Research into Horror opening scene:

 

The film scene I have picked is the opening scene from the 1996 film Scream. The director of this film,

Wes Craven, has also directed films like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Deadly Blessing which are

also both horrors. The studio that produced it was Dimension Films but was made by

Woods Entertainment. The main cast consists of many big actors Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox,

David Arquette and Mathew Lillard.

The opening scene that I have watched is about 5 minutes long. It starts with a woman

alone in her house whose phone begins to ring, and she picks it up. She

finds out that it was a wrong number and politely guides the caller away. The phone then rings

again only seconds later and it’s the same guy. He says that he called back to apologise and to

‘talk’, but the woman hangs up once again as she says there are ‘800 numbers for that’. They get

talking again on the phone and seem to be getting along better until the mysterious man on the

phone says, “What is your name?” to which the woman replies, “Why do you want to know my

name?” to which the man responds, “Because I want know who I’m looking at.” This obviously

startles the woman and she proceed to panic in the house whilst the man calls again, only this

time the woman knows he’s watching from outside. This opening scene instantly causes tension.

The tension first strikes when the lonely woman alone in her house at night gets a phone call.

The more times that the man rings, the more tense the audience gets. From this point we

can guess that we are going to see the man who has called, and that he is going to kill the woman.

 

 

The target audience for this film is probably men and women over the age of 15

but probably below the age of 40. The majority of the people who consume this film will most

likely enjoy horror films, and therefore will enjoy this film. For example, in

the opening scene, we know that the people who are watching this are not going to be

young children as they would find it too scary. We can tell it’s a horror from this scene from

the moment the man says: “Because I want to know who I’m looking at”. At this point in the

film we know that the man is near, and the woman is in danger. The tension rises

dramatically from this point.

 

In this opening scene, there are two characters introduced. One on

screen (the woman in the house), and another off screen (the man on the phone). We

know that the man is dangerous and probably going to hurt or even kill the woman

because of the way he speaks on the phone. Firstly, he calls, and the woman hangs up

as she thinks it’s a wrong number, but he calls back. We know from this point that he wants

something to do with the woman, as he wouldn’t call the same wrong number twice.

We can also assume that he is bad as we can’t see him, and the uncertainty of him connotes

that he is mysterious but in a bad way. The woman, although being the only one on

screen through the duration of the clip is presented as weak and vulnerable to the man. She

is wearing white, connoting innocence and helpless. Also, in the scene she is shown to be

easily manipulated as at first, she tries to firmly redirect the man to an 800 number, but only a

few shots later, she is shown in a full conversation with the man. Not only does this

emphasises the vulnerability of the woman, but also shows the strength and threat the man

on the phone poses. After the woman starts to feel more normal and comfortable with talking

with the man, he asks her name, and when the woman questions why he wants to

know he says, “Because I want to know who I’m looking at”. This obviously sends the woman into

absolute panic, which leads to shorter shot duration, and fast switches between camera angles.

There are also a couple of examples where the editing really exploits the fear the woman is

clearly exhibiting, as there a couple of times when there is an eye-line match which allows the

watcher to connect purely with the fear and anxiety shown in her expression, especially in her

eyes.

I believe this is a very good opening scene for a multitude of reasons.



First off, it goes straight into the plot of the film with less than 3 minutes before the first

foreshadowing of the storyline is introduced. Also, it represents the adhering stereotype of a weak

woman and the strong, intimidating and powerful stereotype of a man. This means that

most men would be the target audience for this film, but women might enjoy watching it as it

plays very much into a commonly represented stereotype, and all people enjoy watching

something familiar. Finally, it is a good opening scene as it portrays a near to perfect example of

tension throughout. As soon as the phone calls for the second time, less than a minute into the

scene is the audience already tense, and although this tension is relieved for 30 seconds or so,

it then climaxes until the end of the scene.