Reasearch Scream Anaylsis

Scream Analysis

I will be analysing the scream scene and i will be talking about what i have analyses from the scream scene.

The scene starts off with a significant iconography to the scene which is the phone. The phone is significant as it instantly grabs the attention of the audience as the main torture will take place through the phone. Initially the audience are very comfortable with the first call and the audience do not take the call seriously and so does the female victim. However as the scene progresses, the calls get more intense and more frequent as there is more than one call made. Once there is more than one call the audience are unsettled as they realise that the calls are serious and the victim begins to fear the calls which leads the audience to fear for the victim every time she is picking up the phone. The phone has a digetic sound with every call the ring gets louder and louder, this gives the audience a chilling response when the phone rings as the audience knows or have good idea of who is calling and that is the antagonist. The antagonist’s voice on the phone sounds very comical like a clown. This is very uncomfortable for the audience because the voice makes the audience feel uncomfortable. The reason why the voice makes the audience feel uncomfortable and chilled is because clowns can be scary and the voice sounds like a clown and with the sound the audience can picture a scary and evil clown. The sound of the antagonist on the phone is an example of parallel sound.

The costume, hair and the make up of the female victim is very simple. It is very simple as she is wearing a plain cream jumper with blue trousers and red lipstick. This is symbolic as it portrays a picture to the audience about the victim as the audience know from the costume that she is very innocent, vulnerable and a potential victim. In thriller the victim is always a female who is young, blonde, attractive, innocent and a sweetheart. This is recognised instantly by the audience when they see a young attractive female the audience know what her fete is as in almost every thriller the victim is a female. Also the costume, hair and make up have a very important role to play in the scene. For example the females in thriller will always be simply dressed which will show that they are innocent and pure hearted. Also the victim is always alone at home which makes the audience feel uneasy when they see the female victim alone as the audience know that something bad is going to happen to the victim, the audience can see what fate awaits the victim. Thriller have a reputation of having a sense of reality in the scene as the victim is alone the audience do not expect anyone to come and save the victim because that is not possible. This creates a sense of sympathy from the audience towards the female victim. The audiences emotions are played with by just isolating one character in the scene which makes the audience go through many different emotions.

There is an establishing shot after the character has been introduced to the audience. The establishing shot shows the audience the whole house as it shows how big the house is and it shows the surrounding area. This shows the audience that something bad will occur as she is all alone in this big house with a big garden and there is a big tree in the garden. Also the establishing shot shows the audience with the big house it will be very hard fro her to call for help to go anywhere for help as the female is all alone in this big house. This shot shows the audience where the location is and it shows the audience that the victim can get no help which makes the feel anxious as they know that the victim does not know that she can’t get any help. This establishing shot puts fear into the audience as to what can happen to the victim and it shows how vulnerable the victim is as there could be something lurking in the big house. This keeps the audience on the edge in what will happen and it hooks the audience into watching and finding out what will happen to the female victim when the attack will take place and who will be the antagonist/attacker.

There is a use of slow and fast edits in the middle of the scene. The first slow edit is used when the female victim puts the phone down and is walking away from the phone. This slow edit creates tension as the female victim is walking away from the phone the audience are anxious as they are waiting for something to happen and that something could be the phone ringing again. Then when the phone rings again, there is a fast edit when the female victim picks up the phone. The fast edit shows the intensity of the phone call and it shows the audience how scared the victim is to pick up the phone. This use of fast edit creates suspense and uneasiness for the audience as they can feel the adrenaline rush as well when the female victim is answering the phone.

As the scene develops further a second use of iconography is introduced in the scream scene. The second use of iconography is the knife. The knife is introduced in the scene when the female victim is playing with the knife. The female victim is playing with the knife this shows how innocent she is as she does not know that this could be used to kill her and she is playing with the knife as it is harmless. This is a strong indication that that the knife will play a big part in what will happen to the victim. This iconography connotes that this could be used in the attack and the denotation of the knife tells the audience that this knife could be used and knifes are dangerous with that danger the audience know that this will be used in a killing and that will be the killing of the victim, a knife is a very common weapon used to kill in thriller therefore the audience know instantly when they see a knife that something bad will happen and someone will be killed. The audience know instantly know that the knife will be the murder weapon and the audience anxiously wait to see weather their predictions are right.

A point of view shot is shown when the victim is looking for the antagonist. When the victim looks in to the garden through the door as instructed by the antagonist the victim does a full search of the garden left to right. The victim conducts this search to see if she can see the antagonist. This point of view shot is used is used to make the audience see what the victim can see in the garden and also it is used to play with the audiences feelings as the audience are searching with the victim in the garden from the point of view shot. This makes the audience anxious and chilled as the audience don’t know what to expect from this point of view shot as the audience can only see what the victim can see. This creates tension in the audience as the audience may feel that they have seen something that the victim has not seen which causes a lot of uncertainty with the audience as in what they saw.

After the antagonist tells the victim to turn the light on again she sees her boyfriend killed in front of her in the garden. The victim’s body language after her boyfriend is killed is that she crouches down in the corner of the room. This body language when she is crouched in the corner shows how small the victim is and it shows how sacred the victim is. This body language shows that the victim is defeated and she is shocked that her boyfriend has just been killed. Also after the boyfriend is killed the victim looks really pale this is used to show the audience that the victim is going through a lot of pain and shock. With the victim looking really pale this also shows the audience that the victim is having all her energy and life drained out of her and the scale of the torture that the victim is going through.

There is a jump shot used when the victim is in the kitchen and then the shot is moved to the pop corn. When the pop corn is put on the cooker this is very iconic as the pop corn bag on the cooker is getting bigger and bigger, this indicates that the attack on the victim has not reached its peak just like the pop corn bag the attack and the torture is slowing building up and it is a matter of time that the pp corn bag will pop and there is a time where the victims attack and torture will blow up to a whole new level. This jump shot which shows the victim and then the pop corn bag builds tension into what will happen to the victim and what lies next for the victim.

The attacker/antagonist has very dark costume as this is symbolic that the antagonist is evil and this individual has a very dark side that is why the dark costumes are used. The antagonist has a dark costume which hides the identity of the antagonist which leaves the audience feeling insecure as the audience don’t know the identity of the antagonist. Also the antagonist also has a mask or a facial defect. This adds another level of security to the antagonist as the identity of the antagonist is protected from a mask. The mask and the hidden identity of the antagonist is used because this makes the audience fear the antagonist as the thriller film relies on the antagonist to get a chilled response from the audience there for the antagonist has to put fear in the audience and this is done by a hidden identity or a mask. Also the facial defects and the mask of the antagonist is what the audience will remember the antagonist and in all thriller the antagonists are know fro their masks and facial defects. However although the antagonist identity is hidden the antagonist does have an identity as the antagonists identity is the mask or the facial defect but the mask unsettles the audience and scares the audience.

At the end of the scene when the victim is running away from the antagonist, the antagonist flies out of the window and chases the victim. When the victim is running there is slow editing used when the antagonist is reaching out to grab the victim. This is used to build up tension with in the audience in weather the victim will get away or get caught by the antagonist. The audience are on edge as they want the victim to escape but the slow editing makes the audience realise the harsh reality of the victim being caught the slow editing also prepares the audience for when the victim will be caught.



The digetic sound in this scene is the phone which is perhaps one of the most important parts of the scene. With the digetic sound from the phone it chills the audience as every time the phone rings it sounds louder and louder. This is very chilling for the audience as the audience are scared for when the next phone call will come. Also this digetic sound of the phone call getting louder and louder unsettles the audience as the audience will be scared to answer a phone call when they are at home. The setting of the thriller being at home changes the audiences perception of being safe at home and answering the phone which is an everyday routine.



The on screen sound is when the antagonist is talking to the victim on the phone. The voice can be heard and it is realist as it allows the audience listen to what the victim can hear and the audience can see where the sound is coming from. This on screen sound is used to chill the audience as the voice is very comical and that creates a picture in the audiences head which is very hard fro the audience to forget. Also the realist sound of the phone effects the audience on the long term as the audience will not feel safe in answering a phone at home after the film as the audience can relate to answering a phone alone at home in a dark evening. Also the on screen sound makes the phone a significant object in the scene and it is very hard for the audience to forget the phone and the voice of the antagonist.

In conclusion the scream scene i have learnt a lot and the things that i have learnt is that the micro elements in scene create and build a lot of tension for the scene to live up to the thriller genre. Also i have learnt that the everything that i have learnt so far is used in the scream scene to make it a very conventional and chilling scene for example to make the phone call chilling the is digetic sounds and a comical voice of the antagonist. Also The sound of the phone call gets louder and louder with every ring. The facial expression and the body language of the victim show the audience that the victim is scar ed and chilled herself over the phone call. In thriller all the elements are brought together to make emphasis on the point that the scene is trying to interpret to the audience.

From the scream scene it has influenced me to add suspense and tension in my thriller and to use a sound track which will create the tension and suspense and give the audience a chilling experience. Also the female victim and the costumes that my female victim in my thriller should have. The scream scene has given me a lot of inspiration and has further developed my ideas for my thriller.