Textual analysis of Scream opening scene.

Textual analysis of Scream opening scene.

In the opening scene from Scream there is the representation of the blonde girl to be seen as a dumb blonde girl. This is shown in the scene from Scream as we get a close up of shots from the girl acting dumb. Examples will be that the girl doesn’t phone the police, goes along with the games of the villain and in the end lets herself be killed by the villain. In a normal situation the police will be called and will arrive at the scene of the crime about to take place. There will also be the avoidance of playing with the games of the villain. There would be the action taken to find the best way to escape the bad situation that the person is in. 

Furthermore, there is the use of Mise-En-Scene in the Scream scene. There was showing of the house, the kitchen, the garden, the lower floor in the house and the windows. These are shown as a variety of shots, for example the garden was shown as a long shot. These are used to show the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in the scene, as well as showing the surroundings in the scene.

Moreover there are a variety of camera shots used in the Scream scene. These varied from close ups, long shots, medium shots and medium 2 shots. For example there was a medium 2 shot of the protagonist and antagonist. The shots were used to convey the different aspects of the scenes characters, themes and film’s setting. The camera shots are important in moulding meaning in the Scream scene.

In addition to this information there are the use of editing. This was used in the ‘Scream’ clip to display one long take, jump cuts and zooming in and out. This was done in the ‘Scream’ clip to add effect to the clip by allowing for the audience to be able to have a realistic experience of the clip. This is meant to make the audience scared, the whole point of the clip. The editing is also used to allow for the clip to go through the entire clip to be watched without the clip being too long.

As well as having this information there is the knowledge on technical/symbolic codes.  The technical codes used were weapons such as the knife. This was used in order to show danger in the ‘Scream’ clip.  The knife was used for the killing of the blonde. There was a rope that was also used. This was used for the killing and display of the blonde. The blonde was made sure to be dead by the blonde being hung by the rope.

Furthermore, there was the chair and sellotape used by the masked killer. This was used to hold the boyfriend of the blonde in place. The boy was later killed by the masked killer with the help of the chair and sellotape.

In addition to this information, there is the use of symbolic codes. The symbolic codes used here  are that the woman lives in a house far away from civilisation, she is in a rural area. The space around the house shows this. This has been done by the director in order to show the audience that the girl is vulnerable and is likely to be in trouble.

Alongside this information there is the reasoning into how meaning is conveyed. Meaning is conveyed by there being the blonde. The blonde is displayed as dumb, this is the stereotypical view of blondes. This then shows that there will be problems to arise as the blonde is dumb. Meaning is conveyed through the phone calls. This happens as the villain constantly calls the victim. This is done to show that there is tension and there is a problem.

In conclusion the director has made all of these features for a reason. This has been done in the clip with the use of representation, the use of Mise-En-Scene, technical and symbolic codes and how meaning is conveyed. This has been used to show the audience that there is a need to stay away from trouble, to stay away from bad areas and bad timings.