6.

4 How audiences develop responses to media

products
By Kieran Smith
This document will be focused on the horror genre of films with the
particular film in the document being discussed is the 1996 film
Scream, written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven.
Acts of the film
The film follows the three act structure like most films do in that
they have the first act setting the story up between the first ten and
fifteen minutes of the film, the second act is when the story
progresses and is the longest act out of the three as there is a
conflict which the characters go through in order for their characters
to develop as well as moving the story forward and finally the
resolution is what happens in the final ten to fifteen minutes which
then concludes the film.
The start of the film has a teenager, Casey Becker, being killed
which triggers memories of an old case involving a mother being
killed with her child, the protagonist, now in high school and is now
being stalked by the killer as are other characters as a reporter,
Gale Weathers, gets involved as well as a cop named Dwight but is
referred to other characters by Dewey. Other characters include
Randy Meeks who is a film geek, Tatum Riley, Deweys sister and
also the best friend of the protagonist, Sidney Prescott, as well as
Sidneys boyfriend, Billy Loomis, and his friend Stu Macher. The
majority of these characters are introduced in the second act in
order to have potential suspects to who the killer might be which
will then move the plot along as well as potential victims to the
serial killer. One plot thread consists of the man who allegedly killed
Sidneys mother is believed to be innocent by Gale Weathers and
then it is believed that the real killer of Sidneys mother is still on
the loose. During the second act Billy is arrested and is suspected of
the murders but is later released and suspicion falls on Sidneys
father. The principal of the high school, which Sidney and the cast of
teenagers attend, is killed by the masked killer, which plays a role
later. A party is thrown at Stus house to celebrate the schools
closure and while there Randy explains the rules of horror and there
it is also revealed that the principal was slain at the school and the
majority of the attendees leave the party to view his body. In the
final act the killer is revealed, and it is both Billy and Stu, the two
reveal their plan to Sidney and after a fight for survival both
murderers are killed and the case is solved.
Cause and Effect

In films there are typically three or four major plot moments, which
help to advance the story. In the film Scream a cause of the film
would be the death of Casey Becker at the start of the film as that
causes panic in the town of Woodsboro not only because of the
nature of the crime but also it awakens an old murder case in which
the mother of the Sidney Prescott, the protagonist, was murdered
and despite someone having been convicted of the crime a
journalist does not believe that the man in prison serving time for
the murder is the killer. Already this cause has kicked off multiple
plot threads in which the main cast of characters all get tied up one
way or another in the story, the effect this has is that more people
get killed off and Sidney wonders who she can actually trust as
everyone is a suspect which leads to Sidney having doubts about
her boyfriend which leads to the conclusion of the film with the
killers being revealed and killed, brining an end to their killing spree.
This also resolves the mystery of whether the man convicted of the
murder of Sidneys mother had actually killed her or not.
Enigmas
Enigmas are mysteries in a film that keep the audience guessing
and this could be a characters motivations, where something is or
in this films case, who is the murderer. There are a few enigmas in
the film; the most apparent is the identity of the killer but also the
reason of why the killer is killing as well as what they want with
Sidney. These enigmas are played until the third act which reveals
the killers and their motivations; however there are others at play
such as if Cotton Weary really is the man behind the killing of
Sidneys mother. All of these are stretched out until the climax and
this is done by showing potential clues to who might be behind the
killings be it due to a characters personality or a potential clue such
as Billy dropping a cell phone which Sidney witnesses and suspects
he may have something to do with the murders and he is then
brought for questioning at the police station. The enigmas are also
played out by the killer who calls Sidney and taunts as well as
threatens her which again makes the audience think who it could be
while trying to piece together why they would be doing this.
Open and Closed Narrative
In terms of whether or not Scream is a closed narrative or open
narrative it is a closed narrative. The reason for this is that the
killers are killed, Sidney survives, and Dewey is seen being taken by
an ambulance after being injured due to the conflict in the final act
while Gale reports on what occurred at the house. There are sequels
to the film however this film does not end in a way that would make
one think it will lead into a sequel, but the sequels do include
characters as well as old characters to keep the franchise connected
in some way and this film does impact the storylines of the sequels.

Representation in the text

Representing text in film is viewing a film and understanding what
the meaning is behind aspects of the film. In the case of Scream the
film is a mix of horror and satire which is intended to scare
audiences while make them laugh at the clichs they point out in
horror films and then the characters do just that. An example of the
horror clichs being used is when Sidney is talking to the killer on
the phone and when the subject of horror films comes up in the
conversation Sidney tells the caller that she finds it insulting due to
them depicting blonde women running up the stairs to escape the
killer when they should have went through the door, and after being
attacked by the killer she runs up the stairs with the film poking fun
at the trope of a woman being chased by a killer and not choosing
the best options. The film also uses other tropes such as a masked
killer who is stealthy and silent when stalking his victim, however
the killer is somewhat different to other masked killers for two
reasons, one being that the killer has a voice to communicate with
his victims which separates the killer from Jason Voorhees and
Michael Myers as well as the killer being revealed to be two people
behind the murder spree which was not the case in horror films prior
to Scream as it was one killer in a movie and this would have thrown
the audience off as they would have thought about it being one
person and not more than one person being the culprit. The film in
general satirizes tropes from horror films with the teenage parties
with sex and alcohol and how women are predominately the main
target of a sadistic killer while also focusing on masked killers and
bringing something new.
Visual analysis of a short sequence
The opening sequence of the film Scream opens with Casey Becker,
played by Drew Barrymore, receiving a call from a stranger, and
while talking about horror films he hints that he is stalking her,
Casey becomes panicked by this and turns her patio lights on as it is
dark outside. So far in terms of the Mise en Scene it has shown the
time of day by showing that it is night as it is dark outside and here
is a persistent caller speaking to Casey which builds up the tension
as well as the fact Casey is alone in her house so it shows that she is
isolated from other people and will have to fend for herself if
something goes wrong. The scene also shows that even at home
these characters are not safe from danger and they can be attacked
at any moment in their own homes. Casey also has to play a game
in which she has to answer questions related to horror movies to
save her boyfriend, however she gets one of the questions wrong
and her boyfriend is killed. Casey is then attacked by the killer but
manages to get outside of the house and then sees her parents
arriving home but the killer succeeds in killing her and hangs her

body up on a nearby tree so her parents can see how brutal the
killing was. The filming of the killer running after Casey in slow
motion before stabbing her would have shocked audiences at the
time as Drew Barrymore was a popular actress at the time and
people believed she was the star of the film only to then see her get
killed off, so within the first thirteen minutes of the film there has
been an engaging opening setting up the tone of the film as well as
giving a twist. Significant props used would include knives as well as
a phone for the call between Casey and her killer to occur.
Codes and conventions of the chosen sub-genre
The codes and conventions for horror films are featured throughout
Scream with the sub-genre of satire also being shown. Earlier I had
written about the scene involving Sidney speaking to the killer and
explaining a clich in horror movies and then she does it herself,
satire is to point out problems in something and to improve it. After
Scream was released horror films tried to adapt and to not follow
the same guidelines in order to produce something more original
than the same horror movies with the same killers that everyone
was used to. At the start of the film Casey Becker is shown to have
blonde hair and one of the tropes in horror films is that the girl with
blonde hair is usually the target of the killer, such as the Halloween
movie, Friday the 13th film and Texas Chainsaw Massacre as the
heroines in these films were young blonde females but in Screams
case the blonde female does not make it out alive after her
encounter with the killer. The film also gives the masked killer a
voice which previous films did not do as the killers never spoke
whereas this killer does but only by phone, when he stalks them or
attacks them the killer does not speak to them.