Movie Conventions Research: Scream IV

Scream, 2022, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Oplin and Tyler Gillet


The first film I will be delving into for my genre research is Scream 5, the most recent installment in the beloved classic horror series. The original scream practically inspired the horror-thriller genre and it’s techniques have been seen in films everywhere today. Because of its significance I believed the 5th movie of the series, released in 2022, would be perfect to dissect and examine its conventions.

• What elements (Conventions) of the genre that you chose to base your final task on does this movie have?

 The first convention we are shown is the tracking shot. Our vulnerable main subject is shown moving around the set. Lighting is very low and dim, on The silence is broken with the diagetic sound of a phone ringing, breaking tension that will be rebuilt as the sequence moves on. The main character is kept at a casual medium close up shot to capture their sudden fearful expressions. These medium close up shots are interwoven with action matcha nd eyeliner match shots to show what the subject is looking at. For example, when the phone begins ringing we switch from a shot of the character looking over to a shot of the telephone itself. 

• What elements (Conventions) of the genre did the movie have that you like?

The part of this sequence that most appealed to me was its use of tracking shots. The camera was constantly following the main character around the setting. This choice further immersed me as a viewer into the scene, feeling like I was in the subjects place, experiencing the suspicion, and then terror of the plot. This is something that may be difficult to implement into my own movie but would be a choice that would elevate the tension of the sequence. Another choice I like and was the use of sound. It remained very quiet in the opening scene, an stereotypes of horror movies lead you to believe there will be a jumpscare or something of the sort. However, Scream keeps the sound to nothing more than the phone calls, having viewers focus into the dialogue that is being presented. This makes the characters acting all the more impactful. Low lighting and close up shots made shots more claustrophobic and ominous, and I liked how those choices added mystery to the scene.

• What elements (Conventions) of the genre did the movie have that did not appeal to you?

One minor discrepancy I had with the sequence is the use of costume. This horror film features the convention of an antagonist dressed in a cartoony costume. I feel that this choice takes aware from the fear of the scene, making it more stereotypical to the overdone tropes of horror movies. My project will not feature any costume like this. It already looks cheap in a blockbuster movie, so my modest budget would not make it appear any better. Another feature I did not like was the very steady camera. The scene felt very professional, and I think a shakier camera would make a scene feel more rugged and unpredictable, upping the fear factors.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Game Plan!

Image
 Now that revisions in the storyboard have been made, it's now come time to plan for filming! First, to actually shoot the video, I will be using my iPhone camera. The quality works well, but in dark lighting their auto-HDR makes shots look grainy. In preparation, I will need to research how to alter the camera app settings. Another must for shooting is a tripod! Since I will be filming the whole commercial by myself, something to hold my phone will be crucial. These can be purchased anywhere, but for convenience, I will buy one online.  I've also found myself planning how I will film shots! For example, I took quite some time yesterday figuring out where I can prop my camera for one specific scene. in this scene, there will be a bird's eye view shot, which has added some complications. Nothing I can't overcome with some more planning though. When it comes to setting, the whole music video will take place in my bedroom. In preparation, it should be neat. It's an amb...
Read more

Pitch Blog

Image
    Here are my pitches for my short film final project. Though, most of these need to be workshopped. I have a lot of big ideas but working by myself, most of these are a bit too large scale, but I am aiming high for the production value of my project. Overall, I see many of these ideas changing in their final form but as for now, these are some of the interesting ideas for a short film I have come up with.  Pitch A: Home alone at night, a girl receives mysterious calls alluding to the fact someone is watching her, and when she thinks she is finally safe, everything goes wrong.  Pitch B: A group of friends tell a scary story about the mysterious place they are in, only for the end to reveal the “campfire story” was a real thing and not just a tall tale. For Pitch A, I have a very clear idea of what I want to do. This concept will be inspired by the opening sequence of the original Scream movie. One of my favorite horror movies of all time, Scream pioneered a wavelen...
Read more

My Pitch

Image
 For my media studies final task, my first ideas for pitches all had to do with the horror and thriller genre! Here is what I was thinking. Pitch 1: A woman is seen preparing food, talking to someone else offscreen, when at the end it is revealed she is cooking human flesh. This pitch is sort of similar to a movie Ive hear about, called Flesh. I want to do something horror related, so this is what I came up with. It would incorporate gore with the props of the food. I lot would be simple to film as the focus of the whole beginning would just be shots of food being cooked. I can really focus on getting nice sound and lighting since it would mostly be stationary. With sound I could slowly build tension and clue viewers into the fact that something is not right. The final reveal  would just me opening the fridge to reveal other body parts. As I open the doors, I can also do something cool for the title. It could appear behind the doors, or show i as I close the door and walk away...
Read more