Halloween Opening Credits

When looking at different opening credits for different horror films, I found that they are all generally very simple revealing little about the film narrative itself. They seem to linger on so that the audience is forced to watch the just the text, keeping them in a lot of suspense for quite some time.

The Halloween (1978) opening credits are a good example of this as they show this technique of keeping the audience in suspense and in the unknown for a few minutes. However, the title itself acts as a genre signifier for the audience, as audiences would usually recognize the subject of Halloween as being that of horror with its connotations of ghosts and witches.

The first 5 seconds of the opening credits is just a black screen and the audience have no idea what to expect. The piano music along with the synthesized clicking sound however really builds up the tension as the titles start to come on screen. After ‘Moustapha Akkad presents…’ appears on the screen, the director does not immediately reveal the title, but an iconic image of a pumpkin/jack-o-lantern, which is contiguous to the idea of Halloween. This would be very effective in cinema, as the black screen would mean the audience is surrounded by the mysterious darkness with the only light coming from the lantern inside the pumpkin. It appears with a sudden volume increase in the piano, adding a new melody that makes you feel quite uneasy.

He then introduces the main actor, Donald Pleasence, who as part of the narrative image is identifiable to the audience therefore making them more and more anxious to see the movie. His name is emphasized by the largeness of the font, so that it immediately catches the audiences’ attention. The director’s name then appears in smaller font followed by the large title ‘Halloween’ at exactly 30 seconds. The director has therefore used the first 30 seconds of the opening titles to build up tension. However, by giving the audience information that they are most likely to have already known, the director is at the same time attracting and involving them as this familiarity brings the audience a form of pleasure and contentment.

After mentioning the producers, the director then goes back to introducing the actors but those, which are new or those with a less important part. He mentions both the actors name and their character name so that audiences and identify who’s who and familiarise themselves with them, hoping that they too gain more popularity from starring in this film.

The director then goes on to mention the other roles in the industry such as those involved in screenplay, photography, music etc. Interestingly, although there is no action involved the iconic pumpkin seems to be getting larger and larger. The effect of this on the audience would be quite threatening, as it feels as though you are moving closer and closer to it, as if being pulled in towards the screen. It also builds up audience apprehension as you see the transformation from a small Halloween pumpkin to something that looks rather monstrous and menacing. Although this clip does not show it, the pumpkin eventually splits into a skull, which may get the audience even more worried. Skeletons of course connote the idea of death and decay. The thought of there no longer being any flesh or eyeballs can be quite troubling.

As it gets bigger and bigger the music also changes at 53 seconds where the strings come in, slowly increasing in pitch as if leading up to something big. However, the strings fade away again as if to not give away too much, and the music returns to its original uneasy melody. The strings and piano return repeating the same three notes ending on a loud high-pitched sound. This effectively creates the right tense atmosphere for the viewer and gets them into the mood before the film starts. The strings also build up the excitement as audiences gain pleasure from being thrilled. The music used during the opening titles is repeated throughout the film every time the murderer appears on screen.

The slow fading on and off titles really keeps the audience waiting and anticipating what is going to happen, making them slightly edgy and nervous. The Pumpkin and lantern also matches the font colour that fades from red to orange to yellow, giving the film a sort of brand image under the colour black and orange. The colour red also connotes danger as well as blood therefore representing the gore of a horror film. Red orange and yellow are also colours of a flame and also connotes danger or signifies some sort of warning to the audience.

Roland Bathes Theory

Don’t Look Now (1973)

After watching a few horror films, it seems that there are two ways of creating an effective horror film, both of which a successful but in different ways. The first approach is by actually showing the physical violence and gore, or a film full of shocking effects and constant action for example Aliens. This can evoke emotional and visceral pleasures within the audience.

On the other hand, there are the horror films that use intellectual puzzles to create pleasure and therefore focus on the more mental elements of the story. Here, I found that Roland Bathes’s theory of the Enigma Code often applies to these types of horror films in which mysteries are set up to be developed and resolved. The Enigma Code usually raises many questions due to unexplained elements in the narrative, which are answered in the final revelation. However throughout the story, clues are offered to the reader in terms of ‘snares’ (evasions of the truth), as well as ‘equivocations’ (mixtures of truth and snare).

This theory is extremely evident in Don’t Look Now and I have picked a particular scene, which I think exists as enigma for the viewer for much of the movie. To summarise, it is the scene in which John Baxter leaves to return to his wife and son in London, however as he sets sail, he sees his wife with the two sisters Heather and Wendy dressed in black on a funeral boat in Venice. This is in fact and equivocation, as although this does happen, it is not happening at that particular time, and therefore it is a mixture of truth and snare. It is foreshadowing John Baxter’s death in the near future, however the audience is not aware of this due to the vagueness of the clue and therefore are left puzzled. The audience is left with questions like ‘Why is Laura in Venice?’, ‘Why hasn’t she told John?’, and ‘Who’s funeral is she attending?’

As Roland Bathes says ‘Partial answers’ are given along the way, for example shortly after John speaks to Laura on the phone, he finds that she is not in Venice but in London where she was meant to be and with their son. This goes on to raising more questions like ‘Was it all just part of John Baxter’s imagination?’ All these ‘loose ends’ and questions are answered in the final revelation where we come to see that John’s visions are premonitions of the future as he sees his own death and his daughter’s. We are also given clues about his death when the blind woman, Heather, warns Laura that her husband is in danger in Venice and that they should leave immediately.

Another example of the Enigma code in this film is the mysterious figure in the red coat that resembles Christine, the Baxters’s daughter. John sees many glimpses of this mystery figure although it keeps vanishing. We are however, given clues about its identity when for example the police lift a body out of the water. The figure seems to be the ghost of Christine, but as we see in the final revelation, it is in fact a serial killer.

Writing a Horror Film

From researching, I found that the four elements that are essential in any horror film are ‘isolation, desolation, lost cause and redemption’. I decided to look further into these four elements.

Isolation

The hero of your story should be separated mentally or physically from everyone else. Physically they may be living alone or have moved to somewhere remote and deserted. This means that they can get no outside help creating the perfect situation for horror. Examples of this can be seen in Psycho where the main character Marion Crane goes to stay at the isolated Bates motel where no other guests are present. Another example is Jim in 28 Days Later who wakes up from his coma in a deserted hospital to find London also completely deserted. It is usually a situation which they cannot escape for example the hotel in The Shinning.

Desolation

The hero must have a flaw. In desperation, they may run into a worse situation whilst trying to find a safer place. For example in Psycho, we see that stressed and fatigued from the heavy rain, Marion decides to take a break at the Motel, which is a bad decision to make.

Lost Cause

This is when the evil begins to become successful in attacking the victim, and is usually the point when people start dying in horror films. We can see this in A Nightmare on Elm Street where the ghost of a serial child murderer, Freddy Krueger, murders both characters Tina and Rod. The hero is usually reduced at this point in the story.

Redemption

This is when the hero is redeemed for their mistake and has to pay back. They may die at the end. We can see this in Don’t Look Now when even though John Baxter had been warned by the psychic woman that he was in danger and must leave Venice, he did not listen and this was his fatal flaw. In the end he gets murdered by the serial killer in Venice. This however is not necessary as we see in some cases, the hero may face his fear and overcome it after investigating the truth behind the horror.

Casting

Plot 6- Cinderella-The True Story

This story is the story of Cinderella but set in modern times. Instead of going to a ball however she attends Prince Charming’s 18th birthday party and as usual, the fairy godmother dresses her up beautifully on the condition that she returns by midnight. She spends the evening with the prince but when midnight strikes she remembers to run away, unfortunately leaving her shoe behind. This time however she goes back to collect it and it is too late. She starts to turn uglier and uglier by the second, and no one recognizes her. Everything goes wrong and she just wants it to end. BUT...the answer to her problems seems to be in front of her…

I decided to use Nicole Kidman as although she is a bit old for the part she has the elegance and attractiveness, which is perfect for the role of Cinderella. It is similar to her role in Moulin Rouge which is sort of a fairytale gone wrong. She also features in the fantasy romance Bewitched as well as the family fantasy The Golden Compass. Her looks as a whole, also fits the role of Cinderella because of her blonde/red curly hair and blue eyes.

I have decided to call it Cinderella-The True Story because unlike the original story, this one does not have a happy ending and seems more realistic as everything does not work out so perfectly.



Plot 3-

This film is about a young Pakistani man who owns a shop in Lahore and lives with his large family. The man is accused of being an Islamic extremist threatening the America and so he is taken away. His family are left to break down with no income. The film is about their life back at home, and the man’s horrific life in Guantanamo bay. He meets other prisoners there who have also been wrongly accused. This film gives us an insight to life in Guantanamo Bay and how badly the prisoners were treated there and how they get tortured.


I have decided to use Sendhil Amithab Ramamurthy (or Mohinder Suresh as known in Heroes), partly because there are not many Asian Characters in Hollywood, but also because the programme Heroes has made him very well known. Portraying race has always been an issue in the film industry and this is why this particular actor had been called to audition for "stereotypical brown skin" roles including convenience store employees and terrorists. Therefore, he is perfect for this particular role as the Islamic extremist.

From this casting activity, I learnt that directors face many issues when trying to find an appropriate star for their film. As we saw with Plot 6, age was an issue and in Plot 3, race became an issue. Therefore these factors must be considered by directors.

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

This was the first time I saw Psycho the Film and I very much enjoyed it as it successfully kept me in suspense through out the movie. I particularly enjoyed unravelling the mystery along with the other characters in the film and how little clues were constantly being revealed throughout the narrative. It made me feel very involved and engaged. I was also very shocked to discover the outcome of the Psycho and how his mother had been dead all along. The director, Alfred Hitchcock here effectively introduces a very clever twist in the story of Norman’s split personality which certainly took me by surprise.

I found that Psycho is a film that is not only appreciated by us today, but is well known for being one of the best horror films in the history of cinema, and has even been labelled the ‘mother of all modern horror suspense films’. It was the beginning of a completely new era of bloody and terrifying films such as Homicidal (1961), Halloween (1978) and Motel Hell (1980). The famous shower scene (made up of around 90 shots) became iconic and has become widely recognisable by audiences since. A similar scene was used in Dressed to Kill (1980). This is a perfect example how, in Genre, directors and producers re-use some ideas that have been popular and are familiar with audiences, in order to help target a particular audience and to reduce the risk factor (repetition and difference). This film was such a success that a Psycho II (1983) by Richard Franklin and a Psycho III (1986) by Anthony Perkins was also released.

Psycho-

Psycho consists of a repertoire of elements which conform to the conventions of the Genre of Horror Films. Here are some examples from the film:

Style:
- Low Key lighting is often used creating a dark and shadowy effect especially at the motel.
- The film is in black and white, originally to keep the budget low but which also adds to the mystery and suspense.
- A lot of the film is shot at night time as horror films are often set during the night.
- The director has also used dark slow movements if the camera followed by fast cuts- an example of this can be seen in the ‘shower scene’ (at 0.28secs) where the camera is still at first for a few seconds so the audience focus on Marion showering. It slowly zooms in for 9 seconds past Marion, as we see the silhouette of the killer appear. This is effectively followed by 3 fast cuts, an MCU to a CU to an ECU. The director has used this particular shot order so that although it makes the audience jump, it does not lose its continuity.
- Creepy music/sounds- harsh strings, high pitched, screams, the mother’s bitter voice ‘she wouldn’t even hurt a fly’

Setting:
- Much of it is set in the Bates Motel which seems to be deserted and isolated.
- The House on the Hill where Norman Bates lives apparently with his mother- looks like a haunted house and the fact that its is much higher and bigger than the small motel makes it seem overpowering and even more creepy.
- Norman’s backroom- full of stuffed birds which is very disturbing

Props
- Killer’s Knife - Blood - Stuffed birds

Conventional Characters
- Janet Leigh as Marion Crane - woman victim
- John Gavin as Sam Loomis – Boyfriend
- Vera Miles as Lila Crane- Sister - Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates - Killer/psycho - Martin Balsam as Milton Arbogast – Detective

Horror Themes

- Death /Murder of two main characters (Marion Crane and Milton Arbogast)
- Fear
- Psycho Behaviour- from Norman Bates who puts on the voice of his mother and pretends to be her.
- Gore- the shower scene

The Sixth Sense: closet ghost scene

In this scene, I found that although the Director has used a range of shots and angles, they have been seamlessly edited together so that the audience are not aware of the movement and angle of the camera as the main character moves about the set.

The first shot in the sequence is a high angle shot of a balloon floating up, and then immediately cutting to a MCU of Cole looking up. Here the cross cut represents how the two things are happening simultaneously so Cole is in fact looking up at the balloon. It is made even clearer by the way the director has matched the actor’s eyeline with the high angle of the camera in the previous shot showing exactly where Cole is looking. Cole then gets up followed by a Match on Action where we see the moving subject walking into the space which naturally follows his previous action of getting up and the audience are able to see him walking off screen. The Match on Action also helps the audience identify that the shadow belongs to the little boy in the previous shot and no one else.

This is followed by some complex camera movement where the camera pans in one direction and then in the opposite direction, followed by smooth a tilt up. This is made to seem continuous as the director, although panning the camera both right and left has followed the 180° rule. This means that the audience are able to follow the actor’s movement up the stairs, rather than placing the audience at different angles, which would make the editing more noticeable and the shot would lose its mysterious effect as a whole. Rather than using choppy cuts here, the panning movement also slows the pace of the scene down so that audience suspense and tension can gradually be built up.

As the boy slows down we are again able to see the string of the balloon shown at the beginning of the shot sequence. This shows how the first cross cut between the balloon and Cole’s matching eyeline towards it, have finally been brought together. Directors always use this technique of two things happening simultaneously in two different shots and then eventually being brought together so that both can be seen in one frame. The Director lingers on this shot for a while, zooming slightly in. Here it is obvious that the boy is no longer looking up at his balloon, but somewhere ahead of him. This is followed by a motivated cut to the shot of the door which shows what he is now looking at. The handheld low angle camera effect emphasises that we are looking at it from his point of view as it matches Cole’s eyeline from the previous shot. It places us on his side therefore creating empathy within us.

The shot of the door is then followed by a reverse shot of Cole, where his eyeline is looking directly in between the door frame and open door. Here the director places the audience where the voice is coming from, which can also be seen as a reaction shot as we can see Cole’s frightened expression. The director then cross-cuts to a high angle shot of two boys talking at the bottom of the stairs. This shows how their conversation is taking place simultaneously with the previous shot. As the boy looks up, he motivates the next cut to the low angle shot of Cole again. Here the director is using a repeat of a previous shot showing the audience that although everything around him is still going on, Cole is still stood stunned in exactly the same position.

Shot-reverse-Shot is then used from the boys to Cole and back to the boys. Here the director has used shot order, from high angle LS to high angle VLS. These have been edited together so that the audience are smoothly taken through the physical space up the spiral staircase. Again, the previous cross cutting between the Cole and boys have now been brought together in this VLS as we see both boys and Cole’s hand as well as the balloon string.

Here we are placed in Long range from the two boys, distancing the audience from them, but closer to Cole’s hand. This means that the next cut to the MCU of Cole follows on more smoothly. The director also uses cuts to reduce wasting time showing the whole climb up the stairs, as the audience can work this out for themselves when they see the boys approach Cole from the back. This therefore saves time so that more important information can be shown during the length of the production.

Cole then turns around and we then see the standard technique of Shot-reverse-shot used in many conversation scenes which actually places the audience in action. This is then followed by the specific shot order of MCU to MLS, where we first see the boys and then where they plan to take Cole. They then move towards the camera. Here the camera moves from in front of them to behind them and then back, however the audience is not aware of this due to the Match on action. The director then uses the black-out transition placing the audience in the darkness behind the door but then cuts to the other side of the door. Here the choppy cuts increase the pace of the action.

The director then cross-cuts to a low angle shot of the balloon again as it pops and we hear a screaming sound. I have noticed that it is essential to refer back to the different themes (the balloon/ party downstairs) that have been going on in a shot sequence to make it seem more continuous and realistic, because these things are still happening so they cannot be forgotten, especially by the audience.

Here we see a clear Reaction shot which shows that parallel to the popping of the balloon and screaming, downstairs a woman looks up but then carries on her conversation. However, we then see Cole’s mum’s reaction as the camera tilts up. Here her eyes motivate her next action and so the camera cuts to her going up the stairs. As done previously with Cole, the camera pans around as she goes up the stairs and then quickly cuts to an LS from the other side, and again to a low angle shot of her as she reaches the door. Here the two quick cuts represent how the pace of the scene and action is increasing as the tension increases.

It then match cuts to a high angle shot where the mother’s eyeline in the previous shots matches the other characters to whom she was looking at. Another cut to a high angle shot of the actors on the stairway follows, however the director seems to have used the 30° rule, so that although the camera has moved between set-ups, it has avoided jumps. The scene finally ends with two straight cuts.

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Aarti! Where is that link?? Please add it now!