Scream (1996) analysis of opening scene

 My task for this week was to look at the opening scene from the classic Horror film 'Scream' (1996). This was the first lesson I had been analysing something in film class, so it taught me about the codes and conventions of film and how to look at symbolism. Below are my notes on two of the shots in the clip, which we analysed as a class. We talked about how the main character, Casey Becker, is presented as very pure and innocent, a stereotypical first victim of a horror movie - something that the film is parodying here. I also looked at the symbolism with the jiffy pop popcorn rising throughout the scene and eventually exploding and starting a fire when Casey is being murdered. Here, I picked up on how the popcorn could reflect Casey's fear rising as the scene goes on and as the killer haunts her. 

Overall, this was a really interesting first task for me, and I really enjoyed learning about film openings in scary movies, it also introduced me to a lot of film language and terminology, as well as symbolism in a scene and stereotypes in this genre of film.