Tuesday 23 October 2012

Deconstruction of a SLASHER

Halloween I (1978)


Opening Credits



  • Establishing shot at eye level of the pumpkin, makes you feel uncomfortable, feels like it moves in towards you
  • Creepy score used, that is non-digetic - also used throughout the scene
  • A piano is also present, mixed in with what sounds like a sped up clock, creating tension
  • Visual effects used to emphasise the flicker of the candle in the pumpkin and the light is bright for long periods of time
  • Orange text relates to the colour of the pumpkin
House

  • Establishing shot of house, zooms into the door and moves along and around the house, as if we are personally looking at it, from the killers POV
  • Crickets are heard, no voices, so possibly a remote area, which is a convention of a slasher film and typically found
  • Eye line match. look at the window and around the house, and then you see people inside
  • White house used that is very big and on its own, suggesting vulnerability, killers point of view and blurry when looking at two characters due to curtain being in the way

Guy on stairs





  •  Low angle POV shot, the camera follows him as he ventures down the stairs, he is always kept in a medium shot, not considering him as a possible victim.
  • Hear digetic sound of him talking to the girl, and score goes higher and faster, making things more tense, knowing that he is not after the guy, but more after the girl
  • No editing used makes you feel much more involved and you are able to act as the murderer and makes you feel uncomfortable that you are put into this situation 
  • The movement down of his t-shirt makes it clear that him and the girl had sex, thus making them the first to be killed, as in a typical slasher movie. Shirt is stripy, showing things won't go well

First stabbing


  • Now feel more involved and even more uncomfortable due to the use of a mask, narrow in on the subject. High angle POV when she is dead on the floor, shows the power and dominatiation over her life
  • When the girl is spotted, there is a change in the music, very high pitched, leading to a tense build up, and a drop in the notes making them low when killing is taking place, combining with the high pitched screams
  • Narrow view, not interrupted with editing as this will take away the persona feel of the scene
  • Se through the clown mask makes it much more effective, blood on her chest connotates death, and we see the killer look at the knife so can tell this was a stabbing, she is found naked, showing she had sex and adds to the fact if you have sex in a slasher, you're most likely to die first



















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