Peter Barnett

Halloween (1978) Opening Scene Analysis

The intro to Halloween uses a POV camera shot this is used because it put the watcher ‘into the shoes’ of the character who happens to be the killer. The lighting throughout the opening scene is dark because the scene is shot during the night-time, which in turn creates an eerie ambiance. As the killer watches through the window we see a clown mask being used by the two people inside the house but later on in the scene were the killer is inside the house we see the mask again but this time the killer picks it up and uses it to disguise himself. When the killer puts on the mask the camera changes and it now looks like we are looking through the mask.The setting in the opening scene is a neighbourhood at night; all is silent.

At the beginning of the opening scene there is no music, just the sound of crickets. I think this is because they want to emphasise how quiet the person who is sneaking is being. The first real sound effect we here is when we see the light turn off, although it isn’t scary the sound that is used is a screech which could have been used for shock factor or just to break the long silence at the beginning of the film. The screech is drawn out for a while until it eventually is accompanied by a slow, eerie piano sound, which stops and just leaves us with the high-pitched sound again. I think the sound was drawn out to create suspense.

The films narrative is subtly introduced from the beginning because someone, who is the audiences POV, is sneaking around the house and looking in on the people in the house. Also when he is sneaking around the front of the house there is a pumpkin on the porch, which shows that it is Halloween. The music and sound effects used make it seem scary/ like a typical horror. One of the things that happen that let is know the narrative is when he sneaks into the house, grabs a knife and continues to sneak upstairs where we finally are showed that this is a horror because he murders his sister.

The first two characters we see are a man and woman who are on the couch, the woman is the sister and the man is her boyfriend. Later on when we are inside the house we see the boyfriend silently leave the house which shows he is a sneaky character. We don’t learn a lot about the sister mainly because she gets killed so early on in the beginning.

There are no titles in the opening of the film, it just goes straight In with the character sneaking around the building.