How does the opening sequence of 'Halloween' inform the audience of the conventions of a thriller film? - Miss Georgiou

The opening sequence of a film is the first part of the film that any viewer would see, this means that it should have to interest the viewer to watch the rest of the film, set the scene and to give an idea of a narrative, these are the whole purposes of an opening sequence. In the 'Halloween' opening sequence it shows a teenage girl and boy, going up to her bedroom, the male then leaving, and then someone goes into her room and stabs her, it is then made apparent that her younger brother had committed the murder. During this, it begins to inform the viewers of the conventions of a thriller film.

One way in which the film shows the conventions of a thriller film is through the use of cinematography, they use a variety of camera angles to show different effects. One camera angle used is POV, this is used when the killer is approaching the victim, the teenage girl, this lets the viewer see the sequence from his perspective. As he lurks around the house looking inside the windows, picking up the knife from the kitchen and then slowly approaches the bedroom, this implies to the audience that something bad is going to happen because it is building up the suspense in the scene, a key element in the thriller genre as well as a key convention in a thriller genre. Another camera angle used is the zooming out at the end of the scene, revealing that the boy is the killer and also revealing the whole of the setting, this can also represent that something bad has happened inside the house. This could also imply that something had taken control of the boy, this can be inferred from the fact that the POV angle was filmed from the perspective that it was an adult, the long shot then goes onto reveal that the young boy had committed the murder, shocking the audience at how someone so young could so something like that, shock being a key convention in a thriller, and then creating the enigma of why he would do such a thing, making them want to watch on to find out why, another convention of a thriller.

The sequence also displays conventions of the thriller genre through the use of editing, one way in which they do this is by changing the timing of the shot, this is used when the killer makes his way up the stairs, by making the scene slower this builds up the element of suspense, a convention of a thriller genre. This is because the viewers can sense that something bad is going to happen from the previous events, but as the timing of the scene is used as he goes up the stairs it begins to build up to the murder as there is now nothing from stopping him from murdering the teenage girl, really building up the suspense within the viewer.

The sound in the sequence also helps inform the audience of the conventions of a thriller film, one way in which it informs is by the use of parallel sound. The teenage girls scream being emphasised as she is stabbed, this shows the pain that she is feeling and shows the viewer the brutality of the killer, creating the enigma to think who could do such a horrible thing, shocking the viewers, a convention of the thriller genre. Another use of sound is contradiction sound, this is used when the killer is finally approaching the bedroom and the teenage girl can be heard humming a happy tune, showing that she is in a good mood, contradicting the whole sequence as the viewers can tell that she is about to be killed. From this we can infer that she is clueless to what is going to happen, showing that she is innocent, this portrays the victim convention of the thriller genre.

The sequence is build up upon the narrative, creating an enigma from the very beginning of the scene, caused by the fact that we don't know who the killer is because of the POV camera angle, this entices the viewer to watch on to see who it is and what they are going to do. There is also the factor that it seems the mask takes over the killer, once the teenage male has seemingly mocked the mask the killer then goes onto kill the teenage girl once he has put the mask on, which could show that he has been taken over by the mask, this also begins to show that the mask has some resemblance in the film and could come into light later on in the film, showing another convention of the thriller genre, iconography. The audience can begin to build up a fear for when the killer has the mask on, knowing that whenever he has the mask on that he is going to do something bad.

Another way in which the sequence informs the audience of a thriller film are through the representation of the characters. Showing the parents as confused at the end of the sequence to why, what seems like there son, has a knife covered in blood in his hand. It also displays a stereotypical young teenage couple, oblivious to the killer and what is around them, and a child as the killer, showing that even though he looks small and innocent he has a dark side shown by the murder he committed. Another representation used of the killer is the fact that he is wearing a clown outfit, this is used because clowns are a common fear of people, this is used to involve the audience and build up a fear by using something that they are already scared of

Overall there are many conventions used in the clip for example a young, blonde, innocent and attractive victim, a child (the killer), a dark isolated setting, you can see there are no houses beside it at the end as the long shot reveals the scene in an American suburb, which gives the viewer a false sense of security. More conventions used are an enigma, the use of suspense, shock, blood and violence. With each of the conventions use having an effect on the audience.

From this, I can conclude that the conventions used in the sequence all have there own effect on the viewer and do this effect well, clearly informing the audience of the conventions of a thriller film from the very beginning.