'Halloween'

I thought it would be a good idea to post up some notes on other film openings - like John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), the opening of which is all shot as subjective POV shots.

Soundtrack
-ticking background
-high pitched piano
-starts with creepy children chanting Halloween rhyme
-has high pitched, sustained, clashing/dissonant notes; also quite childish
-diegetic sound; crickets, owls etc., clock striking 12?
-sudden noises when something changes e.g. seeing his sister, stabbing her...

Credits/Text
-orange, capital letters for names of actors etc. on black - turn red before fading away; connotations with blood, violence, danger, passion...
-sans serif, bold
-white text for setting
-black background
-glowing pumpkin on the left getting closer and closer; orange links to Halloween & pumpkin
-text to set up location & setting (time)

Transitions/Filters
-fades
-cuts
-slow-paced; builds suspense that way
-not many as it's subjective

Camera Work (position, perspective, framing, composition)
-subjective POV shots: when he puts on the mask we see through the eyeholes (changes the frame)
-handheld camera, looking through windows etc.
-end of opening switches to objective shot
-shot of house at start is slightly Dutch angled
-low-key lighting
-long takes (because it's subjective)

Character(s)
Position/Dress/Gesture/Representation
-child (Michael Myers) dressed up as a clown for Halloween
-boy & girl in normal teenage clothing of '60s

Action/Enigma Codes
-Michael picks up knife, there's scary music, it's dark, he goes upstairs - action code; we know he is going to stab his sister (except we don't know it's Michael yet)
-enigma code: we don't know it's Michael until the end of the opening
-sister says "Michael's around someplace" - who is Michael and where is he? (enigma code)

Dialogue/Narration
-boy and girl; couple, go upstairs together; there's no one else in the house so when he leaves she will be alone
-"Michael's around someplace"

Location
-big house
-Halloween
-dark
-empty after boyfriend leaves
-nice neighbourhood

Iconography
-pumpkin
-rocking chair in house
-low-key lighting

Subversion of Convention
-the killer is a young child

Juxtaposition
-little boy dressed up in a clown costume on Halloween holding a knife & killing his sister