SP - Deconstruction of Scream

Scream(Wes Craven, 1996)

Budget: $15m

US Box Office: $100m

4 films in the franchise. Scream 2 was released in 1997, Scream 3 in 2000 and Scream 4 is due to release in 2011

• First shot is of a blonde woman (scream queen) on the phone to mysterious caller 

• Narrative enigma is used on the man on other end because you and she doesn't know who he is.

• Shot of outside the house and a swing attached to a tree is moving. This signifies that the mysterious man could be outside

• Close up of woman putting popcorn on the cooker when the phone rings again but this time the girl is quite flirty with the man and plays with a kinfe which could foreshadow later events

• Popcorn starts over cooking but the woman is distracted with the phonecall

• Camera tracks woman through her house when man says "I want to know your name ............ because i want to know who im looking at". This is when the music stops and the camera zooms into the girls face showing her emotion

• Music suddenly starts becoming loud and dramatic and we can hear a dog barking outside

• Again she hangs up and she runs back into the kitchen where the popcorn is on fire which signifies danger

• The phone rings again as if he is stalking his victim and this time he is really angry and he starts playing on the girls mind 

• The next shot is of her boyfriend tied up on the porch with blood and bruises on his face

• Intertextual references from Halloween and Friday The 13th as mysterious man plays a game with the girl to save the boyfriends life

• When girl gets the second question wrong the boyfriends insides gets ripped out which signifies the mental state of mind of the killer