Scream Opening Scene Analysis

The First shot of this clip shows a woman who is obviously very scared and trying to be quiet going out of a door, and then hiding in a corner. She is holding a phone which suggests she may want to call someone to get help, however by doing this she would have to speak, revealing her position, also, she seems to be shaking quite vigorously which signifies the terrified feelings that she has at this moment. The scene then cuts to a shot through the window - from her point of view - in which a dark figure runs across the room. We then see a car heading towards the house, as we don't know who this is, the audience could think it could be someone that she has called to get help, or it could be someone who's helping the hooded figure. However there is also the possibility that the car is just visiting without any knowledge of what is occurring at the house.

We then see the woman crawling under the window, as she doesn't want the person who's in her house to find her, however as she stands up she turns around and the figure is standing right next to the window. He then punches through the window and grabs her hand, which is holding a knife. As she is not expecting him to smash through the window she is not prepared and has to hit him with her phone. She then tries to run away, and we see her look at someone who is tied up, who we assume the figure has murdered. She knows the car is coming into the driveway, so she tries to run to them. The expression on her face shows her desperation, however the the masked infiltrator catches up with her, he drags her to the floor and shows no hesitation in sticking a knife through her chest, the shot of them on the floor shows the power of the murderer as the camera is facing upwards to see him, however the woman is being looked down upon by the camera shot. The close up of the mask shows that it is nothing more than a Halloween costume. Nevertheless she still tries to get up and run to the car, and when the people go to the door, they do not notice her as she cannot speak. They then notice the open door and start to panic, they rush around the house noticing the devastation, while just outside the murderer is with their daughter.