Task 2 - Research into existing products - Halloween

Came out in 1978, directed by John Carpenter, an iconic horror director, makes his own soundtracks.

Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film, set in a fictional suburban town of Haddonfield on Halloween.

A psychotic murderer who was institutionalized since childhood escapes on a rampage while his doctor chases him.
It was argueably the first of a long line of slashers inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), which founded many of the clichés used in low budget movies for the next three decades. However, very little graphic violence is actually shown.

Mise En Scene

• Pumpkin - deranged, mad, not right
• Night - shadows, hidden
• White wooden house - American suburbia - well furnished
  

Editing

• Seamless
• Opening titles - Fade to and from screen - red, orange, yellow, pause, orange, red, fade.

Camera Angles

• The clip begins in the opening credits, zooming slowly on a Pumkin, then the scene dissolves to black.
• Pan to white house, then the clip uses a POV camera of Michael Myers for most the duration, the age of the character is percieved as a lot older than he is because of the hight of the camera, decieving the audience to think the character is an adult until he walks outside and his father takes the mask off, changing the camera position to a high angle crane shot of Michael Myers holding a knife, zooming out to see his parents looking down at him.

Sound

• The non-diegetic music used in the clip is high-pitched, repeating music loops and low pitched, loud noises.
• The non-diegetic sound includes children singing, dialogue, the sounds of a clock and an owl, and heavy breathing when Mike puts on his mask.
• The sound of children singing is synonymous with innocence, which, when combined with the fact that the audience is aware that it is a horror movie, makes it disturbing.