This is the opening sequence of the 1978 horror film, Halloween.
The opening begins with a pov shot showing what the unknown mysterious character is seeing as he/she is walking around the outside of the house. This shot is very sinister and creepy, it is a key convention in the horror genre as it creates suspense which keeps the audience on the edge of their seats from the get go.
Within the first 2 seconds into the film, you see a house but straight away you see a pumpkin sitting outside of the house. The pumpkin connotes that it may be Halloween night which links to the name of the film, hence being Halloween. So already 2 Seconds into the film the audience understand that it is Halloween.
As the pov shot continues, the mysterious character walks around to the side of the house which then looks through the window to find 2 characters inside, oblivious to the fact that the unknown character is watching them. In the background there is a night time buzzing noise to add to the suspense but also add to the night time vibe that this is creating.
After a few seconds, the couple disperse upstairs, as soon as the mysterious character see's the light turn off there is a a new sound effect, it is a sharp short high pitched sound which gives the feel that something bad is about to happen. All which is conventions of a horror. This sound instantly gives the audience the suspicion that something bad will happen which becomes intense which creates even more suspense. This is 46 seconds into the opening and still a pov shot has been continuously used, this is to show the audience the mysterious characters whereabouts without giving too much away.
This sound continues all the way until the character enters the house. Once inside, still with the pov shot, you see the character reach into the draw from their pov to get a knife. A knife in a horror film instantly tells you that there will be gore and death. The knife creates even more suspense as the audience can guess to what will happen soon but still suspense is there. When reaching out to get the knife you can see the character is wearing a Halloween costume. This also tells you that this is
Halloween but because Halloween is largely associated with children getting dressed up, does that mean the mysterious character is a child? It is all unknown all to be found out later in the film but the use of the costume does give that impression that the character is a child.
As the character progresses through the house with the pov shot still in action, you see the male character leave the house leaving the female upstairs as the perfect victim. Creating even more suspense as she is alone with the character with the knife rapidly approaching. The use of the pov shot is largely effective as you are the pov of the antagonist so to speak. This is creating suspense all the way throughout as you are the characters every where about. But also a story is created through the pov shot to give the audience an idea of what will happen next. The sound has been continuously playing throughout since entering the house, giving a scary feel to it which is becoming more intense for the audience to keep on watching. All clear conventions of a horror film.
As the shady character is walking upstairs, you can then hear very slightly in the background a clock towers bell ringing which may suggest that it is counting down to the young females death. So it is like a countdown until the mysterious character goes and attacks her with the knife.
At 2:40 you can see the character pick up a mask. He then places this on his face so when he enters, he will be unknown and hidden. Also the camera shot is still using the same pov however now the mask is on you can only see through the eyes, which does show you are seeing it from his point of view through his eyes.
As it gets to 3:01 the character has now entered the room which contains the young female. She is humming which tells you she is just casually doing her daily tasks unknown to the fact, a creepy character has just entered the same room as her with a knife with the intent to kill.
As she turns to see the mysterious character she shouts 'MICHAEL'. This gives you the idea that the young female knows the mysterious character. The name Michael now tells the audience that the killer is a male but the age is unidentified however through the use of Halloween costumes it may be considered he was a child/teenager. This may now suggest that this mysterious character named Michael may be related to her such as her brother. As he is a child, known to the female character but also when she shouts 'MICHAEL' its a shout which gives the impression of 'get out of my room' rather than 'get out of my house' due to the fact she doesn't want him in the room as she is fresh out the shower completely naked. All suggesting that they live together and may be related.
He then begins to attack the female. Since the beginning the pov shot has been used and even in the killing the pov shot is still being used. You can see that the girl is being attacked but then Michael looks at the knife to clarify with the audience that he is stabbing her. Now that he has killed the girl, the death is a convention of the horror genre as most horrors are mostly about death.
He then begins to flee the house which is when a car pulls up. A man, approximately 40 years old gets out of the car and says 'Michael'. He says Michael in a completely different way though, he says it in a confused tone. This is when the camera shot changes. 3 minutes 47 seconds into the film, the camera shot changes to a medium shot. The mask of the character is then pulled off by the new introduced character which is when we see that he is a child but the fact he is holding a knife suggests why the older male said 'Michael' in a confused way in a 'what have you done?' manner.
The shot then zooms out continuously into a long shot where you actually fully see the newly introduced characters. It may be suggested that they are his mother and father as they have just arrived back at the house to find their son on the front lawn with a knife. All this suggests that the girl he murdered was in fact his sister so the build up throughout the opening gave the audience a feel of that was actually his sister. The looks on the older male and female looks like they are clueless and do not know what is going on.
The main mise-en-scene throughout the opening was mainly on what the young, mysterious character was wearing. He was clearly wearing a Halloween costume which then relates to the name of the film as the name of the film is called 'Halloween'. So you then begin to get an overview that the whole film is over the Halloween period. Also the location is a normal, family house so it is not a stereotypical horror location but the whole walkthrough of the house using the pov shots creates suspense and intensity as a gradual build up which gives this film a usp as it is completely different to most horror films.
The camera angles are all on what the character is seeing so it is basically his eyesight throughout until the end where there is a downward tilt with a zoom out shot.
The camera shots through the opening is minimal, yet the ones used all created suspense throughout. The first camera shot was a pov shot, this lasted for a whole 3 minutes 46 seconds from where he was unknown outside, to where he was in the house, to murdering the girl to then fleeing the house. All those terms of events occurred under a pov shot of the murderer. This is unusual in horror films to use this particular camera shot with this amount of time so it gives this film a usp whilst still creating an intense feeling to the audience.
Midway through the opening there were a few ambient sounds introduced such as the insects at night to create the night vibe which added nicely to the slowly progressing events. Also the high pitched sounds were there to create suspense which made the whole opening intense to watch as, as an audience member you could guess what was about to happen which makes the audience even more scared which is what horror films aim to achieve.
The first character in the opening is Michael. We only find out his name at the end of the opening but at the start he is an unknown character which creates mystery as he begins circling the house, spying on the characters inside. As he enters the house he grabs a knife which is when we see his arm. We then see what he is wearing and it seems to be a Halloween costume. This gives us the idea that the unknown character is a child. As we progress through the opening, he goes upstairs to murder a different character. This character knows the mysterious characters name giving us his name and the impression she knows him. So from this we guess that the character is 'Michaels' sister. At the end of the opening when he flees outside, his mask is removed where we can see his face showing us that he is a young male child, around the age of 10/11 which gives us the idea that the girl he murdered was his sister and the two adults outside are indeed, his parents.
The second character, the one in which Michael kills. We do not find out her name but we do come to a conclusion that she was Michael's sister. As we can actually see her it may be suggested she was between the ages of 18-21. She was also with another character before she got murdered, this character is a male approximately the same age and due to the kissing and the love making, we can gather that this was the young teenage females partner and that they were in a relationship.
The final 2 characters we believe to be Michael's parents. This is because they pull up to what looks like there house and the fact they know Michael's name and say it in distress it gives us the impression they are both his mother and father.
They are both approximately 40 years old and may be the young boys mother and father.
The clear antagonist in this film so far would be Michael with no clear view on a protagonist or any other types this early on in this film.
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