Halloween essay

In the opening scene of Halloween, there aren't many different shot types used but there is a lot of movement as it is mainly a point of view shot. A subjective handheld camera has been used so the audience feel as though they are in the killers shoes, also there is limited vision so the audience can’t see as much so not as much is given away. Even though the killer is revealed, not much else is which could be a good thing as some of the unseen things could be used later on in the film. There is an establishing shot of the house and that is shot with a handheld camera. Also, because of the point of view shot, it feels as though you are walking towards the house and because of the music and shot type, you can almost sense that something bad is about to happen. This is a tense moment as a family home is generally a safe and secure place but the use of the handheld camera suggests otherwise, also implying that somebody in the house is about to be killed.

A lot of the opening scene is taken up by the opening credits, but during the credits, there is an image of a pumpkin with a candle inside and whilst the credits are going on, the camera slowly gets closer and closer to the pumpkin and the music in the background makes it tense, this will suggest what kind of film it is to the audience. At the beginning of the film, it is quite bright but when Michael (the killer) puts the mask on, the audiences vision is limited as they have made it look like the audience are looking through the mask and can only see from Michael’s point of view. Because the lighting is quite bright throughout the opening scene, unlike most horrors, this could suggest to the viewer that it may not be a typical killer, which is revealed 6 minutes in and you can clearly see that the killer is in fact a child. Even though it is quite bright in parts of the opening scene, it is also dark as it is filmed at night and before and after Michael has killed the girl, he is outside and it is dark which could show that he about to do something bad and afterwards, he has done something bad.

In the opening scene, you can see a blond (most likely popular) girl kissing her boyfriend and then going upstairs which suggests that they are going to have sex. Typically in horror films, the blond non virgin girls are usually the ones to die first  so as soon as you see her go upstairs with her boyfriend, the audience can guess that she is going to die so we get an idea of what is about to happen. Children are represented in a negative way as a child is the killer; this could be because children are usually seen as sweet and innocent, but in fact they may not be quite so sweet and innocent. Teenagers are also represented in a negative way, because she is killed by a child, this could mean that teenagers are weak and can’t defend themselves.

The knife used is very iconic because as soon as the knife is picked up, the audience can tell exactly what is going to happen. In horror films, knives are mainly used for stabbing and knives are used in almost every slasher horror film so when someone picks one up, you already know that someone is about to be killed, or the person with the knife will at least try to kill someone. Also, the mask is iconic as it almost hides the killer from us, even though we can’t see the killer because the camera is from his point of view, it feels as though he is hidden and is also feels like the audience are hidden from the killer because of the mask and in a way it makes the audience feel safer. The type of music played hints what type of film it is and most people recognise the sound from similar horror films and they associate that type of music with horror films, also the music builds up the tension and can hint what is about to happen or it can trick the audience into thinking that something is about to happen when it’s not. Whilst Michael is going up the stairs, the lighting is quite bright which could possibly trick the audience into thinking that something bad may not happen even though they have already seen Michael pick up the knife.

There is a lot of non diegetic sound, such as the creepy music which builds up the tension and gives the audience an idea of what is about to happen. There also a fair bit of diegetic sound, such as the ticking clock, the ticking clock suggests that it is someone’s time to die. Also, the killer going up the stairs, stairs are another horror convention which would suggest to the audience that something bad is about to happen.