The opening sequence of the film Halloween establishes its genre of a horror/thriller in a number of ways including the music which it has used to establish the opening moments of the film to the colours which are used in order to portray a feeling of tension and fear amongst the audience and to create a mood which prepares the audience to continue watching the film.
The sequence is set in an American town Illinois, which is confirmed in the opening credits as it introduces it. This particular opening sequence has a specific theme of music playing continuously throughout the opening credits. The music has become accossiated with the film which is why it is so iconic. The idea of this music is to create a feeling of tenseness and automatically allow the viewer to assume that it is a horror film. The title of the film 'halloween' establishes the genre of the film as this particular event is linked with frightening experiences and the feeling of being shocked and put out of your confort zone. The setting of the opening sequence has taken place in darkness which adds to the horror experience. The first camera shot used appears to be taken from a personal persepective as if to give the impression that someone is approaching the house. The opening sequence is filmed in one shot which is unusal for a horror film as the norm is to use many cuts and fast pace shots in order to engage the audience's attention. However, John Carpenter has managed to keep both a pace familiar to the horror and thriller movie scene as well as keep the viewer's focus.Little dialogue, if any, is used in the sequence which creates suspense and sets up the build up of an event. In general, it creates a serious mood which indicates that the film is not for the faint hearted.
In terms of establishing the characters, we are only exposed to them from half way through the sequence. We are introduced to them and the role they play within the film through the use of body language and the part they play in certain events. As they reach for the knife in the draw, it is apparent that they are dressed in a clown costume, a costume which many people are frightened of and therefore this helps to create fear as well as cause the viewer to question whether the main character is a madman or a child. The bright colours of the clown costume greatly contrast with the dullness of the environment and this tells us that they are the main character. The girl which screams at the dressing table shows the audience that she is a victim in the storyline, she also screams his name which begs us to question the fact that she must know him, giving an even greater feeling of confusion amongst the audience. In the final part of the sequence we view the little boy holding the knife and this makes us aware that the horror storyline will be in his hands. In narrative terms, we are not told a lot about the film, however it begins with a murder and we can imply that this is an implication of frequent death, a common and obvious theme in horror films.
Halloween the film uses a certain family ideology and includes themes of the loss of childhood innocence and a disfunctional family, this allows the audience to relate to the film. As we can see in the opening moments of the film, it is set in what appears to be a normal family friendly road sorrounded by large houses which in itself gives the impression of something unexpected. The opening credits are longer than the viewer would normally expect which creates apprehension felt by the viewer, these aspects of the film make it unique, the smooth and gliding technique in terms of camerawork made the film look a lot more expensive than it actually was which made it all the more impressive when it was originally released.
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