How does the opening sequence of Halloween, inform the audience of the codes and conventions of a thriller film - Miss Georgiou

The purpose of this opening scene is to inform the reader in a mysterious way to make the audience want to continue watching other interesting scenes to answer the questions the audience have. The opening scene of a  thriller film is very important as that will grab your attention to make you interested in watching the whole film.

EDITING
In the opening scene of 'Halloween' there is not much editing techniques used.

During the opening scene we the audience do not notice a lot of cuts due to continuity as it gives smooth editing, maintaining the whole narrative. In the opening scene there is timing of shots, timing of shots is simply the speed of the shots. The opening scene is smooth until it gets to the scene where Michael is stabbing his sister the timing of shots increases. This relates back to a typical thriller as during the murders, the pace always increases for extra emphasis. To increase excitement and suspense for the audience.

In the opening scene there is a jump cut, a jump cut is 'a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly this type of edit gives the effect of jumping forwards in time ' - Wikipedia. We see this when the boy comes out of the house to when his parents see him near the vehicle. This is used to quickly get to Michael. To quickly find out how the parents are going to react to him holding a knife dripping with blood, and to quickly find out who the mysterious murderer is, as he has a mask on, his identity is hidden (Hiding his identity creates enigma). This relates back to the thriller genre as jump cuts are used to 'abruptly communicate the passing of time' - Wikipedia, which this scene did. This is good for the audience as they don't have to wait for boring scenes, to see the surprising scenes.

CAMERA ANGLES
In the opening scene the camera zooms into the suburban house in a shaky, handheld camera motion. As the zooming in doesn't look as if the lens is focusing, you can tell its a person with a camera walking towards the house. This zooming in Informs the audience that someone is out there, walking towards the house. The zooming in also allows the audience to get a larger view of the house.

 As soon as the person/camera gets closer the camera stops, and watches into the house through the front door, showing that the mysterious character is watching the people in the house. This leave us wondering why the person is just looking and not approaching the door. 

Right after this the camera starts to pan around the house to get a better view of the characters in the house. The camera then pans left round the house, then jerks back to the right. This now has definitely informed the reader that someone is watching them as the camera changing direction showed a decision, which a person would make.

 The camera then goes back to the front of the house and is at a low angle looking up at the house. We see the lights turn off, so we start to realise that this character is creepy as the mysterious person is following and watching the people in the room, trying to figure out there location in the house.

 The camera also zooms in when the boy reaches for the knife in the draw and when he reaches for the mask, revealing to the audience that something dangerous is going to happen and these are objects that are going to be involved in the murder. When the murderer kills the victim the camera goes into a high angle making the victim seem vulnerable. Finally, towards the very end of the scene the camera zooms out into a high angle, showing that the scene is coming to an end.

SOUND
At the beginning of the scene when the credits are rolling we hear the sound of children talking in a chanting type of way. Which is non-diagetic, the sound of the children is played over a mysterious sound. But we realise the children are only trick or treating. However, I feel that this sound is trying to say some children are harmless on Halloween and are only dressing up and pretend to be evil characters. But then there's some that aren't doing it for fun, and are really evil characters. This sound relates the this whole scene. 

When the boy starts to get closer to his sister we start to hear her humming, this is a contradicting sound as humming indicates a sign of happiness. But, the boy is furious at something the audience don't have information about. This sound allows the audience to know how each character is feeling. Tension is also built up to the frames where she's humming, as there is a high pitched noise which has been playing since Michael was outside.This show's how he is feeling, angry.  When she's killed we the audience remember this joyful humming and start to somehow sympathise with her.

This relates back to a typical thriller as sound is sometimes juxtaposed to create contrasting effects of maybe different characters, different positions the characters are in or different emotions. Which allows the audience to maybe by sympathetic as well as terrified, as the scene is tense.

CONVENTIONS
In the opening scene when the boy is walking round the house/bushes to get to the window the setting is really dark, sometimes It would almost look pitch black. These scenes are very suspenseful as the audience don't know what Is going to happen in this darkness or who's out there as it's pitch black. When the villain finally makes an entrance into the house the lighting is still dark, there is low-key lighting. This low-key lighting 'tends to heighten the sense of alienation felt by the viewer' - wikipedia. 

There is also loud out of tune music which builds up suspense as I said in the sound section. The Iconography used in this scene is a knife, these are typical to see in a thriller as the audience know It's a dangerous item, and it's harder to watch someone die even though it's acting, with a knife; Has a lot of goriness.

Also there is a blonde young victim, this is typical to a thriller as they are used to show vulnerability so the audience can have a connection with the victim because they then feel sorry for them as there is nothing they could of done to avoided the situation. This type of character comes across as very innocent in films.

Lastly, every good thriller has to have the element of shock, suprise and suspense. When you suprise the audience It makes them seem secure. You also can add loud sound and a different noise the audience's ears aren't use to, to make them jump and shock them, keeping them on edge. Building up tension towards a climax. These three S's contribute to making a good thriller film.

NARRATIVE
In this opening scene the narrative creates enigma this is because a child is used, as we didn't expect it to be a child firstly as the eye level of the camera at some points seemed like a man. Also we didn't expect it to be the victims brother. In this opening scene the audience have a lot of questions that the scene hasn't asked. This keeps the audience wanting to see more than just an opening scene.

The narrative is also set on a stereotypical night 'Halloween' As we know what its associated with again it builds up a lot more of enigma. The setting of the narrative is in a suburban location making the audience feel more anxious, as the location seem's a bit scary, has a lot of trees and a bit secluded even though they have neighbours.

When his sister's boyfriend leaves the boy and guy look at each other and don't communicate which is quite odd.This can maybe mean that the guy doesn't really care about the boy.

At the end of the scene the parents arrive, looking very confused  whilst the boy is staring blankly ahead, standing there with the knife with blood on it. This makes us assume that this boy is quite scary. Also the couple in the beginning are very stereotypical teenagers, that couldn't find Michael but were oblivious to everything going on. 

The sequence of this film informs the audience of the conventions of a thriller by building up to a plot through tension. Starting off from a house to someone looking into the house at the other characters. To the killer getting into the house to the victim, killing them, then coming out. The sequence is very simple but very suspenseful. 

This analysis will assist me with planning my own thriller by the way the areas of different topics involved in a thriller film are broken down into paragraphs. So It will be clear for me to include some of these points in my own thriller clip. Also in this analysis there are a lot of points that are conventional to thrillers and a lot of points that show what the audience like and why the like it. These are the things that will help me plan my own thriller. 

By Blessing Dada