Amy Louise Shutt

Analysis of Scream

The opening titles of scream is a black screen, with the word scream written in a white scraggly font, it turns red and a hollow scream is heard. The opening scene shows a young blonde woman answering a ringing phone. She appears to be home alone. She answers the phone to a rather friendly stranger who appears to be flirting with her, she tells him that he has got the wrong number and puts the phone down, not thinking anything else of it. As she walks away the phone rings again, she answers it 'Hi, im sorry i guess i've dialled the wrong number' says the stranger, the blonde woman anwers laughing 'so why have you dialled it again' . The stranger on the phone starts to flirt again then the blonde woman tells him that they have '900 numbers' for him to dial and find someone to talk to. The next shot shows a high angled shot of a gloomy looking tree outside, the shot pans down, the viewers then a long shot of a house. The next shot shows a close up of a gas hob of a cooker, it then shows the blonde woman putting some popcorn on the hob as she goes to answer the phone, which is ringing once again. A mid shot shows the blonde woman answering the phone and walking around the side of the kitchen back to the popcorn, she is becoming wary of the stranger who is calling again. The stranger on the phone tells her 'tell me your name and i'll tell you mine' to which she replies 'i dont think so'. The stranger asks the blonde woman 'whats that noise' to which she replies 'popcorn' the stranger then says that he only eats popcorn when watching a film, the blonde says that she is just about to watch a film and the stranger asks what kind of film, she replies 'oh just some scary movie'. The stranger asks the Thwblonde whats her favourite scary movie, the mid shot shows her pull out a knife from the knife stand as she leans over the worktop in the kitchen she answers 'halloween' and she slots the knife back into the stand. The next shot shows the popcorn getting blown up by the heat off the cooker, it gets bigger and bigger. The next shot follows the blonde s she is deep in conversation with the stranger on the telephone talking about scary movies like 'nightmare on elm street' as she locks the doors around the house. The stranger asks the blonde if she has a boyfiend, she replies 'no'. He asks her her name once more, she asks 'why do you want to know my name?' he replies 'because i want to know who im looking at.' A mid shot shows te woman looking petrified as tense non diegetic music is heard, showing the viewer her fear. The blonde then turns the outside lights on and looks through the french doors of her house. A pan shot shows her looking around the vast garden, moving from the swimming pool to the other cornor of the garden. She tells the stranger she has to go before locking the door infront of her. A close up shot shows the popcorn, looking as if it is ready tto explode. The phone rings again, she answers th stranger says 'i told you not to hang up' . The blonde starts to get destressed. The woman walks into the kitchen a mid shot shows the burning popcorn and the blonde woman in the sme shot, she looks destressed, she picks up the phone as tense non diegetic noise is heard, the stranger then says 'now listen to me bitch, if you hang up on me again, i'll gut you like a fish, understand?' the tense non diegetic sound is heard again as the woman looks apsoloutly terrified. A close up shot expresses the worry in the blonde womans face she asks 'is this some kind of joke?' to which the stranger on the phone answers 'more of a game'. The stranger on the phone then says her name, the non dieetic music is heard again as she rushes around the house making sure that all of the doors are locked. The woman is now hysterical, the strager tells her he wants to 'see what her insides look like' and then the doorbell rings, she screams and says shes going to ring the police. The blonde woman is on the phone again with the stranger, she tells him that her boyfriend will be there any minute, to which the stranger replies 'his name wouldnt be steve would it?' the non diegetic sound is heard again and the woman looks even more destressed nd hopless. The stranger tells the blonde woman to turn on the patio lights, to which she does to see her boyfriend tied up on a chair outside the house badly hurt, almost dead. She screams in horror.