Scream RESEARCH notes
Production
Institution/company:
The production company for the film is Dimension Films. The company is based in the heart of New York. Dimension Films is also well known for the films 'Bad Santa' & 'Sin City'.
The Film:
The idea for the film came from when the writer (Kevin Williamson) watched a new story about a series of grisly murders by the 'Gainesville Ripper' and was inspired to write an 18 page story of a woman being home alone, then harassed on the phone and then gruesomely murdered by a masked killer. The obvious genre of the film is horror/American slasher film.
Cast & Crew:
The producer, Kathy Konrad, is known for the Scream trilogy, Girl, Interrupted & 3:10 to Yuma. The Scream Trilogy were obviously her most successful films. The screenplay was written by Kevin Williamson. Stars involved in the film were Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich and Courteney Cox.
Financing:
The budget of the film was $15 million. Despite it's small budget, Scream did not go over.
Production:
The movie was filmed in different places in America. During Production there was a huge argument over where the movie was filmed, it almost got someone fired!
The production company for the film is Dimension Films. The company is based in the heart of New York. Dimension Films is also well known for the films 'Bad Santa' & 'Sin City'.
The Film:
The idea for the film came from when the writer (Kevin Williamson) watched a new story about a series of grisly murders by the 'Gainesville Ripper' and was inspired to write an 18 page story of a woman being home alone, then harassed on the phone and then gruesomely murdered by a masked killer. The obvious genre of the film is horror/American slasher film.
Cast & Crew:
The producer, Kathy Konrad, is known for the Scream trilogy, Girl, Interrupted & 3:10 to Yuma. The Scream Trilogy were obviously her most successful films. The screenplay was written by Kevin Williamson. Stars involved in the film were Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich and Courteney Cox.
Financing:
The budget of the film was $15 million. Despite it's small budget, Scream did not go over.
Production:
The movie was filmed in different places in America. During Production there was a huge argument over where the movie was filmed, it almost got someone fired!
Distribution
Companies:
Dimension Films (USA) was the distributor of the film.
Prints & copies:
Scream was released country by country instead of globally.
Marketing, Advertising, Promotion:
The marketing budget was around 20 million, the film was marketed by large posters being made and sold, fanpages were made and small teaser trailers were released to entice and get an audience interested.
Dimension Films (USA) was the distributor of the film.
Prints & copies:
Scream was released country by country instead of globally.
Marketing, Advertising, Promotion:
The marketing budget was around 20 million, the film was marketed by large posters being made and sold, fanpages were made and small teaser trailers were released to entice and get an audience interested.
Exhibition
Cinema:
The film was shown at multiplex cinemas, and there are no special versions of the film (eg. IMax or 3D) It was the surprise hit film of the year, showing in cinemas for nearly 8 months.
Success:
The film made $442.9 million at the box-office in the US and (US) $173,046,663 gross worldwide which proved to be very successful. Through DVD sales, the film made around $4,198,290 consumer spending.
Scream (1996) - Film Anaylysis
I have chosen Scream as my film to study. The scene from this movie that i have picked is the opening scene, scene 1. I think the film is an excellent example of a horror movie because it's packed with all the codes and conventions that a horror needs.
The mise-en-scene in the particular scene, I think, represents the movie, a typical teen horror. The scene starts of with a close up camera shot of the phone ringing and then Casey picking up the phone. She is wearing a cream sweater, which connotates innocence, cleanliness, and purity, also a colour that a soon-to-be 'victim' may wear. You can clearly see she is a teenager from her young, fresh face. The camera shot is a close up, focusing on her and the phone, this is so that we are concentrating on Casey and the phone conversation. The lighting is dimmed, and in the background you can see it is nighttime. The fact that there is no music gives an eerie feel to the scene. Casey puts down the phone and yet again there is another close up shot of the phone, indicating that the object is important to the scene. When Casey puts the phone down again, she walks off. The rooms setting is left on the screen for a few seconds, which gives the audience a feeling that there could be somebody out there. Panning is then used to show a tree outside the house, a chair is revealed which is swinging but no one is sitting on it. Is someone out there, we think? We can see a house in the background of this shot, and then the camera shoots back to inside the house, showing us that it's her house and she is inside it. The atmosphere is uncomfortable and the phone rings again. Casey is making popcorn, there is a mid-shot, allowing us to see her kitchen. There is still no music, which makes us focus more on the conversation between Casey and the person on the other end of the phone. They start to talk about horror movies and Casey picks up a knife and plays with it, and then puts it back in place. This foreshadows the knife being used, danger, and gives the audience an uneasy feeling. The camera follows Casey as she walks into the next room, but the camera is unsteady which gives us a feeling that she is being followed. No long-shots have been used on Casey yet, which made me think this is because we're meant to have our focus on Casey and the phone. As she walks past her back door, the lighting is low and the colours are muted, shadows play against the white walls, a typical creepy setting of discomfort. When the person on the phone indicates that he can see Casey, we can tell how her mood suddenly changes. The camera zooms into a close up shot of her face, she looks scared and the music suddenly appears for the first time. She locks the door and there is an extreme close up of her doing so. Things are getting a lot scarier, lighting is lower, more shadows have appeared, this made me constantly focus on the backgrounds of the scene, where there was always a window shown. The atmosphere is tense and it is obvious something is going to happen to her. The front doorbell rings but there is no one at the door, and the phone rings yet again, tension slowly building up. The performance of the actor is very poor and very stereo-typically girly, jumpy and 'screamy', which, for me, added some unintentional humour to the film. I think these are best parts to analyse because this is the point where the tension is at it's best, so I decided to stop there.
The mise-en-scene in the particular scene, I think, represents the movie, a typical teen horror. The scene starts of with a close up camera shot of the phone ringing and then Casey picking up the phone. She is wearing a cream sweater, which connotates innocence, cleanliness, and purity, also a colour that a soon-to-be 'victim' may wear. You can clearly see she is a teenager from her young, fresh face. The camera shot is a close up, focusing on her and the phone, this is so that we are concentrating on Casey and the phone conversation. The lighting is dimmed, and in the background you can see it is nighttime. The fact that there is no music gives an eerie feel to the scene. Casey puts down the phone and yet again there is another close up shot of the phone, indicating that the object is important to the scene. When Casey puts the phone down again, she walks off. The rooms setting is left on the screen for a few seconds, which gives the audience a feeling that there could be somebody out there. Panning is then used to show a tree outside the house, a chair is revealed which is swinging but no one is sitting on it. Is someone out there, we think? We can see a house in the background of this shot, and then the camera shoots back to inside the house, showing us that it's her house and she is inside it. The atmosphere is uncomfortable and the phone rings again. Casey is making popcorn, there is a mid-shot, allowing us to see her kitchen. There is still no music, which makes us focus more on the conversation between Casey and the person on the other end of the phone. They start to talk about horror movies and Casey picks up a knife and plays with it, and then puts it back in place. This foreshadows the knife being used, danger, and gives the audience an uneasy feeling. The camera follows Casey as she walks into the next room, but the camera is unsteady which gives us a feeling that she is being followed. No long-shots have been used on Casey yet, which made me think this is because we're meant to have our focus on Casey and the phone. As she walks past her back door, the lighting is low and the colours are muted, shadows play against the white walls, a typical creepy setting of discomfort. When the person on the phone indicates that he can see Casey, we can tell how her mood suddenly changes. The camera zooms into a close up shot of her face, she looks scared and the music suddenly appears for the first time. She locks the door and there is an extreme close up of her doing so. Things are getting a lot scarier, lighting is lower, more shadows have appeared, this made me constantly focus on the backgrounds of the scene, where there was always a window shown. The atmosphere is tense and it is obvious something is going to happen to her. The front doorbell rings but there is no one at the door, and the phone rings yet again, tension slowly building up. The performance of the actor is very poor and very stereo-typically girly, jumpy and 'screamy', which, for me, added some unintentional humour to the film. I think these are best parts to analyse because this is the point where the tension is at it's best, so I decided to stop there.