Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 3 of Scream (0:16:50-0:18:22)

In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!

SCENE 3
Length: 1min 33secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott and Tatum Riley (Rose McGowen)
Pop Culture References:

• None :(
  

And so we're introduced to Woodsboro High (not "Greensboro" as the DVD box of Scream 3 misinforms). One thing that I really like about the Scream movies is how cinematic they look. Director Wes Craven and cinematographer Mark Irwin routinely use crane shots, utilise the wide screen and fill the frame with interesting compositions, which is not something you tend to find in a slasher movie. One such moment is this scene where we first see the required High School. Could have simply been a static shot of the school, but instead we get a swooping crane shot that gazes over the media circus out front before settling on Neve Campbell's Sidney yet again. She's definitely the "final girl", you can already tell.


And I like how in this shot the camera ever so vaguely hovers on the sight of this TV news reporter wearing a bright lime green outfit. Even in a distant wide shot Gale Weathers is trying to grab our attention. Attention got!


HI GALE WEATHERS, AUTHOR OF THE GALE WEATHERS STORY SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING GALE WEATHERS!

She's barely in this scene at all, but a brief moment, and yet not only do we know she's going to be a major player (she is played by Courteney Cox, after all), but characters we're not meant to notice don't get to wear lime green ensembles. They just don't.


Everyone say hello to Tatum Riley.

Do it!

"Hi Tatum!"

That's better. You will grow to love this woman. As played by Rose McGowen, Tatum is the prerequisite best friend whose acts overtly sexual (she's wearing that outfit to high school and "thank you very much" say all the teenage boys) but she is actually quite endearing. And, as this scene shows, tactful:


"Casey Becker and Steve Orth were killed last night. And we're not just talking killed, we're talking splatter movie killed. Ripped open from end to end."
"Casey Becker? She sits next to me in English."
"Not anymore!. So sad, her mom and dad found her hanging from a tree, her insides on the outside.
...
"Dewey was saying this was the worst crime they've seen in years. Even worse than... well, it's bad."

Oh, Tatum! Way to walk directly into the elephant in the room!

Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2