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    Halloween (1978) Opening Analysis

    Uploaded by

    Tobi DrunkforChrist Odeleye
    1. The opening sequence of Halloween begins with a pumpkin on a black background with a flickering candle. As the credits roll, the camera zooms in on the pumpkin's eyes, creating an eerie atmosphere. 2. The sequence then shows a house on Halloween night, approached with a point-of-view shot to involve the viewer. A character puts on a mask before attacking a woman, restricting the camera's view. 3. By the end, it is revealed the attacker was the young boy Michael. Overall, the opening sequence effectively sets the tense, mysterious mood of the film and introduces conventions of the horror genre through visuals and music.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Halloween (1978) Opening Analysis

    Uploaded by

    Tobi DrunkforChrist Odeleye
    406 views11 pages
    1. The opening sequence of Halloween begins with a pumpkin on a black background with a flickering candle. As the credits roll, the camera zooms in on the pumpkin's eyes, creating an eerie atmosphere. 2. The sequence then shows a house on Halloween night, approached with a point-of-view shot to involve the viewer. A character puts on a mask before attacking a woman, restricting the camera's view. 3. By the end, it is revealed the attacker was the young boy Michael. Overall, the opening sequence effectively sets the tense, mysterious mood of the film and introduces conventions of the horror genre through visuals and music.

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    1. The opening sequence of Halloween begins with a pumpkin on a black background with a flickering candle. As the credits roll, the camera zooms in on the pumpkin's eyes, creating an eerie atmosphere. 2. The sequence then shows a house on Halloween night, approached with a point-of-view shot to involve the viewer. A character puts on a mask before attacking a woman, restricting the camera's view. 3. By the end, it is revealed the attacker was the young boy Michael. Overall, the opening sequence effectively sets the tense, mysterious mood of the film and introduces conventions of the horror genre through visuals and music.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    406 views11 pages

    Halloween (1978) Opening Analysis

    Uploaded by

    Tobi DrunkforChrist Odeleye
    1. The opening sequence of Halloween begins with a pumpkin on a black background with a flickering candle. As the credits roll, the camera zooms in on the pumpkin's eyes, creating an eerie atmosphere. 2. The sequence then shows a house on Halloween night, approached with a point-of-view shot to involve the viewer. A character puts on a mask before attacking a woman, restricting the camera's view. 3. By the end, it is revealed the attacker was the young boy Michael. Overall, the opening sequence effectively sets the tense, mysterious mood of the film and introduces conventions of the horror genre through visuals and music.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
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    Halloween begins with a black background and just a pumpkin to the
    left of the frame. The pumpkin symbolises ͞Halloween͟ which is the title
    Of the film, so it give the sequence an identity. The pumpkin is cut and so
    It shows some scary semblance and has a lit candle inside flickering and
    adding suspense to the sequence. As the titles carry on the pumpkin
    appears to get Bigger and bigger as the camera zooms in on its eye and
    nose which shows that the pumpkin may have some significance. By this
    point you can see nothing else but the outline of these through the
    Flickering light. This is very clever as the black background looks to be
    death, and the pumpkin is representing the only bit of life on the screen,
    but the flickering candle light makes the viewers feel uneasy and makes
    The scene a lot creepier.
    As the eyes are standing out, they also look evil, giving the viewer a
    sense of the movies genre before any action has begun, and then
    they flicker off as the screen blacks out. Whilst the pumpkin is being
    slowly zoomed in on, further and further, the credits appear to the
    right of it. Firstly the names appear in red which quickly turns to
    orange and then before they fade out again, they change back to
    red. The red could signify blood which is a common convention used
    in horror movies. The use of red on a black background is also a
    common horror convention used, mainly in posters and advertising,
    but the two colours create a dark and spooky edge to the horror
    film. Also the shallow depth focus was used on the pumpkin, which
    focus the audience attention on the pumpkin in which symbolises
    the key idea of the film. It also creates a scary build up
    The music for the first part of this sequence is the sound of piano keys,
    creating a melodic high noted tune that is drowned out by the low pitch
    sounds of orchestral music. This creates an awkward sound that is
    uncomfortable to listen to and creates tension in the scene which scared the
    viewers. Once the pumpkin͛s candle has flickered out, the sound of children
    fades in as they are singing rhymes on Halloween night. They rhymes echo as
    if sung in a vast space, this brings about a slight insecurity about the sound as
    it is so unusual. Whilst the singing is occurring, the screen is black
    which could signify death, and the words ͚Huddonfield, Illinois͛ are in white
    Capitals which shows a contrast between the two. As soon as the black screen
    cuts to an establishing shot of a house, the children͛s singing is immediately
    stopped showing the start of the action.
    The second part of the second sequence then begins with an establishing
    show of a house on ͚Halloween night͛ which stands out from the black
    background. There is absolutely no sound except from diegetic Ambient
    sounds from crickets which add to the suspense even more because it͛s as if
    someone is sneaking up on the house. The camera shots appear to be one
    Continuous movement of a point of view shot which makes the viewer feel
    More involved in the action and therefore more scared. As the camera
    approaches the house we see the pumpkin placed on the porch, showing a
    possible relationship between the first part of the opening scene and the
    second part. The camera continues to be a point of view shot, showing the
    movements of a normal person and hiding discretely too. This is a very
    popular shot to use in horror films as it makes the audience aware that
    there is something or someone else there when the main character does
    not know as this adds suspense to the viewers and questions them as to
    what is going to happen next?
    Whilst the camera focuses on two characters, we get the impression that
    they have some importance to the movie and a convention of horror
    lighting is used where the only light in the room is coming from a flickering
    TV which links back to the pumpkin also. As the camera moves into the
    house, the only light is coming from the ͚moon͛ which is typical in horror
    films and as the character turns on the light, they reach for the draw and
    pull out a knife. Knives are very typically used in horror movies as they catch
    the light very well and create a suspenseful shadow. As the character does
    so, the music becomes much tenser adding an atmosphere and suspense
    that something bad is going to happen. The camera continues to be at a
    point of view and creates the illusion that we are in someone else͛s body
    and can͛t control our moves. Once the male teenager comes down the
    stairs and leaves the house, it opens up the vulnerability of the female
    character upstairs as we know that females are the main targets in typical
    horror movies
    The camera then begins making it͛s way up the stairs, slowly and it begins
    getting darker and darker adding more tension to the scene. However once
    it reaches the top of the stairs it stops as the character picks up a mask and
    puts it on. When the mask is put on, the camera continues to act as if we͛re
    the character and restricts what we can see and makes the scene much
    more realistic as we continually feel involved. Once the camera spots the
    female character the non diegetic music chances to some high pitched
    Sound as if the character has targeted her. As the camera walks up behind the
    woman, she recognises him as ͚Michael͛ and seems shocked as he starts
    attacking her the camera watches her reaction and then looks away making it
    seem like he isn͛t concentrating and doesn͛t care much.
    As he walks away, our view is still restricted but the attacker continues to
    walk at the same pace as though he hasn͛t done anything wrong. As he
    walks out the front door, a car pulls up and another character pulls off the
    mask and as he does this the camera cuts and changes for the first time
    revealing the little boy. As the camera zooms out, neither of the characters
    move showing they don͛t know what to do and the shock they are in. As this
    is happening, the tense music continues, Showing that the suspense and
    action isn͛t over yet.
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    ë Overall the opening sequence of Halloween is a
    captivating creation of John Carpenter. The
    sequence had succeeded in creating an enigma,
    and establishing the Codes and convention of the
    thriller horror genre within the audience,
    conveying the tense mood of the film, and
    suggesting aspects of the protagonist͛s and
    antagonists characterisation.

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