Scream Opening Scene Analysis

The scene starts off with the protagonist living her normal life, casually around her home. As the protagonist is a female on her own (which is normally seen in horror films) this automatically makes the audience think that she is vulnerable. Only ambient sounds can be heard at this point to add to the normality and perhaps create a sense of silence in order to make the audience feel uncomfortable. The repeated enhanced sound effects of the phone ringing might bring this to the audience's attention leading them to think this is unusual and something bad will come from this. Low level lighting is generally used throughout the scene, and this also takes place at night time adding to the effect of isolation and horror. Once the female has discovered she is being watched, non-diegetic slow, sinister music is played matching a heart beat building suspense. The same non-diegetic music is played, however gets much louder and quicker as the female starts to worry and run around her house locking doors, perhaps mirroring what she is feeling at this point. This effect also helps to engage the audience, as it will make them feel more involved with the events taking place.