Typically a horror film starts with a black screen and this idea is reinforced at the beginning of Scream, in which the screen is completely black before white bold text appears. The colour white represent innocence and purity which may portray the main character. There is non-diegetic sound in the background of a low sustained string sound and a heartbeat. As the sound is playing, the text changes to red which connotes blood and death. During this transition there is a sharp non-digetic sound effect almost like the sound of a knife which also suggests that there will be injuries. After this sound effect, there is a digetic telephone ringing and the screen transitions to the action.
The film begins with a close-up shot of a telephone ringing and is picked up by the protagonist (Drew Barrymore). This action was shown in a long length shot and the audience is first introduced to the main character. Barrymore's appearance would of been a surprise to the audience as she was a big celebrity-generally horror films do not cast well known actors. This links with Richard Dyer's star theory who states that intitutions uses stars to attract a larger audience. The character is a young woman with blonde hair and a cream jumper. Her hair colour and clothing illustrates the typical American female. The colours are quite light and almost white. The white text at the beginning enforces the idea of the character being pure and innocent. White can be seen as a delicate colour which encourages the typical gender stereotypes of a woman being kind and gentle. A medium shot of the protagonist is shown, wearing minimal subtle makeup to support her seemingly nice and innocent personality. However, the assumption is then contradicted by the red lipstick that she is wearing making her more sexualised.
As she picks up the phone, a male's voice answers asking who she was. She then exchanges a few lines of dialogue before hanging up. As she walks away from the telephone, there is a tracking shot. The man then calls again, wanting to talk to her. The character is positioned to the right of the frame which is purposeful and not just dead space. Besides her are glass doors which emphasises how vulnerable she is because glass is easily broken. There is a long length shot to film the phone call with only slight camera movement. When she hangs up for the second time the camera has shifted so the woman is in the centre in front of the glass doors. Barrymore walks away and out of the frame of the camera, however, the camera lingers on the doors for a few seconds to show its significance.
The screen cuts to an establishing shot so the audience can get a sense of where the location is. it is an exterior shot where the camera movement pans downwards to show a tree and a large white house behind it. The audience now knows that the scene is set in a house and late at night. Most horror films are set at night because it increases the tension and makes it seem more scarier. The house and tree are very carefully framed-it is as if the tree is surrounding the top of the house which can hint inescapability. An iconography is the swing hanging from the tree. It appears to be swinging slightly which supports the assumption that someone is watching her.
Returning back to interior shots, a close-up shows the hob being turned on. The flames can indicate the danger of the situation. The woman places a pan of popcorn on the stove when the phone rings for the third time. A long length shot shows her walking around the kitchen table to reach for the phone. It is the mysterious man who had called wanting to talk. They begin to have a conversation about horror films, in which, the man asks what was her favourite. The use of foley was used when she pulls a knife out of the holder, making a sharp noise. The description of the movie 'Halloween' was 'the guy in the white mask who walks around stalking babysitters.' This is ironic as the woman looks like a stereotypical babysitter-babysitters are usually sensible female high school students. The framing of this shot was a set of knifes close to the centre whilst Barrymore is more to the left. This was intended to highlight and hint the coming events.
The camera cuts to another shot of the popcorn, using the rule of thirds to frame to kettle and popcorn. From what we see, the cooking of popcorn has progressed and the foil cover has expanded. The popcorn is an important iconography which is used as a visual interpretation for the build up of events.
Another long length shot is used to show her walking down a corridor. A tracking shot follows her whilst showing the many doors and windows that she passes, maintaining her vulnerability.
During the phone call, Barrymore mentions that the horror film 'sucked' which contradicts the weak and easily scared stereotypes of women. Throughout the phone calls, there are long length shots and lack of editing. This is intentional to build up suspense and gives a sense that someone is watching her.
The tension increasingly builds when she stops by her patio door. The mysterious man then says 'I want to know who I'm looking at.' It that moment, the camera zooms in on her face to express her fear and worry. Non-diegtic sound begins softly in the background as a low sustained sound which implies that she is now in danger.
There is again, use of foley where a dog begins to bark which suggests that there is an intruder in her garden. The audience and protagonist is now suspicious whether the person in the garden is the same man on the phone. An exterior shot shows Barrymore looking out into the garden which can hint that the intruder is outside watching her. The camera then cuts to a POV shot to show Barrymore looking all around the garden which limits the audience to see what she only sees. This keeps the audience intrigued as they would want to see what is happening outside.
The background music of piano keys and strings gets increasing louder. The shot is an exterior shot in shallow focus so the audience draws there attention to the protagonist in the centre. Barrymore hangs up the phone just after the man tells her not to hang up on him in a threatening voice. As she leaves the room, the background comes into focus to show a painting hung up on the wall. It seems as if it is an image of a castle from a fairytale. Fairytales often are based around a damsel in distress which in this case, Barrymore is.
The scene switches back to the cooking popcorn which has now reached its limit and flames have erupted. This shows that the opening has reached climax of the events and also implies Barrymore's loss of control. It is a titled shot to show that something is not right.
The scene takes a turn when fast paced tracking shots begin to signify her panicky state. As we follow her back down the same corridor, she locks all the doors. This portrays her as quite stupid and naive, suiting her stereotypical identity-the doors and windows are made out of glass so someone can easily break in without touching the lock.
She reaches the front door and there is match on action to show her from an exterior shot through the doors window. Another POV shot is used to show the outside of the house, not yet revealing the mysterious tormentor. Barrymore replies to the man by mentioning the police. This represents safety and security but hope is quickly lost when the man says that they are going to make it in time. He also says that they are in the middle of nowhere which conforms to the typical horror codes and conventions of horror. A mid shot is used and the protagonist is positioned in the middle whilst looking out into the window. We can now see that she is crying which supports the stereotypical idea that women are weak and proves that the assumptions about her were correct.
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