Halloween (1978) Opening Analysis Research

The film 'Halloween' is a famous 1970's thriller/horror which was very successul and is very well known.There seems to be a slight focus on the pumpkin used on the porch as it is the first thing we see when the titles finish and the film starts to play, so we know that this was intentially placed as part of the mise en scene to highlight the storyline for the film and creating the theme of the film to be set around Halloween, which the audience already knew due to the title.

The first shot used is a pov shot that pans around the house towards a window showing two characters who are in a relationship. The character observing is hiden away in the bushes and is ducking down so they're not seen. This makes the audience aware that there is an unknown character the could potentially cause threat in this film and makes them wonder what realy is going on and what is this character going to do.

This is a continuous shot that happens through the opening to show off the actions of this character and aware the audience this would be a main character in the film and maybe one to look out for. As the scene goes on the audience becomes more uncomfortable with the stalker theme that's being played before them and have predicted that something violent or disturbing is going to happen. The only sound heard is digetic ambient sounds of crickets which adds to the suspence as it makes out that someone unknown at this point is creeping up to the house. 

As the unknown character begins to make their way through the house the lighting is noticably dark and leads the audience to continue to believe that this character is out of place and shouldn't be ther which is why they are lurking in the shadows, The non-diegetic music that corresponds with this confirms to the audience that this character may be bad and something about this character seems odd. This enhances the audeinces discomfort and makes them feel different from this character and almost treat him as an outcast.

Now the light has changed to a brighter tone as we see the character oull out the knife. The camera is still in a point of view shot making the audience feel like they are in this characters body and have no control over the actions he is about to make. When the charcter pulls out the knife the music changes to become tenser adding an atmosphere of suspence.

Because of what we are seeing we are to assume that this person is a creepy violent character