scene throughout the rest of the film. The first shot is built up to by a non-diegetic heart beat sound getting faster and faster. The camera tilts to show Casey (Drew Barrymore) pick up the house phone to a mystery caller. Throughout the scene she is wearing all white and has short blonde hair. Casey represents the typical young, teenage victim of a thriller through her clothing. Characters wearing white are seen as an icon of purity and righteousness. Her blonde hair shows her age and also that she might lack intelligence, leading to her imminent death at the end of the scene. She also portrays the typical, young, dumb teenager stereotype with her overly joyful and irrational actions.

One of the early shots in the scene pans across the kitchen, following Casey on the phone with a fish lens on the camera. The fish lens is used to make the audience feel as if they are the killer, stalking the victim. Her facial expressions throughout several medium close up shots in the scene show the change of emotion on her face towards the mysterious person on the phone from happy and inviting to terrified and fearful. As the villain enters the scene he is shown masked and wearing all black. Black symbolizes death in most film genres including film and the mask hides his identity. As the killer wears the mask throughout the rest of the film it creates an enigma code leaving the audience intrigued as to who the killer is and why they are committing these murders.

The opening to the film influenced our film because we want to use the diegetic/non-diegetic sound and camerawork to show the emotion displayed by characters and explain there actions. The sound used in the opening scene of the film influenced us as to how we will use our sound to build up tension in our film.