John Carpenter produced the film Halloween in 1978, the film was an independent American horror film which was based on a low budget of only $320,000. An independent film means that only a couple of people produced it without all the support and technology, they do it out of their own will with their own funds.
The horror was set in Haddonfield, Illinois, USA however it was based in a fictional suburban town on halloween, 1963. The story line of the film is a psychotic six year old boy Micheal Myres murders his older sister using a kitchen knife. Fifteen years onwards he escapes the psychiatric hospital where he had been most of his childhood and returns home on a mindless rampage. His Doctor, Dr Loomis gets suspicious of Micheal’s intentions and follows his home to prevent his killings.(wiki)
Halloween was the first well made slasher film however it contains little graphic violence or gore. The film was inspired by Alfred Hitchcooke; who produced Psycho in 1960. John Carpenter not only produced the film, he was involved with the music, directing and writing, he is known as an Auteur in this film as he had took on a role in more than one section.
The entire film is all in one shot and it is mainly point of view, however there are other techniques used. Throughout the extract the lighting is very dull to show horror to do this artificial lighting must have been used to get the effect. As well because the film is set in the 1960's, USA many Americans take holidays very seriously; their houses are always decorated for the certain theme; so many props are used such as the pumpkin. The pumpkin is sitting on the porch of the house we see this near the start and this prop is done on purpose to link it back to the opening title. The opening of the scene starts with a black screen and just the litern pumpkin align to the left, the pumpkin light flickers continuously and the incidental music is at a high frequency and a fast tempo, this is done to set the scene and give the audience a peculiar feeling. As the opening credits start to roll a zoom in shot is used on the pumpkin's face, it is at a slow pace and then it goes into an extreme close up of the pumpkin's eye. This was done to give the audience a sense of purpose about what the film is about so the pumpkin is used to show the film is about Halloween yet the producers did not want to give too much away. As the credits come on the screen the colour of the text starts to change, it uses a mix of red, yellow and orange. These colours were used to imply and emphasise death and it gives the audience a hint that the film will be horrific.
A sound bridge is used when the title of the date and place appear on the solid black screen, the sound of children singing joyfully ends with 'trick or treat'. This implies that something mysterious is going to happen.
Forward tracking is then used showing the person whose point of view it is walking towards the house and horizontal tracking is also used to show the Sub POV is looking inside the house and following the girl and boy. In the way the setting and music is quite eerie it makes us believe it is the antagonist, this makes the audience intrigued in who it could be.
Vertical tracking is also used to show the upstairs window light turns off, a suspicious high pitched sound rings. The Sub POV then quickly goes into the house through the back; this makes the audience wonder why the character is so desperate to follow the girl and boy. The 'antagonist' wonders around the house and goes to the kitchen draw to grab a knife, as we see a hand we then realise it is human, so it is not fictional character such as a monster. Diegetic sounds are used such as the opening of the draw and the shuffling of kitchen utensils. This is just showing that there is noise which is a part of the story space, so the other characters can hear it.
The character whose point of view the audience are in then hurries up the stairs as if they have to be somewhere. As the character lurks around her room and the others the continuous breathing and humming sound is played, this portrays the eeriness in the home and makes the situation seem more real life like and gets the audience feel that something is going to happen. The antagonist approaches the bedroom of the girl, the boy has left and the character seems disgusted with the girl whereas the girl is very joyful and is humming along. The Sub POV looks down at the bed which seems as it had been used for sexual reasons and then the character approaches the girl who is not fully clothed. The girl turns around embarrassed of being naked and shouts "Micheal" as if she knows him; the audience then thinks he could be her brother. This is because the girl and boy only went upstairs because they felt somebody was watching them, she says "it's probably my brother". This then implies Micheal is her brother.
We are still in Micheal's point of view when he approaches his sister then the audience see him viciously stab his sister several of times as if he has no control over it. We hear the dialogue of her screaming/ moaning that the stabbing hurts but then she dies and collapses on the floor dead and the brother goes down the stairs at slow pace as if he had no care and goes outside.
The music throughout the killing and up to the death remains the same but the tempo gets faster after the death. This emphasises the adrenaline the brother has gotten from the murder. As the antagonist walks out the detached stereotypical American home to his parents who arrive home, shocked. His father lifts the mask of his face, the Sub POV then turns into a medium long shot of the murderer, the audience are dramatically shocked to find out the murderer was a little boy probably of six years old holding the large knife in his hand. The deep red blood on the knife shows the connotations of the boy killing his sister and his facial expressions show that he is confused and guilty. The point of view shot is the dismissed going into a crane shot, zooming away from the subject.
This is the scene we had to analyse: Halloween, 1978
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