HALLOWEEN 1978 Trailer

Music is a big key in the trailer of Halloween. Non-diegetic sound is immediately heard as the first image we see is of a house in what is seen as a safe and recognisable neighbourhood. We are now taken into a home where a scream is heard and the camera is wearing a mask, holding a knife. This is an awkward position for the audience as the point of view shot makes the audience seems guilty for the crime that has just been committed. Non-diegetic sound is heard through the loudness of the piano and diegetic sound is heard through the screaming. When we are taken outside the house, a hand held camera is used and played as a character. This leaves the audience confused as they later find out the killer was a little boy. The confusion on the boy’s face is the same confusion the audience are feeling and enigma codes are raised to how could a little boy who seems so innocent can committed such a tremendous crime.

The caption then appears with the word “Halloween” with a voice over reading it as it comes on the screen. This is to reinforce the title of the film and that the film is based on the day of Halloween. An older man is then seen giving out a dialogue to the audience, implying a sense of narrative that the boy is not of a normal nature. The dialogue of the older man who seems to be the benefactor in this slasher film warns the audience of the danger in this boy who has now become a man and has escapes. The next scene is of three friends walking in a suburban area coming from school as one of them hold they’re books, and they stop to look behind, suggesting someone was following them or something had just happened out of their knowledge.

Non-diegetic sound is well played in this trailer as the actions of the characters speeds up, the orchestra also speeds up creating dramatic tension. Diegetic sound is heard through dialogue of the benefactor explaining the mad man on the loose. And also the voice over portrays a sense of horror through his deep voice as he narrates the trailer. Moreover the screaming of the victim is a woman, who happened to get away from the monsters attack. Her strength is fighting him off shows she has a better chance of surviving then the other characters seen in the trailer. She is not feminine and does not resemble the male gaze theory of women being portrayed vulnerable and weak in media through their physical representation but rather she is masculine and tough, making it easier for the male audience can identify with her.

There is also a sense of binary opposite through the surviving girl and the monster. Claude Levi-stauss introduces the theory of binary opposite when he looked at narrative structure and set of opposite values. An example would be good and bad, and in this case the monster seems to be the villain in this film and the surviving girl (Lorrie) is the good person. The monster is typically a man as men are seen strong and powerful bringing a sense of hierachy, and the victim is a woman who is seen as weak and vulnerable by society but Lorrie proves other-wise and manages to escape him.

A close up camera shot of the benefactor is emphasized as he speaks suggesting he is of importance to the film which helps to build tension and suspension creating enigma code of what importance he might have to the film or if he will be one of the heroes. The shots of the woman in the car being attacked, most likely by the little murderous boy who later grew up and escaped his mental institution, as the dialogue and shots reflects to this scene, he is seen as capable of harming anything without mercy. The murderous ma’s face is not shown, raising enigma to who this man really is? And why his face is kept in the dark. However by doing so, this allows the audience’s imagination to run as wild as they would like in image for themselves the kind of vicious person he might be? From that shot to having girls walk with her friends through a suburban streets and one the girls head turning back as if she heard something suggests to the reader that this monster is out to get her and her friend and that she is not safe.

The shock that the killer disguise himself into wearing a white sheet pretending to be the sexual active girl’s boyfriend is very sneaky. As the sexual active girl does not seem scared but rather comfortable, dramatic irony is raised for the audience know the man behind the sheet is not her boyfriend but rather the man that is about to take her life. At this point the audience may feel hopeless as they are incapable of warning her.

Although there is not so much editing such as flash, or quick pace in changing scenes, the non-diegetic sound, and the steady pace enables the audience to catch he narrative and the plot of the story without giving out more than it should about the movie itself.