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

A purpose of an opening sequence is to make the audience engaged with the film by setting the scene, showing the characters and creating enigma. The opening scene is also to show the audience what genre of the film it is and to give the audience an idea of what is to follow in the film. The opening sequence has to be interesting to keep the audience engaged with the film.

The film "Halloween" informs the audience of the conventions of a thriller film as they are all included in the opening sequence.
The first convention which is included in the opening sequence is sound. Sound is a convention a thriller as it creates suspense or creates an element of excitement for the audience. In the opening sequence of Halloween there is non digetic of the soundtrack at the beginning and the end of the sequence. The sound track is an eerie noise which is very loud at the beginning to build suspense for the audience, it also makes the audience excited for the rest of the film. Its conventional to thrillers to have a non digetic sound track as its makes the audience feel more tense and on the edge of there seats which is key in thrillers. Its cleverly put right at the beginning of the sequence and making it loud and scary to ensure the audience are nervous as soon as they start watching the film which is conventional to thrillers. There's also non digetic sound of children laughing in the beginning of the sequence which can also be seen as contrapuntal sounds as there are happily laughing. This misleads the audience so when the attack happens in the film the audience are not expecting it which creates more tension. There's non digetic sound when the killer picks up the knife and starts walking through the house up the stairs to kill the girl, the sound is a very high pitch piano note which makes the atmosphere for the audience tense and also makes the audience sympathize for the victim as they may get an idea that she is about to be killed. The loud high pitch piano sound builds tension for the audience as they may feel startled which is key in thrillers. There's off screen sound of a clock ticking when the killer is walking up the stairs. Each time the killer goes up a step a sound of a tick is played which can show the audience that the clocks ticking down to her death which builds an element of excitement to the film and makes it more interesting. Parallel sound is also used when the attack is happening, the sounds of stabbing is parallel sound as you can see where the sound is coming from. The sound of stabbing and screaming makes the audience understand that the victim is in a lot of pain therefore making the audience feel sorry for her which builds a relationship between them. The parallel sounds just make the audience understand what is going on in the film in detail which is key in thrillers.

There is cinematography used in the opening sequence as different camera shots are used to interest the audience. There is a point of view shot of the killer where the audience can only see what the killer is seeing. It is used when the killer gets the knife from the kitchen and walks up the stairs to attack the girl. It builds a relationship between the killer and the audience as it puts the audience 'in there shoes'. Its conventional to a thriller as it builds tension successfully as the audience don't know what might jump out. There's a handheld shot of the knife, it makes the audience feel unsettled as there is jerky flashes of the knife. It builds tension really well as the audience may get an idea that's the weapon the killer will be using to attack the victim therefore making the audience sympathize for the girl which builds a relationship. The jerky images makes the atmosphere tense for the audience which is key in thrillers. At the end of the scene, after the attack happens, there's a zooming out shot of the house where the boy (killer) is standing. It represents that an attack has happened and makes the audience feel in shock. The zooming out of the house makes the house look smaller therefore meaning that a family member has died. It also makes the killer look smaller meaning that hes not emotionally right.

There's editing used in the opening sequence, a jump cut is used of the knife where it suddenly focuses on the knife. This reveals to the audience that someone will be attacked by that weapon which builds suspense and excitement for the audience. By focusing on the knife it builds tension successfully as the audience may start to feel on edge or scared. It conventional to thrillers as there is always weapons used in thrillers to kill the victims which panics the audience. There is also timing of shots used where before the kill,the pace of the shots are quite slow including the music. This builds up to the kill, building tension for the audience and leaving them on the edge of there seats. After the kill the shots are faster showing that the killers panicking and might be regretting what hes just done. The shots are ultimately faster so the film is more engaging for the audience and makes it more interesting to watch, Its conventional to thrillers as it adds an element of excitement and engages the audience successfully.

In the opening sequence there are many conventions of a thriller in it. Its stereo typically set in a dark suburban town in a big quite creepy house, there's a loud soundtrack at the beginning and different sound techniques throughout, there's stereo typically a blonde victim, low key lighting is used throughout the scene and lastly there's hidden identity of the killer until the end.These all are stereotypically included in the thriller.

The narrative of 'Halloween' is set in a suburban town in a large house which is very stereotypical for thrillers. Its about a boy who kills his sister on Halloween however the boys identity is hidden by a mask. The mask may cause the death of his sister as the mask may take over the boys body. The narrative of the film is very stereotypical to a thriller film as it includes many conventions of a thriller.

The characters in the opening sequence are a young girl, her boyfriend, a young boy and his parents. The young boy is the killer which isn't stereotypical at all which builds tension for the audience, the young girl is blonde which is usually the hair colour of victims in thrillers. The boyfriend plays a small part but he allows the girl to die as he leaves her house just before she is killed. The parents come home right at the end of the scene and they look very confused to see there son holding a knife. The couple are very stereotypical as they cant understand why and what there son has done, its almost as if they don't believe what there seeing. The audience sympathize for the girl whereas they feel envious towards the young boy as he is the murderer.

The sequence overall informs the audience of the conventions of a thriller as the sequence includes all the different conventions which makes up a thriller. It has different sound techniques which make the opening sequence tense, different camera shots to build up relationships with characters, editing shots to build suspense for the audience, low key lighting and a dark setting and stereotypical characters. Its very successful opening scene as it has many conventions of a thriller. This analysis will help me with my thriller as I know now I need to add all the  different conventions to my opening sequence for it be successful. It will help me with planning with my opening sequence as it will be quicker as ive analysed conventions from this post.