The opening scene of Scream establishes tension through a series of shots. It begins with a close-up of a ringing phone before panning up to reveal a girl answering it. Subsequent shots show the backyard swing moving on its own and the girl lighting the oven gas, foreshadowing danger. A dialogue about horror films plays out as the girl handles knives in the kitchen. Windows and open spaces make the alone girl feel vulnerable. Close-ups of her fearful emotions and a final long shot confirming her boyfriend's murder leave the audience wanting to see what will happen to her next.

1. The opening sequence of Scream begins with a close up of the phone that is
ringing.
The camera then tilts upwards following the hand that has picked up the phone
to show us the main character in this opening sequence.

2. We are then shown a long shot of the garden at the back of the girl’s house. The
swing in the shot is moving, showing that someone has been on it, which creates
tension and makes the audience wonder who has been outside of her house.
The next shot is an extreme close up of the gas being lit on the oven, this is the
first of numerous shots showing things that could be dangerous or used as
weapons towards the girl.

3. This next shot is a medium close up of the girl on the phone to the stranger
talking about horror films. They are talking about a specific horror film called
..which includes people being murdered by knives. This shot cleverly works this
dialogue in with the girl messing around with the knives in her kitchen, again
something that could be used as a weapon against her, carrying on this sense of
tension and suspicion as to what is about to happen to her.
This shot is a medium close up and shows a window behind the character. This
adds tension as the audience automatically expect someone to be at the window.

4. This long shot shows the character in the middle of a room by herself, this shows
her vulnerability towards the events happening.
This close up shot shows the emotions of the character and also adds tension as
the audience don’t know what is going to happen to him, also making them fear
for the female character in the scene.

5. At the end of the opening scene another long shot is shown which confirms that
the female characters boyfriend has been murdered. This makes the audience
want to continue watching to find out what happens to her.