This document provides a shot-by-shot analysis of the opening scene of the 1979 film Halloween 2. It describes each shot, establishing the location as Haddonfield, Illinois in 1978 on Halloween night. The shots show the house Laurie is in, beginning with her alone and then revealing Michael Myers lurking behind her. The final shots change locations, showing Dr. Loomis outside the house in an extreme long shot, and then a darker room where Laurie is heard screaming as she is attacked.

2. This is scene is establishing the location of the film simply by telling viewers. As we can see it set in Haddonfield, Illinois USA.

3. This shot is establishing when the events in the film are set, as you can see it is Halloween (31st October 1978)

4. This shot starts with a pan down from trees and shows a shot of a house, which is being blocked by some branches of the trees, so this is a blocking shot. Furthermore the shot ends a theme song that was playing throughout the first three shots and the main character Laurie’s voice can be heard.

5. Laurie’s dialogue started in the last scene and has continued into this scene, this is a sound bridge. The lighting is dark and lighting only seems to come from outside streetlights. They are inside the house which was shown in the previous shot. Laurie seems to be wearing fashionable clothes from the 70s while the children are wearing pyjamas which would suggest its is late and night, also implied by the simple fact its dark.

6. In this shot lighting hasn’t changed. The main character has been left all alone and a medium close up shows this but also shows empty space behind her and strengthens the fact she is isolated.

7. This shot is a contradiction to the last. This shot has kept the same lighting and camera angle but now shows the killer (Michael Myers) in the background, this will create shock and suspense to and for the audience as the previous shot showed isolation and this one shows Laurie’s absolute lack of awareness for what’s going on behind her.

8. This shot shows protagonist Dr. Loomis. This is shot in a slightly different location as it is outside of the house. Dr. Loomis can be seen with an extreme long shot.

9. This shot occurs in a different room of the house which is darker than the others. The shadows on the wall hide what is happening so audiences will have to rely on sound to figure out what is happening. You can hear Laurie’s screams and gags suggesting she is being strangled by the killer (Michael Myers). The camera is medium close up.