Halloween
By John Carpenter’s
The first
shot you see in this opening is a carved pumpkin with a candle inside. You then
see title coming up next to the pumpkin. The pumpkin represents that the film
is going got be a horror and it is about Halloween.
The shot
then zooms in on the pumpkin very slowly until you can’t see it anymore.
There is
also a very simple piano playing which is none diajetic in this first scene.
The music is very simple but also sounds very scary and makes the audience feel
very tense and on edge that something scary is going to happen.
After all
of the title have been on screen you see two words on the middle of the screen
“HADDONFIELD, ILLINOIS” this sets the scene and tells you where about the film
is set. You can also hear kids singing when this writing is on the screen. The
kids are singing a Halloween song, which also tells you the film, is about Halloween.
The next piece of writting on the screen is “HALLOWEEN NIGHT 1963” this also
tells you what year the film is set and what day its on.
The next
shot you see is a point of view shot of someone walking up to house and looking
into the house. This makes the audience think who is this person that they are
watching and how’s house it is and who are the two people in the house?
You then
follow the person into the house. Before they go into the house they look up to
the window and as the light goes off there is a high pitch string instrument
which is makes you jump because it is very silent and that is all you hear.
This also symbolises that something scary/bad is going to happen. This noise
starts a build on tension.
As the
person walks into the house you can hear their footsteps. You then hear
diajetic music, which is also very simple, and a piano and a few string
instruments. This is also building on the tension.
You then
see a hand come forward and pulls out a knife form the draw. This makes the
audience wonder why this person is getting a knife out. The person is also
wearing what looks like a clowns customer. This also makes you want to know why
they are wearing this.
The
person then walks round the house and the music gets louder and slowly the
piano stops playing and its just string instruments getting louder and louder.
These are very high pitch, which adds a lot of tension. You can also hear the
girl and boy upstairs talking.
The
person then walks up the stairs and a church bell starts ringing. This represents
that’s something bad is about to happen in the film. This is a good use of
sound to represent danger and tension.
