Case Study 1: Scream

Micro features
Firstly the production titles go on the screen before the film starts. The opening begins with a scary title font; it begins with a white font then changes to red then fades away. Red is a symbolic colour for blood and death. The first scene features a close up of the girl's (monster fodder) hand picking up the phone, this is a dramatisation of an everyday event to make it seem scarier. The person on the other end of the phone claims he has the wrong number, yet when he phones back it hints he is a stalker. When she picks up the phone again, there is a slight dutch angle to show all is not what it seems and the camera is hand held, showing the instablility in the character and making the scene more realistic.

The establishing shot first shows a trees branches, which are dark except for the green leaves; green being a very ghostly colour in horror, because of the light on the leaves it makes the branches look like a crooked, evil hand.
The establishing shot goes onto showing the house being very isolated, this is exaggerated by the darkness and the swing on the tree swaying in the wind. The popcorn bag heating on the cooker represents the tension as it begins to expand, we are constantly reminded of this by the constant close ups of the popcorn bag. The conversation between the killer and monster fodder acts as a hook to the audience as he begins to reveal his purpose in talking to her; to kill her. When this is revealed, the camera remains hand-held and the rooms appear darker. There is also constant reaction shots of her crying. The music throughout the sequence remains parallel as the tension builds.

Macro Features
As the sequence starts, the genre is introduced through the titles; the font being stretched and turned red symbolises blood and torture. There is also a non-diagetic scream to represent the genre. All of this is iconography of the horror genre, further iconography is featured throughout the film; including the mask, the knife and the isolated location. The costume and the line "Do you like scary movies?" has also become apart of the franchise.