Scream

scream 

This film is a horror. A horror is a film that can create a lot of tension and is able to make the viewer jump when something dramatic like a murder or someone jumping out happens. The idea of a horror is to scare the viewer to do this the film has to have a lot of tension and keep the little bits of the film unexpected to the viewer that way the viewer is shocked when something appears out of nowhere because they were not expecting it to happen. sometimes it is important to keep the horror film predictable so that it releases the tension for the viewer because if the tension is to high it will just ruin the horror film. Most horror films will have a faint beat in the background which slowly gets louder and louder this is to let the reader know or at least think something dramatic is about to happen so they prepare themselves ready for this scary part of the film this also creates tension however there is not much tension as the viewer is expecting something to happen. in the opening scene there is a vulnerable teenage girl home alone instantly the viewer expects something bad to happen to her as in horror movies teenagers are seen as spoilt brats typically about to die. the first death in a horror movie normally is a girl because girls are stereotypically seen as more vulnerable then men. horrors are generally appeal to teenagers or low twenties but can be higher. in the opening scene it is based in a normal everyday house connecting the audience with the film making them feel like what is happening could happen in reality which makes them more scared towards the film, as seen in the opening scene there is everyday objects which gives the viewer a home like feel towards the film. normally in a horror there is a lot of suspense as seen in this opening scene when you only hear the voice of the mysterious villain but you don't actually see him giving the sense of irony (when the viewer knows something that the character in the film doesn't  know) this makes the viewer prepared for something dramatic that is about to happen but also makes them scared as they cant do anything to stop it and they don't know when it is going to happen. the house of which the film is located is not like the typical household of a family because the typical family household is usually messy and things left all over the place where as this scene in the house is all clean this suggests to the audience that she is just a innocent women because she seems to give off a positive vibe towards the audience.
the lighting in the opening sequence of shots is dim this creates suspicion and tension between the audience and the film. the lighting mainly lights up the girls face this shows the audience that she is the main character the audience can also tell she is the main character because she is kept in the centre of the shot in most of the shots. the audience becomes suddenly worried when the music goes from almost complete silence to loud scary music this is non diagetic it is used to keep the audience focused on the film and to build up the suspense of the film. the house the music constantly changes between diagetic and non diagetic music this is because the director wants the audience to relax after every burst of tension this builds the tension quickly and saves time for other shots and scenes. once the music goes silent the audience prepares for something dramatic and frightening to happen but nothing does this is because the director wants to build up suspense as much as possible so that the audience are staying focused on the film however the director also uses the diagetic music to keep the audience from becoming too scared to watch the film. the director normally uses close up shots and medium shots with the occasional long shot to release the tension from the viewer, the close ups are frequent as the director wants the audience to feel close to the action so that they can share the same experience as the girl in the film which would raise the tension between the audience and the film, the medium shots are used to keep the tension there but give the audience a break from the rise in tension also they are used so that the audience wont get board seeing the same shots over and over again of the close up shots.