Halloween (1978) textual analysis - Peter Maddison

Halloween (1978) textual analysis - Peter Maddison

• 2.
  Camera Also looking atcamera we see a POV shot at this point which signifies somebody is approaching the house which increases tension and danger also linking in with sound , we hear an electric like sound which sounds mysterious and increases tension and it connotes that somebody dangerous is approaching which builds suspense. Next looking at camera the shot used is a close up as we can just see the head and a part of the body of the character , in the close up we see a policeman's badge which connotes to an audience the severity of something in the film and adds an element of mystery , therefore attracting an audience who enjoy mystery. Thirdly there is a tracking shot to show the movement of the characters to represent continuity and at this point using Todorov's theory we are at the second stage as we see the disruption stage as the character becomes anxious about somebody following her so to an audience seeing this makes you realize that this is the point were the plot changes for the worst. Camera shots used include a low angle shot showing the antagonist walking down the stairs which is used to signify what is happening and we get to slightly see the antagonist character but with the low key lighting his shadow which is usual as in a trailer they wont give away too much of the antagonist character as it is something for the full product, also the antagonist looks like he is standing over the female character which signifies his authority and dominance over her.
• 3.
  Mise-en-scene Setting: We firstlysee a white colored house which doesn’t represent much danger, but the color brings the house more attention and it is center frame so it is clearly a point of interest. The next setting used shows a whole neighborhood rather than just one house, to give the audience an idea on the setting like how wealthy the area is, it is an average neighborhood with normal sized houses, it doesn’t look like the typical horror setting at this point as a conventional setting is somewhere isolated and away from external factors such as neighbors. Costume: The first character who is seen as a point of interest is a child wearing a clown costume and linking in with the film title Halloween, goes with the typical convention of young children dressing up on Halloween, the bright colors of blue, red and yellow connote different things as red can be seen as blood and danger whereas blue is a calming color also at this point the audience is unaware as clowns can be represented as bad or good. A police badge is also shown on the shoulder of a character connoting police involvement of some sort maybe linking in with the main plot that the audience aren’t aware of just yet. Props: Knife held by the child dressed as a clown which an audience would assume is a plastic knife as it is strange for someone that age to be handling real knives but again the audience are just guessing at this point which adds to the mystery and makes an audience curious to watch it. School bags and books held by the young female characters connote them being at school or college which gives the audience an idea of their age. Lighting: The lighting begins as low key with emphasis on the white house center frame which looks like it is glowing, the lighting connotes it being night time at this point. There then is a period of high key lighting as some characters are introduced and the setting is shown, also linking in with Todorov’s equilibrium stage. It lastly goes to low key as the setting is inside a house and there is no artificial light, this is used to create an effect as there is action between the antagonist and what looks like the protagonist.
• 4.
  Editing For editing atthe beginning we have a zoom which is used to get closer to the house to again signify a person getting closer to the house which shows an audience that something might happen , this attracts to the target audience that likes the building of suspense , so typical horror and thriller lovers usually at the age of 15-24 , also the narrative structure used is a linear structure as the trailer shows the story unfold in chronological order so beginning to end. For editing we also see cause and effect as the antagonist pushes the character at the top of the stairs and the next shot shows the other character down the stairs , this is used for better continuity as these sharp cuts along with the fast pace music help build suspense and are especially used in trailers as they don’t want to give too much away.
• 5.
  Sound Firstly dialogue isused when the character says "what's living behind that boys eyes is purely and simply evil" which relates to a previous shot of a young boy holding a knife , the typical convention of a knife is used as it is a notorious weapon in horror movies as it connotes blood and gore. For sound in this sequence it begins as the character looks in the distance , the same electronic sound comes on to build tension and suspense , and from watching the trailer we can see that this noise is common for building tension as we also see the character look anxious as if she had seen a ghost. The sound again uses the high pitched electronic noise, the non-diegetic sound to connote the antagonist character being around and we hear screams from the female character to show her distress to create a hostile atmosphere. Linking back to Todorov's theory we again see a stage which is the recognition of disruption as we can clearly see an attempt for the villain to murder the female character.
• 6.
  Conventions A convention inthis film that goes against the typical norm as the female character isn’t portrayed as being extremely attractive but as a female who shows masculine characteristics as she is wearing trousers and not a typical tight dress and also she defends herself well against the villain which is rare as they are usually portrayed as weak and incapable. Binary opposition: Another narrative convention is binary opposition as we see the main antagonist character who is wearing a mask which usually connotes evil and a serial killer and his eerie presence shows him as being unemotional and dark inside whereas the other female character is extremely frightened with screaming and running away from the character. typical character types: We see the villain which is clearly connoted as he is wearing a boiler suit and a mask and is attempting to kill somebody and then we see the hero character despite not being as clear as she isn’t wearing a spandex suit but we can clearly see her being the hero as she is defending herself against the killer. Todorov’s theory: We see the first three stages in his five-stage theory , we see the equilibrium stage as we see the characters going too school and continuing with their normal life but we then see the disruption stage as the character is confronted by the murderer and we then see the killers intent to kill the female character , we don’t see the next two stages which is attempt to repair and return to equilibrium as it ruins the film and the trailer is used to promote the film and sell it to an audience so these stages will rarely ever be used in a film trailer. Propp’s theory: This theory isn’t portrayed fully In the trailer as we only see a villain character which is typical In horror movies, and a princess character who could also be a hero character but she doesn’t necessarily save anybody, the other 5 character types aren’t shown but maybe due to it being a trailer, we aren’t shown all the character types.
• 7.
  This is theestablishing shot of the film trailer , maybe even in the film , relating to editing we see a zoom at this point get closer to the house but also because it is a POV shot. In the shot we see a white colored house with the lights on inside the house which suggests the house is occupied and someone confronting the house could connote danger as they could be disrupting the equilibrium , also the low key lighting uses around the house makes it even more clear that it is everybody’s main focus and the fact that it is center frame but also the character whose view it is , almost as if nothing else is important at this point but this house connoting its significance. In this still we see a low angle shot of the antagonist who is at the top of the stairs which could connote his higher authority at this point as he is getting the better of the female character as he pushed her down the stairs , also the predominant low key lighting again used as it is extremely popular in horror movies as it means the audience cant see fully what is happening and they are just as unaware as the characters , we just see the outline of the antagonist which shows his stance as looking confident and as if he is stamping his authority as his legs are spread apart.
• 8.
  In the leftpicture we see the three school girls walking to or from school , their clothing suggests three normal girls as it is typical in this period of 1970 for this type of dress code with pretty dull colors and not much or any body shown especially as it is their dress code for school so it is formal. In the next shot we see one female character by herself center frame and we see her facial expression which is worried and anxious which could be the disruption stage using Todorov's theory as this stage is when the audience is aware something has disrupted the equilibrium with the main characters, as the previous shot shows the equilibrium stage as the characters look happy and are having a normal day. In this shot we see the predominant female character left of the shot and you can just pick out the antagonist at the top right of the door entry , here we see two sides to the shot one side is slightly lighter as the side with the antagonist is solely low key lighting to hide the character to build suspense and potentially create a jump scare. Also the fact that the male character has more of the shot could suggest his dominance which is clear at this point as the female is the one running away and is frightened. Lastly we see a slight beam of light which reflects onto the female character's face as the rest of the shot is mainly low key lighting but this light is used to show the anxiety expressed by the female character to connote the recognition of disruption stage using Todorov's theory as we can clearly see the attempt by the male to kill the female character.
• 9.
  Here we seethe cause and effect as we see in the left shot , the cause which is the masked character clearly portraying the antagonist attacking the protagonist from behind , in the next shot we see the female fall over the bannister as she is pushed , this ultimately gives the audience the masked characters intent to hurt this character maybe even kill so this again is a clear point in the recognition of disruption using the theory of Todorov as we see the clear intention for pain to be inflicted on the female character , but in a mysterious way as in the trailer we don’t yet see why he is doing this so the trailer doesn’t give too much away.