Halloween
John Carpenter (1978)
Film Opening Length:
Budget: $325kUK/US/World Box Office: ?, $47m, $70m
Theatrical Distribution in
Production Companies: Compass International Pictures, Falcon International Productions
Distributors: Compass International Pictures
LINKS:
IMDB, RottenTomatoes (Tomatometer 93%, Audience 89%), BoxOfficeMojo, Wiki
Trailer for 'Halloween':
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POSSIBLE INFLUENCE FOR MY FILM
I like the stalkerish shots of the sister and boyfriend in this film opening and I want to include this style of stalkerish shots in my film opening somehow. Also, I may want to include similar kinds of non-diegetic music in my film opening, I really like the non-diegetic music at the start of this film opening.
There are no film idents shown in this film opening, because of the time period it was made in (the 1970’s). Back then, film idents weren’t a common thing to see at the start of slasher films.
IDENTIFYING ANY PROTAGONISTS
The first characters shown in this film opening are a couple kissing and having sex. Since the film is of the slasher genre, you can connote that these two characters are ‘scream queens/kings’. Usually, at the start of a slasher film a ‘scream queen/s’ is/are killed.
OPENING SHOT
The opening shot has a really long take of 3 minutes and 6 seconds. This shot is entirely in Point-Of-View (POV). This POV shot starts on an extreme long shot of a white house. This establishes the setting to the audience.
The opening establishing extreme long shot is of a house to establish the setting/ setting the scene to the audience and to connote that the main event (killing) is going to happen here.
TITLES
The entire first half of this film opening is just titles. You can denote that the titles are sans serif, they alternate between the colours yellow, orange and red to connote that the film is a horror (the red connotes blood). The actual names of the cast are in upper case lettering and the roles e.g. director of photography are in lower case lettering.
The font colour starts yellow then changes to red just like the first one. This happens throughout all the titles (colour changes from yellow to red). All the titles are in upper case to emphasise the film's dramatic, horror, spooky mood/atmosphere; this gets the audience engaged already.
A pumpkin appears on the left side to connote that this film is set during halloween (pumpkins are used only during halloween) and that the film is set around the idea of halloween.
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The pumpkin has gradually zoomed in through every change of titles to connote the prominence and importance of the pumpkin (signifier of halloween) to make the audience very aware that the film is about halloween. The fonts are still red to connote the horror genre.
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This is the last title shown, it denotes the setting to the audience.
MISE-EN-SCENE FOR EXPOSITION
TITLES
The entire first half of this film opening is just titles. You can denote that the titles are sans serif, they alternate between the colours yellow, orange and red to connote that the film is a horror (the red connotes blood). The actual names of the cast are in upper case lettering and the roles e.g. director of photography are in lower case lettering.
The first titles shot is of the film institution: Compass International Pictures.
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After the first scene (the girl in the house is killed by her brother, Michael) there is another title shown. It creates a kind of bridge between the film opening to the main body of the film. The title is the exact same as the title shown at the start of the film opening; so it is being denoted that the main body of the film is set in the same town as where this girl in the film opening was killed. The audience are provided with exposition of the setting again.
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This title is the same as the title shown at the start of the film opening but instead of saying 1963, it says 1978, so 14 years later. Also, instead of the date saying Halloween, it says October 30. This has been done so that there isn't much emphasis put on Halloween because the events about to happen at the start of the main body of the film are not related exactly to Halloween.
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This long shot is seen from someone's view (Michael's) making it a point of view shot and is handheld/shaky to connote that someone is watching these two characters and that something is going to happen to them (these shots are trying to get the audience to feel uneasy and scared). The fact that these two characters are the first to be shown normally connotes that these characters are the main protagonists but since this film is a slasher horror, it actually connotes that they are the scream queens/scream kings.
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You can see in this shot the person who is stalking/following the couple (Michael) opening the drawer and taking out a knife. You can see the sleeve this person is wearing which denotes to the audience that this person is wearing a halloween outfit (a clown outfit) to further connote this halloween setting.
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This person picks up the mask from the floor and puts it on so the audience can see what this person sees through the mask. This is also a point of view shot.
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The audience can partially see here a naked woman (the girl from the couple) with blood pouring out of her connoting that this person in the mask has just stabbed/killed her. Also, the fact that this woman is naked further connotes that she is the stereotypical scream queen.
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This is a crane shot to connote the end of this scene/the film opening. It is somewhat countertypical to reveal who the killer is at the start of a film. Also, the audience is being given some context now that these new two characters have entered the scene. It is clear that these are the killer's and the dead girl's parents. So the context given now is that the girl from the couple was supposed to be babysitting her younger brother but instead she invited her boyfriend to come over so they could have sex while her parents had gone out. This is somewhat normative behaviour of teenagers, therefore allowing the audience to relate with the teenage couple (Uses & Gratifications theory).
NARRATIVE
Barthes’ narrative enigma can be applied to this film opening.
SOUND/GENRE SIGNIFICATION
The entire first half of this film opening is just titles. Throughout this title sequence, non-diegetic sound is playing. You can denote this as shortly held piano notes and long-held chords, long-held electronic synths and short-held ticking clock/time bomb diegetic sounds.
SHOT VARIETY
There are only two shots in this film opening, the first shot has a really long take of 3 minutes and 6 seconds. This shot is entirely in Point-Of-View (POV). The second shot is a crane shot zooming out on Michael Myers in a clown costume with a knife in his hand.
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NARRATIVE
Barthes’ narrative enigma can be applied to this film opening.
SOUND/GENRE SIGNIFICATION
The entire first half of this film opening is just titles. Throughout this title sequence, non-diegetic sound is playing. You can denote this as shortly held piano notes and long-held chords, long-held electronic synths and short-held ticking clock/time bomb diegetic sounds.
SHOT VARIETY
There are only two shots in this film opening, the first shot has a really long take of 3 minutes and 6 seconds. This shot is entirely in Point-Of-View (POV). The second shot is a crane shot zooming out on Michael Myers in a clown costume with a knife in his hand.
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