Horror

Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film set in the fictional suburban town of Haddonfield, Illinois, USA on Halloween. Halloween produced on a budget of $32,000 and grossed $47 million at the box office in the US equivalent to over $150 million as of 2008 becoming one of the most profitable independent films of all time. Many critics credit the film as the first in a long line of slasher films inspired by Alfred Hitchcocks pshyco(1960). The movie originated many cliches found. in low-budget horror films of the 1980s and 1990s. However, the film contains little graphic violence and gore.

Analysing the opening sequence to Halloween

The title of the film starts off with typical halloween colour, black and orange. This give the viewer a better understanding about the film, that it has actually go something to do with 'halloween'.
As the opening sequence continues, the writing changes colour to a red. This colour fits in with a Horror genre and relates to blood, chaos, death and warning.There is a black screens to set the scene and makes the text stand out a lot more than it would with any other colour. It also gives us an eery feeling and a clue that something bad may happen on the next scene. It starts with an extreme long shot, then slowly moves to an extreme close up of a pumpkin. There is a point of view shot used throughout the opening sequence, it is used so that you can see through the killers eyes and enter into his state of mind. Also because you don't get a clue who it is; what gender the killer is and what age he might be it is able to keep the viewer interested and surprise them as it is unexpected. When you are able to see who the killer actually is, it moves from a close up, to an extreme long shot, to an high angle shot. This is to show the innocents the child seems to portray but also the dangers the child actually is in. The non-diegetic sound is ominous, its very repetitive and extremely eery.

Children are singing which fits into the whole halloween aspect, but also makes more tension causing it to be a little uncomfortable for the viewer.The non-diegetic music changes when the killer enters the house and grabs the knife. It gets louder and goes to a higher pitch to let the viewer know that something is about to happen. Then when he eventually stabs the girl, the sound increases even more but slowly decreases in volume once the girl is dead.When you discover who the killer is, the music reacts to the shock the viewer must be experiencing. By getting louder and higher in pitch.