Pre Title Sequence
The first thing that is shown in the title sequence are the names of the actors who play the main characters in the film. All of the titles fade in which gives the title sequence a spooky, eerie effect. The actors names are presented in a bold, chunky font and are red and white. The red and white font colours represent the contrast between good and evil, white representing good, innocence and purity and red representing evil, blood and danger. The background of the title sequence is black, which represents darkness and sets a spooky scene and the titles are presented slowly which adds to the eeriness of the film. The music that is being played is the diegetic sound of the orchestra. Older people and rich people tend to listen to orchestral music, which shows that the film is set for an older audience.
The first scene is set by the use of an establishing/master shot- high angle- which shows the theatre, the orchestra and the audience watching the orchestra. A low angle shot is then used to show the conductor. This low angle shot shows that he is superior over the orchestra as he is leading them.
A crane shot is then used. It swoops over the conductor to a man (Hannibal) sitting in the audience. The man is the protagonist and he is in juxtaposition which shows he is an important character in the film. From this crane shot you can see that he is near the front of the theatre, meaning he is wealthy enough to buy the more expensive tickets for the show. A close up shot of Hannibal is then used to show the reaction to someone playing a wrong note in the orchestra. He winces at a wrong note being played and he tilts his head like a predator would look at its prey. At this point he isn't listening to the music being played, all of his concentration is on the man who played the wrong note. Throughout this scene, diegetic music from the orchestra is played.
Hannibal in juxtaposition - most important character
A long shot is then used to show the interior of the house and many characters sitting around a banquet. The wealth of the character is shown by the interior of the house - elaborate decorations, they are drinking champagne and they are all dressed in formal clothes- suits with ties.
A low angle panning shot then shows Hannibal circling the table which the other characters are sitting around. This shows his superiority over the others and the way he is circling them relates to the predator/prey relationship. Another thing which relates to the predator/prey theme is that one of the characters says 'herd' in his conversation. Hannibal relates to a predator and the other characters are his prey. Slow, tempo incidental music is played throughout which sets a calm, relaxed atmosphere in the scene.
In the next scene an FBI agent speaks to Hannibal. A shot reverse shot and over the shoulder shots are used to show the conversation between the FBI agent and Hannibal. An eye line match is also used whilst they are having a conversation. During this conversation, Hannibal says something to the agent that he doesn't understand and his confusion is shown through a close up of his face. A close up is also used to show Agent Graham's face when he realises that it could be Hannibal eating the humans. His face is full of confusion and thought.
When Agent Graham is looking through Hannibal's book, a zoom in is used to show the page and the music picks up in tempo and there is a crescendo when Agent Graham gets stabbed by Hannibal.
Title Sequence
The title sequence starts with a close up shot of a scrapbook. The scene is dark and eerie which shows that the scrapbook could be in a basement.
Again, the title sequence includes the names of the actors which are presented in red and white font. This is to show the contrast between good and evil and it keeps to the theme from the pre-title sequence. The main actors names show up first on the title sequence to show their importance.
Various shots are used to show the different images and newspaper titles in the scrapbook. These shots are close ups, zooms, pans and tilts. The images and the music are syncronised so when the different scrapbook images are changed, the music changes slightly too.
Analysis of Halloween (1978)
The film begins with a flickering pumpkin surrounded by a plain, black background. Having a plain background puts the audiences focus onto the flickering pumpkin because they have nothing else to look at which creates a spooky start to the film. The incidental music playing is a high pitched piano which emphasises the spooky feel the pumpkin gives off.
The camera then starts to zoom into the pumpkin and as this happens the incidental music picks up tempo to correspond with the zoom. This creates tension for the audience.
The music slowly fades out then and titles appear on the screen. The background continues to be plain and black but the titles are written in white. The contrast shown between the black background and the white font could show the contrast between good and evil. The titles say 'Haddonfield, Illinois' and 'Halloween night 1963' which tells the audience where the film is set and on what day.
Non diegetic sound of children singing then starts to play and because the audience cannot see anyone, the music automatically creates an eery atmosphere.
A hand held establishing shot is then used to set the scene of a creepy looking house surrounded by trees, shadows and darkness. This relates to a haunted house which is normally present in a horror film. The establishing shot rapidly changes into a hand held zoom which is also a subjective point of view shot. This shows someone is approaching the house which creates tension for the audience. The zoom continues until it reaches the front door of the house, where a couple can be seen through the glass. Couples are usually the main targets/victims for a horror film so this creates more tension for the audience because they suspect that something is going to happen to the couple. The couple then move out of sight into another room in the house.
A hand held pan is used to show the character moving around the side of the house. (The pan is continuous throughout this part of the opening. No cuts or edits are used which gives the opening a sense of realism). Again, the couple are shown through a side window which ensures the audience that they will probably be the victims in the film.
The hand held panning shot then reverses and goes back to the front of the house where the scene first started. An upwards tilt is used after to show a bedroom light going off. As the light get turns off, a high pitched, eerie screeching sound is played which creates tension and suspense for the audience.
The hand held pan used throughout is someones subjective point of view. The audience do not know who the character is at the beginning of the film which will create the sense of mystery and make the audience want to know who the creepy character is.
The pan/SUB POV continues around the house and enters into a room that looks like a kitchen or utility. This shot shows the unknown character opening a draw and picking out a knife. The knife is clearly positioned in the side of this shot so the audience are aware of the weapon which will build up even more suspense for them knowing that a weapon is involved. The SUB POV then carries on around the house and up the stairs. Whilst this shot is happening, a loud, screeching incidental sound is being played and as the character is nearing the top of the stairs, an ambient sound of a bell chime is played. This could suggest that person who is upstairs has limited time left to live and the bell chime is signifying that. 
No comments:
Post a Comment