Case Study 3: Scream

The opening of scream uses it's micro and macro features very effectivley along with a pastiche or satirism of others.



Micro features:

Scream makes a very effective use of micro features to create a interesting opening to the movie.

One very effective shot within scream is a low angle tracking shot of a door this makes you feel as if you personally are backing away from it . This makes the viewer identify with the protagonist and makes the feel very vulnerable.

Mise en scene is used effectively also, as the antagonist has very iconic clothing and items of horror films making him a trademark villain from the minuet you see him you know he is a “bad guy .” The teenager is dressed very plainly and this goes along with the start of the opening.

As with all music in horror films, Non-Diegetic music build to a climax and as it end the victim is killed.

The character also has a very deep voice in the first few phone calls he sounds very friendly but his voice becomes more distressed with later class this shows he is loosing his patience with the victim and also identifies him as a male.

Macro features:

Scream is a horror movie of the slasher genre, where there is a psychotic killer who prays on a innocent group of teenagers.

Scream is set at a isolated American house in the woods this is a very stereotypical setting for a horror film but makes the victim feel very isolated and alone reducing their power within the movie.

There is numerous iconography within the scream film but the two most notable are the kitchen knives which will either be used by the antagonist to kill or the protagonist to defend themselves. Secondly the antagonists mask is very useful as it takes away his identity and emotions and adding his black cloak adds to the effect of making him seem inhuman even more.

The film starts out in a very normal ordinary way, with a young girls cooking popcorn to eat whilst watching a movie, the movie starts to go out of balance with every call this girl gets, until; the antagonist states that he is watching the girls this single act throws the equilibrium out the window. The popcorn bursting is also a visual representation of how the equilibrium has become unbalanced.