Scream
The first thing the audience will hear while watching Scream is itself a loud high pitched scream from a young girl, this immediately gives the audience a good understanding of what the film is going to be about. From just the opening noise we can already guess what genre of film it is, Horror and thriller. This is due to the loud fearful screech. The screech has already created suspense for the audience. Due to the scream we already know that the victim is female, probably young and vulnerable. While you hear the scream the title of the film appears on screen. To start with the title is white, bold and in a horror, edgy style font. After a few seconds the white font begins to turn red and the lettering starts to run down the page like blood. The red blood symbolises death and danger. As well as the scream a phone also begins to ring, this happens while the title of the film is still showing. The ringing of the phone ends the titles and starts the opening scene.
We meet the main character in the first 10 seconds of the first scene. The protagonist is female which links in to the high pitched screech heard at the beginning of the titles. It is also stereotypical to have the female as the victim in a horror film as she wont be able to fight anything off and will be vulnerable. She answers the phone to a man with quite a deep voice, we learn later that the caller is the killer. This follows Propp's narrative theory, the female protagonist is the Princess, the one waiting to be saved and the killer is the Villain.
The phone rings three times. The first time is when the audience is introduced to the killer. When she picks up the phone you can see that the main character is completely alone. This increases vulnerability and it also give the impression that something is soon to happen to the girl. The caller claims to have the wrong number and the call ends there.
The second time the phone rings it is the same person, this suggests to the audience that he didn't have the wrong number and that the girl is in possible danger. As the girl is on the phone the camera pans out and the audience are able to get a better look at her location. She is in a big house. It is dark out side and the house is located out side a forest. This is a typical horror film location as it gives a mysterious and spooky vibe. After the girl hangs up you see shots of the garden where there is a swing. This give the impression that there is a possibility of a child character. The swing is also moving so this could suggest a windy night or that someone has just been on or near it. The character is completely alone for all the phone calls and all the noises the character makes are emphasised. This creates a more dramatic effect.
