Compare + Contrast: Scream Opening

Iconography

Similiarities

Both of the settings have the idea of isolation, there is one shot in scream which establishes that the house is close to a forest with no others around and in mine it is clear that no one else is around. The costumes of the characters are very similiar, they use black and white to connote innocence and evil/corrupt.

Differences

The camera work is used to different effects, in The Anaesthetist we used a wide variety of shots to make the woods look interesting and quite weird where as in Scream the camera merely shows what is going on it doesn't give any impressions. Scream is during the night time where as mine is during the day - making mine seem a little less isolated but the contrast makes the forest look more menacing. Scream also looks like a normal setting - i.e. a house - where as the contrast and shots used in mine make the woods seem very evil and not so indifferent.

Narrative

Similiarities
The main similarity between my opening sequence and Scream is the actual narrative events - this is the death of a false-heroine. In both the first girl we see is set up to be the heroine - blonde hair, white clothing - connoting innocence, and quite attractive yet they are both killed. This keeps the audience on their toes as they realise they must expect the unexpected (which is especially true of scream considering the maor plot twists at the end), it also gives the audience information on the murderer (i.e. his killing style). I think that this concept is always an effective opening as it is more interesting than going straight into slow starting background events tc.

Obviously they also both include a chase which is another large similarity, they are both used to create suspense and lots of action codes - e.g. she has fallen over will he catch her now? They both use the idea of something happening to you without your knowledge - i.e. someone watching you and planning something, they tap into society's current fears.

Differences
My opening sequence is very fast in starting and although it is filled with suspense i think it is more effective in scream when it is dragged out more by building up the suspense slower.
I think that Scream's opening gives a lot less information away than mine does, all it shows is the killer's costume, weapon - i.e. brutal killing style, where as mine gives away all of that and the news report which says quite a lot - the location, how many times he has killed before, the police are very involved etc.

The chase in Scream is incredibly physical with her escaping and him recapturing her numerous times where as in ours he grabs her once and clearly she doesn't escape. The Anaesthetist also doesn't show the murder like Scream does, i think that this is more effective because if we had shown the murder it would have looked incredibly amateur.

Character

Similarities

Both of the victim's are courageous and are trying to fight and get away despite obvious difficulty - both very determined. Both of the Villain's clearly like to be in control, in Scream he forces her to answer questions and play games and my villain has drugged her to keep her under control. The villain is male in both and the victim female, i think that we decided to be conventional with this because the only time a role reversal works is in films such as Elektra where the woman is an assassin - but we didn't like this idea at all.

Differences

In Scream the villain hides and is almost nervous, where as the Anaesthetist's villain is very confident and wuite clearly striding out in the day time. You find out very little about the characters in my opening as there is no speech where as we find out lots about Scream's - for exmaple that she has a boyfriend, personally i think that opening's have more impact when there is no speech. There are many more characters introduce din scream's opening - her parents and boyfriend where as the Anaesthetist only slightly introduces his new victim via a photo.

Themes

Similarities

Chasing
Innocence
Isolation
Following/Watching
Psychotic

Differences

The idea of playing games - Scream
Concealing identity - Scream
Brutal/Gorey murder - Scream
Previous victims - The Anaesthetist
Police/Authority involvement - The Anaesthetist
Other characters - Scream has her parents and boyfriend.