Halloween by John Carpenter

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.