Analysis of Scream Opening- Miss Hartt

Analysis of Scream Opening

The audience is surprised when they see the girl being hung on a tree. The audience is surprised beacuse it is the first time that the camera shows the girl dead. The audience are also scared because they here the mother of the girl scream. Also, fast editing is used for this short sequence to add thrills for the audience.

There is a long shot in the opening sequence of the girl seeing her parent's while she's being chased. A long shot is used to show everything in the scene and it is conventional to the genre as it shows the audience that the victim may have a chance of survival.

As the chase is happening, a hand-held camera is used. It is used to show the audience what a chase looks like. It is conventional to the thriller genre because it is a chase/murder scene.

Age Certificates- Miss Hartt

Age Certificates

U- Universal, suitable for everyone. E.g: Happy Feet, Puss in Boots.

PG- Parental Guidance, some scenes may be unsuitable for young children, but unaccompanied children of any age may watch a PG rated film, parents are advised as to whether the content may upset their child, depending on their child's age. E.g: Alice in Wonderland, Enchanted.

12A- Suitable for children aged 12 and above and children under 12 when accompanied by an adult. E.g: Spiderman, The Hunger Games.

12- Suitable for children aged 12 and above. E.g: The Woman in Black, The Others.

15- Suitable for people aged 15 and above. E.g: The Cabin in the Woods, The Grey.

18- Suitable for people aged 18 or above. E.g: The Shining, The Exorcist.

R18- Only available for people aged 18 and above and cannot be viewed at a normal cinema due to the sexual content that it contains.

I would make my film a 15 because it is a thriller film and thriller films contain a sustained amount of violence throughout the film, which would describe most thrillers. I wouldn't choose a 12 because not enough violence would be allowed to be shown and i wouldn't choose an 18 because my film will not contain a lot of blood and gore throughout nor will it contain a lot of swear words in one part of it.

No Country For Old Men Analysis- Miss Hartt

No Country For Old Men Analysis

No Country For Old Men is set in a lonely location. Only sand, grass, fences and trees can be seen by the audience. This is conventional to a thriller as most locations in thriller films are creepy or deserted. The setting is shown at the start even when nothing is happening. This builds suspense and shows the audience the location.

There are 4 characters in the opening sequence, and two of them die. This is conventional to the thriller genre as two murders take place in the first part of the film. The killer is wearing black clothes. This symbolises darkness and evil and shows that he is a dangerous character.

The narrator talking at the start of the film is a non-diegetic sound as it is a voice-over that has been edited into the clip after it was filmed. The siren on the police car is a diegetic sound because it ties in with the images on-screen. There is a windy noise throughout the first part of the opening scene to show that the setting is lonely. This is conventional to thriller films as they are normally set in vacant locations.

First the killer is arrested, then he escapes, then he kills someone, then he kills someone else. This is conventional to a thriller because he murders two people and many thrillers contain murder scenes.

BBFC Importance- Miss Hartt

The Importance of the British Board of Film Classification

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) are a highly experienced regulator of the moving image. It serves a social function that advises and protects. Adults should be advised about the content of a film but ultimately, they should make the final decision as to whether they should watch the film or not.

The BBFC is important to the to the film industry because they regulate the age restrictions of films that are shown in Britain. It advises and protects viewers from unsuitable content. For example, an action film may have a scene in it which shows a lot of violence. This would change the age rating to a more restricting one to protect children from replicating violent scenes. Classifying films can be difficult because some films may have some features of one age group but some more features of another age group. If the BBFC did not regulate restrictions, then many viewers may be offended or distressed by many scenes in certain films.

Sometimes a murder scene is cut prematurely so that the audience is aware of what has happened but does not actually see the murder happen. This is used for films with ratings such as '12' and '12A' so that the film can be viewed by more people.

Thriller sub-genres- Miss Hartt

Thriller sub-genres

Psycological Thrillers focus on the emotional statuses of characters and are mysterious. Examples: Psycho, The Talented Mr Ripley.

Horror Thrillers contain a lot of blood, gore and violence. Examples: SAW, Scream.

Disaster Thrillers contain natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and tsunamis. Examples: The day after tomorrow, 2012.

Action Thrillers contain a lot of chases and fights but do not often contain a lot of gore. Examples: The Dark Knight, SALT.

Religious Thrillers are heavily based on a plot and either prove or disprove the idea of religion. Examples: The Da Vinci Code, The Exorcist, Angels and Demons.

Science Fiction Thrillers contain items and concepts that do not currently exist in the modern day world. Examples: Alien, Inception, Minority Report.

Conspiracy Thrillers normally have someone being framed/set-up and the rest of the film will show them trying to find out why they have been framed, to prove their innocence or both. Examples: The Bourne Legacy, The Bourne Supremacy, The Game.

Conventions of Thriller Films- Miss Hartt

Conventions of thriller films

Dark shadows (low-key lighting) to hide the identities of characters and to create an enigma.
Tension to keep the audience glued to the screen. For example: Taken.
A hidden identity to keep the audience puzzled and intrigued. For example: Scream (Mask is worn).
Iconography such as guns, knives, ropes, chains etc. For example: SAW (Saw).
An antagonist. Usually the main enemy/villain/killer. For example: The Dark Knight (Joker).
A protagonist. The victim/ good guy. For example: Die Hard (John McClane).
A change in pace of music to show a major change in a scene. Slow paced music would be used to build suspense whereas fast paced music would be used to show a fight/chase/murder scene. For Example: Psycho.
A chase scene and a murder scene are used to thrill the audience.
An enigma is used to puzzle the audience and make them want to watch more of the film.
A thriller film is usually set in an unkown or mysterious place e.g. a warehouse, a forest/woods, a single house with no neigbours. For example: The Cabin in the Woods.
Fast editing is used to show a murder or a chase in order to change the pace of the scene. For example: Inception.
Slow editing is used to build up suspense by showing every single part of a scene until the climax.
Shock, Suspense and Surprise. Shock is used to instantly change the feelings/emotions of the audience. Suspense is used to prepare the audience for a shock. Surprise is used to throw the audience by showing the audience something that is unexpected.

What is a thriller film? Miss Georgiou

What is a thriller film?

Codes and Conventions of a thriller film:

Dark shadows (low-key and high-key lighting)
A killer's identity is often hidden to create mystery.
Tension builds up to create suspense for the audience so that they continuously carry on watching.
Iconography(weapons, knives, ropes, guns). These are used to show violence and danger.
Killer/s- often wears black to symbolise darkness and evilness.
Victim/s often wear white to show purity and innocence.
A change in pace of music is used to help change the editing speed.
A chase scene is used to build suspense and tension.
A victim is used to show helplessness and violence to make the audience feel scared.
An enigma leaves the audience puzzled and makes them want to find out what the enigma means.
It is normally set in a mystery or mysterious location to make the audience surprised.
Fast editing is used to show a change of pace in a scene.
Slow editing is used to show a change of pace in a scene and to build suspense.
Shock, surprise and suspense.

Opening scene of SAW analysis

Codes and Conventions

The opening scene of SAW shows a man in a room with the lights off talking to someone who cannot be seen. As the scene carries on, a dead man is shown in the middle of the room. These two segments create an enigma which puzzles the audience and makes them want to watch more of the film. The music starts off very slowly and quiet, but as the lights come on, a loud static noise can be clearly heard.

Target audience

SAW is aimed at young adults (17+) because it contains gory scenes that are unsuitable for the elderly or young children. For example, the opening scene shows all lot of blood and there is a lot of swearing from where the characters are in shock.

Audience expectations

The audience is expected to see a lot of violence, murders and blood. SAW shows all of these constantly throughout the whole film. The audience also expects to see an enigma, which means something that has no explanation or something that seems to be impossible.

Shock, Surprise, Suspense

The audience would be shocked by the opening scene of SAW as it shows a dead man in the middle of the room after a few minutes of the film. This shocks the audience because it has only been a few minutes since the film began. The audience would also be surprised to see two men chained to the walls of an abandoned room so early in the film. Suspense builds up in the film from the slow quiet music at the beginning when the
lights are off.

Micro Elements

The film SAW is set in an warehouse that is abandoned. This setting is used to show the audience that there is something creepy about the film. The characters look like they are frightened. The reason that they look frightened is to scare the audience.

Representation of characters

The two men look like they are surprised to be in the room chained to the wall which shows them as being innocent and they appear to be the victims. The dead man in the middle looks like he has killed himself and therefore he looks like he could be dangerous but there must have been another enemy that .


The film SAW shows what it is about from the first few minutes and as my film would be fairly short, I should try to replicate this idea in my opening scene. It also uses different lighting techniques to show shock and fear, another element that I am now going to include in my opening.

Se7en Opening Analysis

Codes and Conventions

In the opening sequence of Se7en the main character (who is suspected to be the antagonist) has their identity hidden because the camera angle is from their point of view or it only shows their hands. This creates an enigma for the audience because they do not know who the character is. The audience only see what the villain is doing, not who they are and their reasons for doing those things e.g. writing in a book or cutting skin of of their thumb. Every time something is shown, a black screen is shown immediately after which gives little away in terms of the plot.

The music in the first half of the opening sequence is very quiet and basic (a slow, simple drum beat). This is because no music can also create fear in the audience when the correct sounds are used instead. The main sounds used in the opening sequence are non-diegetic. For example, the screeching sounds used and the sound of metal.
Target Audience

Judging by the first scene, I would think that the Se7en is aimed at people aged 15+ because it appears to be more of a psychological thriller rather than a violent thriller due to some of the images shown. For example, the person shown at the start appears to be making a montage of some sort out of pictures and newspaper clippings which is commonly used in thriller films that are rated 15.
Audience Expectation

The audience expects to see murders take place and lots of blood to be shown. There is no murder in the opening scene which means that the film is more likely to be a detective sort of thriller because the antagonist has the qualities of a serial killer.
Shock, Suspense, Surprise

The suspense builds throughout the opening due to the music and the sounds as they get louder and louder. The audience would be surprised at the fact that the antagonist is making a montage of pictures of dead people. The audience would be shocked at the pictures of the dead people that flash in the background of the scene for a microsecond.
Representation of Characters

Only one character is in the opening scene, and from what the audience can make out, he would seem to be the villain/ antagonist due to the music and sounds, the images on screen and because their identity is hidden.

Sound Analysis Miss Georgiou

Sound Analysis of The Final Destination

The main purpose of sound in a thriller film is to create tension, suspense and to show the mood of the scene. This can be done by using different music in a scene or a change in music to show a change in mood. Sounds that are diegetic and non-diegetic are used to show how serious a sequence of events is.

A convention of a thriller film is that non-diegetic sound is in the background to show what a character could be planning to do. Another convention is using silence after music. For example, music could be playing as tension builds but then the music stops and there is silence (only for a short amount of time) before a victim is scared or murdered or chased.

Diegetic Sound

As the cars drive past the camera, you can here the noise of the engine "revving" which is a sound that fits in with the image that is shown. Also, the crowd (when they are cheering and also when they are screaming) is very loud which is a realistic sound. When the car flips, loud clashing of metal noises can be heard

Non-diegetic sound

When the small metal object lands on the racetrack, it can be heard louder than the actual cars which makes it a non-diegetic sound. At about 1:20 of the clip, when a large metal object lands on her, a loud bell can be heard, which is non-diegetic.

Parallel Sound

During the race, the music that is an electric guitar is not loud. This music builds up suspense and makes the audience very tense, but when the cars start exploding and there is a lot of death, the electric guitar is played a lot faster and a lot louder which changes the tone for the rest of the sequence.

Mise-en-scene Miss Gergiou

Mise-en-scene of Prom Night

The lighting used in the scene in Prom Night is called low-key lighting. It is significant to the conventions of a thriller as the murderer's face is hidden by the darkness and is shown for only a a small amount of time before it is hidden again. This is a convention in thriller films as the killer identify. This scene is meant to scare the audience as it is the first time the killer is shown and it is a shock. The shock of this scene makes the audience want to watch the rest of the film. Low-key lighting is also used in a previous scene when the killer is standing behind the woman when she is looking in a wardrobe. This hides the killer's face which is conventional to a thriller film because most thriller films have someone with a hidden identity.

A knife is used by the killer in one scene of Prom Nigh because it scares the audience and is used to show that a murder is likely to take place. The killer in Prom Night also wears a baseball style cap which is used to show that the killer is creepy and it keeps his identity hidden which is a convention of the thriller genre.

The facial expression of the woman when she runs into the detective shows shock which is a convention of a thriller film because thriller films use shocks and surprises to puzzle and scare the audience.

The detective and the policeman are standing behind the door as they are about to walk into the hotel room. They also hold their guns in front of them when they walk round the corner. These two parts of mise-en-scene are conventional to the thriller genre because most thriller films have police offers standing in positions like they do in Prom Night and there is usually a gun used by the police in the thriller genre which shows the audience that the crime being/ going to be committed is serious.

In Prom Night, there are detectives and policemen as good guys. These characters are conventional to the thriller genre and are used to show the audience that the victims may have a glimpse of hope. The other characters in the film are young adults who are having their prom party.This is conventional to the genre because the victims are portrayed as vulnerable due to their ages.

It is set in a hotel which seems like a friendly and secure place, but it turns out to be the opposite for some of the characters. It is set there to make the audience believe that everyone there is safe when in fact, they are not.