Genre Conventions of 'Halloween' Opening Scene

The introduction during the credits has a very sinister soundtrack.

There is non diegetic sound of young children’s voices singing halloween chants such as ‘broomsticks and ghosts’. This acts of iconography of the horror genre. The first scene is set on halloween night which reinforces the spooky element of the genre.

The opening shot of a house standing alone in the pitch black, with very little lighting in a key convention of the horror genre. This often indicates that help is sos far away.

The camera work seems hand held and shaky which can be common in the horror genre to either make the viewer seem on edge or to resemble a POV shot of a horror villain.

The dialogue of a girl saying her parents are out for the night set the alone narrative and this accompanied by a pumpkin uses iconography of the horror genre again.

The camera then uses a POV voyeuristic shot which connotes that someone is looking inside who shouldn’t be. The camera continues using the POV shot from what we deemed to be the villain. This is accompanied by piercing music almost like a scream, suddenly it seems that the POV shot is inside the house which adds to the tension. Again, the house uses very dark lighting which is again a convention of horror.

The camera then zooms in on the knife draw and a knife is taken out which again acts as iconography of horror. The colour red is used within the towel and biscuit tin which symbolises blood and could foreshadow the death to come.

The boyfriend leaves the house and leaves the girl home alone. The blonde female is the victim which is traditional convention of horror. The victim shouts out ‘Michael’ before getting killed which shows another convention of horror.