Halloween Trailer Analysis

The trailer for the 1978 horror Halloween begins with a black screen in which the title is shown, you can tell the technology isn’t very high-quality compared to now. The title is accompanied with a graphic of a pumpkin, which is a connotation for Halloween. The institution then comes up after the title fades out, the institution is ‘compass international pictures’ their first, and most notable film release was actually Halloween. The company has since closed down in 1981 the logo is again old fashioned and not technically up to date. There are no sound effects so far.

The screen fades to black and then the visual picture that is on the poster comes up on the screen which was added post production, therefore showing consistency between the two items. Then ‘the one, the only, the classic...Halloween’ is spoken in a stereotypical voice over for horrors, the words also appear on the screen in white font, this tagline is quite intriguing for the time period ,but now seems kind of cliché’. The cut then quickly changes to a view of a seemingly normal American home, the music comes in suddenly. The music is non-diegetic and relatively simple, the film's soundtrack consists of a piano melody composed by director John Carpenter .The camera is in someone’s point of view , and seems to be handheld it moves towards the house and the movement of the camera is quite jerky ,the voice over comes in again and the narrative basically explains that its a small American town on Halloween night fifteen years ago. Tension is built because the music is still playing and is eerie and suspense filled .

There is next a sudden ,sharp transition to a black screen, with what seems to be two eye holes of a mask, the camera is still in a point of view shot ,so the audience gets the feeling they are viewing what this particular character is viewing through the eye holes of a mask ,it is difficult to see what’s going on at this point because the camera is shaking a lot, there is however load screams diagetically coming from the scene. It seems as though someone’s getting stabbed and the audience is actually seeing things from the antagonist’s point of view. The scene seems to be one constant shot with very few cuts so far which is strange for a trailer however the figure in the mask then walks down the stairs and toward the door, the audience are still seeing things from his point of view. The music is extremely tense at this moment but has slowed down from how it was playing in the murder scene beforehand. The character then walks out of the house into a dark, empty street and it is hard to see anything around therefore putting the audience on edge. The camera is still shaky and hand held, and the audience can just make out what seems to be car or street lights, this is the only form of lighting used in this part. We then hear a man say ‘Michael’ and the camera changes from a point of view shot to a medium shot and what seems to be a father pulls the clown mask off of his son ,the audience are then shocked to see it is actually a six/seven year old boy who is responsible for the murder. He is still clutching the knife; his eyes are emotionless and just stare at the camera. The music then comes to a sort of climax as the title Halloween flashes up again.

Next a older man flashes up it is a close up camera shot showing the concerned look on his face he says a quote along the lines of ‘I spent seven years trying to keep him locked up because what is behind that boys eyes was pure evil’. The audience then knows straight away that it is Michael the murderer child from the earlier scene. The music then comes in again signifying something is about to happen. The scene is very quick and also dark but the audience see a figure leap and then a close up of a women with her mouth covered, her scream is deigetic. We see a struggle take place and the audience is uneasy at this point. A women scurries back and then a hand smashes the window of the car she is in, the cuts are quick and precise giving the audience the feeling they don’t know what’s happening or what to expect. It then cuts back to the man who was speaking earlier on in the sequence, it is a close up again and he says ‘I think he will come back’ which is an unsettling line for the viewer to hear, this section is very faced paced.

The trailer then seems to have a dramatic change in mood, with three normal girls walking along and chatting, we get the sense of who is the protagonist by this. The camera is in front of them as they walk forward and then cuts behind them to ‘follow’ them as they continue to walk. When the camera changes direction the eerie music comes back in .The camera then seems to pan around the girls as they look around ,it zooms into one girls face she looks worried, the audience are left to wonder at this point therefore making them want to watch the whole film. The title then flashes up again in the same way as the previous times making it a familiar theme throughout.

The next section begins with a door opening with a non diegetically enhanced ‘squeak’ to reveal a figure, looking like they are in a ghost like, pretend Halloween costume. The audience senses a red herring here. The scene the goes to a moody looking, stereotypical teenage girl, filing her nails looking unfazed by the figure at her door. Next the scene cuts to a dark scene, it is in fact hard to take in what’s going on here and could be easily missed it seems to be a sort of Montage of shots which is an editorial procedure whereby numerous shots are strung together to create a unified meaning. Trailers often use them because they can achieve a given emotional effect very quickly. We are able to watch the way the shots are assembled, but the audience just take notice of the loud bang and the whimper of a girl is heard, the mise-en-scene shows a pumpkin which seems to be a consistent item throughout the trailer. A man then walks toward a door and I think he says ‘come on out Michael’. The music then reaches its pinnacle as the man is strangled by a silhouette figure (Michael).There is then a scene of a girl hysterically crying she is wearing white which is a representation for innocence. The camera doesn’t move but the girl walks toward it where the audience are able to see a close up revealing the facial expression further. She is then pushed down the stairs, the camera spins with her as she goes giving us a better sense of her falling .The music then changes tone and becomes a lot deeper and slower in pitch .The girl manages to get up and runs out the house screaming ‘help’ the silhouetted figure of Michael is not far behind though.

The girl is then on the floor some how and then there is that stereotypical, common horror sequence of her struggling to get up before the killer gets her. We are then are back in the point of view of Michael again as we see he is catching up. The lighting is very dim showing the time of day but also building tension. The girl reaches a house and the music is getting faster and faster and the suspense builds. She bangs on the door; there are simultaneous shots back and forth of a medium shot of the girl compared with a long/wide shot of the quite street. This shows the contrast. The voice over then comes back on with ‘Halloween... the night he came home’. The scene fades to black and then the title comes up for the last time, leaving the trailer on a cliff hanger, to make the audience want to see the film. The emotion the trailer tries to evoke is tension and to scare the audience and leave them on edge. The trailer is just over two minutes fifty seconds Even though its quite short, trailers still deliver a basic dramatic arc and shows who the characters are and the obstacles they are going to face in this case Michael.