Scream Opening

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Purge

 

 

The very first shot we see in this title sequence is the establishing shot. It is a straight forward shot, with no angle it doesn’t have a setting. it is a black background with white text. The text contains statistics and facts. ' America 2022 unemployment is at 1%. Crime is at an all-time low. Violence barely exists.' This creates a sense of realism, people will buy into this fact making them think The Purge has or could very well happen in the future. The final words at the end of this section of text are ‘With one exception…’ this creates a sense of suspense without there being any characters or settings.

 

The next shot used is more or less the same as the first only this time it shows a quote.‘Blessed be the new Founding Fathers for letting us Purge and cleanse our souls, Blessed be America, a nation reborn’ This gives the viewer the impression of good deeds. The quote is there to mislead the viewer into thinking that positive things are being done.

 

In the first 3 minutes of the film CCTV footage is showing images from The Purge. It show violence and criminal acts being committed. This footage includes dates and time to create the feel that The Purge was an actual event. Over the top of the footage music is being played, the music is very soft and light. This could be used to create disoreder to the viewer.

 

 

 

After the CCTV footage is shown we are shown a shot of a smartly dressed business man driving home from work. He is having a conversation. At first it seems like he is talking to some one sitting in the passenger seat but as the camera pans around we can see he is alone and is actually talking on his bluetooth. An over the shoulder shot is also used so we can see the destination and other props that are being used in this scene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28 days later

28 days later takes place in a post apocalyptic Britain four weeks after a mysterious and incurable virus spreads. This is a result of naive activists wishing to release a chimpanzee which is undergoing experiments. One of the characters awake from a coma, 28 days later, to an abandoned hospital. After trying to find life in London, he ends up in a church inhabited by zombies and is saved when he meets two other survivors .

The opening and closing credits use the same font as the front cover of the DVD case. It uses a small white basic font, the opening credits only last a few seconds but is still long enough for the target audience to read and take in the information given. The colours contrast each other, white and black, commonly paired colours, these colours could have been used to show the good and evil within the film (white good, black evil).

At the very start at the film there is no soundtrack or noise, it is completely silent but as it gets into the film you start to see very fast paced movements with quick camera shots, not a lot of narrative is told at the start, however as you get further into the opening you slowly begin to learn a know the back story. The back story is told in a simple way and isn't confusing for the audience. At the start of the film found footage is used showing chaos in the form of a news report, you hear muffled cries this gives the impression of distress and pain.