'Scream' Opening with Immediate Death Deconstruction

'Scream' Opening with Immediate Death Deconstruction

Opening a horror film with an immediate death is a commonly used method of creating unease from the very beginning of the film and letting the audience know what is at steak. The majority of the horror audience won't want to stick around waiting for something exciting to happen and so an immediate death is a clever way of dragging them into the actions straight-off. This is also a good method for us to use in our 2 minute opening due to our lack of time. 

Point 1: By the door
Camera Angles:
Medium shot of Casey by the door shows she is holding a phone and a knife and emphasises she's in a bad situation. Can't see in the house or around her so we are obvious to the location of the killer and this makes us feel at threat as we are in the shoes of the victim.
Editing: 
Casey looks in the window and there is a pan to the right towards the window and then a pan to the left back again as though we are taking a look ourselves, making us feel as though we are the protagonist.
Sound:
There is a very quiet non-diegetic orchestral strings score being played which sounds discordant and uncomfortable to the audience indicating the unease of the situation and that which builds the tension. This is also caused by the diegetic sound of the victim's heavy breathing which emphasises her stress.
Mise en scene: 
Dark low-key lighting contrasts with the previous part which features high-key and highlights the sombre tone of the scene and how the character's mood has changed, also caused by the shadows thrown across her. The character is wearing a white jumper and has very light blonde hair and this emphasises her innocence and the injustice of her situation. Her being blonde also makes her seem a lot more vulnerable. 

Point 2: Car is spotted

Camera Angles:
Extreme Long shot of the car from far off as it turns up in the distance- this shows us how far away from help Casey is and shows off the locale.
Editing: 
We see cutaways of the car getting increasingly closer but each time it is not close enough to help her and through this method it seems painfully slow as it drives down and makes the audience worry for the sake of the victim.
Sound:
Recurring non-diegetic discordant strings being repetitively struck, building the tension successfully as it mimics a heart beat in a time of stress. It is also uneasy and uncomfortable for the audience to hear and so they associate it with anxious circumstances.
Mise en scene: 
The lights of the car are white and this makes them stand out amongst the countryside and connote help and safety. The car is at a public distance and this is more effective than showing a close-up of the car driving down the road at a personal distance as it makes it seem detached from the viewer and unable to help even though it is in sight becoming very frustrating for the viewer- it also means that the audience can see the same as the character. The majority of the locale is is made up of the colours green and blue and this connotes corruption highlighting how Casey's normal life has been corrupted by the killer. The diagonal composition in the crops also connote that something is going wrong terribly.

Point 3: Takes off mask

Camera Angles:
Close up of hand on the mask Casey takes it off.
Close up of the dagger straight away and then high angle close up of Casey on the porch to show her vulnerability.
Editing: 
Close up of the mask is immediately cut to a close up of the dagger in order for the identity of the killer to remain a mystery throughout the film. Then there is cross-cutting between the low-angle image of the dagger and high-angle shot of Casey to juxtapose her powerlessness with the threatening position of the dagger.

Sound: 
High-pitched wind instrument being played to emphasise the sadness of her death. Also the diegetic sound of the grunting of the killer and this highlights his sadistic nature. The sound of the mask being pulled off is also emphasised and this forces the audience to notice it and wonder who it is.

Mise en scene:
The hand of the killer is very loosely framed and this not only shows off the blackness of the sky behind it but  also gives the impression that he has option to flee and have freedom whenever he wants whereas Casey, on the other hand, is being tightly framed to show that she no longer has any freedom as she is about to die. The red on the dagger and on Casey's top is extremely bright and this connotes the death and also the anger which must have caused the murder. The colours between the two characters are extremely different- the victim wears all white and is extremely pale and the murderer is wearing all black. These contrasting foils work together to emphasise the suffering the killer is causing and the innocence of the victim. Also, the diagonal composition of the floorboards behind Casey show off how corrupt the situation is rather than is being a placid death.

Point 4: Hanged body

Camera Angles:
Medium shot of the mother screaming.
Long shot of Casey hung from the tree which is zoomed in to a close up of her face. The long shot emphasises how the body is swinging which shows it has been left there fairly recently.
Editing:
We see the mother's reaction before the hanged body and this is effective as the audience are made to wonder what it is she has seen.
By then showing us the hanged body immediately in front of the mother we can see that the killer is sadistic and wanted to leave it in the right position to horrify the parents when they open the front door.
We see a long shot of the body and this is very quickly zoomed in so that we see a close up of the victims face for a brief second which is effective as we empathise with her. The zooming in effect also has a disorientating effect on the audience.
 Sound:
The sound of the mother's screams can be heard in the background to the shot of the hanged body. The high-pitched uncomfortable sounding scream is effective as the audience keep in mind the damage the murder has done. It also scares the audience and makes them jump.
Mise en scene:
The red of the blood on the body is made to seem extremely bright and this is used as a contrasting foil against the green of the background which emphasises the corruption and death of the scene. By making Casey at a public distance to the camera we feel detached and unable to help. The fast-paced zooming in then changes this and we feel upset by the sight of the close up of her face. There is also a lot of diagonal composition in the shot increasing the anxiety