Halloween - Textual Analysis

Mise-en-scene

The whole trailer for Halloween is set in the dark this indicates that film will be a horror. It shows a woman crying in the begin and then a body being carried out on a stretcher, a little boy is in the back of the police car suspected for the murder; this implies that the little boy is physcotic. The production company’s logos come up. (Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Dimension Films) After the little boy is seen sitting with a Paper Mache mask on with a picture in front of him; which has his baby sister and himself on it. It then changes to the older Michael Myers who still has the mask on. There is a short scene of Michael who is shackled by the hands and ankles, which directs that he is in a psychiatric hospital, the scene then goes to an edit and the back on to him, this is repetitive and has it escalates on him he is scene attacking two officers. Next we see a scene of Michael who appears to be a dominant figure standing over 6’5”, he is dragging one of the bodies along a hall and leaves a huge trail a blood and we also see a gun in the shot which displays how powerful he is. Then there is Michael who is pulling up things from the floorboards, cuts to a girl on a front porch with her parents, which leads the audience into thinking that it is his baby sister Angel who is now called Laurie Strode, then back to Michael who stabs a butcher knife in his old mask, then quickly goes back to Laurie and finally on Michael again so we see him holding the new rubber mask and then be wearing it. It goes into a scene with a little boy asking Laurie a question sitting at a table, then to Michael attacking a trick or treater Michael is seen walking in front of a house, then is seen walking behind two teenagers who are having sex and are oblivious that he is there, he attacks and kills the boy and then later attacks the girl. A short scene shows Michael standing on top of a balcony probably watching over his victims, the next scene shows a man who is arrogant and cocky, threatening Michael however he ends up getting attacked in a toilet stall. We then see Michael chasing Laurie who doesn’t know who he is or understands what he wants; these scenes are very quick paced. Cuts to a black screen which has a date on it. Then it continues on with Laurie who is screaming and crying running away from Michael. There are two short clips that show flashbacks of the older sister he killed. Then the film continues with Michael still chasing Laurie and knocking on the ceiling with a blank of wood; which Laurie then falls out of. The next scene shows a stand-off between the two with Laurie pointing a gun at Michael this has a lot of flashes with Dr Loomis who monitored Michael when he was a young child. It goes to black screen then shows Michael carrying an unconscious Laurie down a road, which then fades and goes into the title of the film then into the credits and finally into release dates.

Camera Angles and Movement

A Medium shot of the mother crying and being held back by officers, there is a newspaper article in shot which reads “A Family Massacre”. It goes back to a medium shot of the mother who is still crying. Then a long shot onto a body covered up on stretcher, again another close up a newspaper article reading “Three Violent Deaths”. There is a pan into the crime scene, then another pan onto a police car which shows a 10 year-old Michael Myers; he turns towards the camera, to look towards what has happened. Close up shot of 10 year old Michael which leads into a close up shot of the older Myers. A close up of his feet chained together, a close up of his hand chained clenching into a fist, the camera is then at medium view down low giving the feeling of power towards Michael and shows he is being escorted by two officers. Close up of Michael getting angry then a close up of Michael attacking an officer, medium shot of an officer firing a gun at Michael then into a hand held shot when Michael is fighting with the officer. Long shot when Michael is dragging the body through the corridor, it is also an establishing shot because we see that Michael is a tall controlling character and it also shows he is in a psychiatric hospital. Close up of Michael digging through the floor boards of a house, long shot to show his baby sister on a front porch with her new family, close up of Michael stabbing the mask with his knife and then back to a long shot of Laurie and her parents. Medium shot of Michael lifting up the actual mask and then a close up of him wearing it. Close up of a boy with his face painted like a Skelton which indicates it is Halloween. Medium shot of Laurie sitting with the bot at a table carving pumpkins. Handheld medium shot of Michael attacking someone. Close up of Michael lifting up the butcher knife quickly changes to a long shot of Michael standing in front of a house, medium shot of two teenagers having sex when Michael is walking in the background. Extreme close up of Michael’s eyes then a lot of close up shots when he is attacking the teenage boy and girl. A low medium shot of Michael when he is standing on the balcony watching over people making him seem more powerful. Close up of the man who threatens Michael, low medium shot when Michael attacks and kills the man. Low close up of Michael walking around. Close up of Laurie who is crying switch to a long shot of Michael chasing her, another medium shot of Laurie who is screaming and crying. Medium shot pan to Laurie who is hiding, crying and covering her mouth. Close up of Michael punching through a door. Medium shot of a past victim (Michaels’ older sister). Close up of her face, long shot of Michael chasing his older sister. Medium shots of Michael causing havoc through an old abandoned house. Close up of Michael who walks towards Laurie, medium shot of Laurie holding a gun. Long low shot of Michael and Laurie falling out of the house. Long shot of Michael carrying Laurie on a dirt road.

Edits

From the mother screaming and crying fades out to the newspaper article being displayed; goes back to scenes from the film, then the newspaper articles flash up again, the articles go transparent so we can see what is still happening in the scene. When it is young Michael in the police car there is a flash of an older Michael

wearing the mask. Cuts to MGM Production Company then to dimension films Production Company. Change to young Michael sitting down crossfade to when he is older. Many black screens come up with writing on to break up scenes. When Michael picks up the mask it flashes over to Michael wearing the mask. After a close up of Michael it is a white flash into the next scene. When Michael attacks a man there is quick constant black flashes. There is more black screen with text to break up the scenes and show release dates. When Laurie is screaming and crying there again is constant black flashes. When it shows Michael killing his older sister; the brightness goes lighter. When Michael is walking through the corridor there is constant white flashes. When Michael runs towards Laurie it shows Dr Loomis and flashes between the two scenes quickly. More black screen with the title and then the credits is shown. Throughout the whole movie there are a lot of cuts between scenes some quicker than others especially when it gets to the end, there are various amounts of fade ins and fade outs between different scenes.

Sound

When the trailer first comes on you can hear diegetic screaming and crying overlapping that you can hear police talking on their radios as well as police sirens. A news reporter is then heard discussing what has just taken place, “a brutal murder” this is possibly diegetic sound. Throughout the whole opening there is some low dark major music which is non-diegetic. When there is a flash of the mask over young Michael’s face there is a sound of a knife being scratched against other metal; non-diegetic. When there is a crossfade between young Michael to older Michael there is the sound of a slow heartbeat which is non-diegetic, in this scene we also hear Dr Loomis’s voice talking to Michael; this will be diegetic. When we see Michael chained up we hear the sound of them also diegetic. When the black screen with text comes up we hear the narrator’s deep voice say what the writing says “this summer, Rob Zombie, Unleashes a unique vision, Of a legendary tale” all non-diegetic however when the cuts between each of them we still hear the chains and banging which will all be diegetic like the sound of the gunshots heard from one of the officers, when Michael walks down the hall we hear is footsteps and the body being dragged. Then when Michael is ripping up the floorboards the sound of the wood hitting of some is heard, this cuts to Laurie talking to her parents; back to Michael who stabs the old paper Mache mask, all this is diegetic. When he picks up the actual mask there is background music which will be non-diegetic, when the shot of Michael wearing the mask comes up the music gets louder and clearer. It then goes back into dialogue from Laurie and some little boy, Michael is seen attacking someone and the sounds they are making is diegetic, during these scenes there is fast paced low music which still has the sound of a knife be scraped by other metal. You can still hear dialogue from Laurie and the little boy and then we hear dialogue from the arrogant man who threatens Michael as he attacks him the music goes lower, we then hear Dr Loomis state what Michael has come back for this is overlapping scenes of Michael looking for Laurie and then chasing her, even though this is on top of the other scenes it is

still diegetic. When Michael is tearing apart the old house to get to Laurie we can hear the wood and walls being broken; diegetic sounds. The music changes to a slower pace but the tune goes in the direction of both minor and major keys, non-diegetic. We can still hear Michael breaking things around the house like glass; trying to get to Laurie and then hitting the top of the ceiling with a plank of wood and then hearing the rubble wall, all diegetic. The music that was fast paced then is heard again. Dr Loomis is heard again this time shouting at Michael. “Michael stop!” this is diegetic, when Michael and Laurie fall through the balcony we can hear the wood break this would have been made in the story. When the screen goes black again we hear the non-diegetic heartbeat once more, the other music stops so all we hear is the heartbeat; this is lasted until the ‘Halloween’ title comes up and then the original track for ‘Halloween’ which is in minor key and is non-diegetic this lasts until the trailer ends.