The opening sequence of the Halloween film is shot entirely from the point of view of the killer. This builds tension and mystery as the audience does not see the killer's face. The killer enters an ordinary family home at night, collects a knife, and kills a teenage girl while her boyfriend is upstairs. The film is set on Halloween night in 1963 in Haddonfield, Illinois, establishing it as a horror genre film centered around the holiday. The audience is left with several questions about the killer's identity and motives.

1. Halloween

2. Titling The titling used for Halloween is orange and bold and appears next to a Jack-o-Latern. This sets the time period for the movie. Orange could suggest danger however a more successful colour would be red. The orange typography is set on a black background. The colour black connotes death which is a feature of every slasher horror movie.

3. CameraThe Opening sequence is shot all at a point of view camera. This means we never get to see the killers face just his movements. The POV shot is not always used in the opening sequences of horrors so that the audience can see the killer in there mask or disguise. The fact we don't see him gives an eerie feel and leaves questions in the readers mind making them watch the rest of the movie.

4. Mise-en-sceneWe see the killer go into a house which looks as though it is on a dark street. The fact it is night time creates a spooky feel and is a common convention of horrors. As he walks through the house collect the weapon, a knife, we see that it is a very ordinary family home. For the audience this creates fear because it highlights that this could happen to anyone.

5. SoundThe non-diegetic music is very fast and this builds up tension. It is sounds very supernatural which may be an element in this film. Children singing is heard about Halloween and then Trick or Treat this sets the time period of the film. When the killer is walking around and through the house it is completely silent, you can only hear the boyfriend and girlfriend inside playing to have sex upstairs. When the killer sees that her bedroom light switch off he goes into the house, the non-diegtic music for this is similar to before but gets louder at points and lower in tine which suggests something bad is about to happen. This is a convention of horrors to build up tension in the audience.

6. Who is the hero and who is the villain?How do you know?At the end of the opening sequence we know who the killer is however we don't know the hero. We know the who the villain is because he is the one who collects a knife and goes upstairs and kills the teenager. Where is the story set? What does this tell you about the genre of the film?The story is set in a town. As said when it says after the credits: Haddonfield, Illinois. However we dont know the size yet. All the audience sees is a large house but no long shot is used to show if it isolated or not. However we are told the time period is Halloween, from this we can see that the genre of the movie will most likly be a horror because Halloween connotes scary and spooky costumes, nighttime, supernatural etc. How many principle characters?In the opening sequence we are only introduced to three characters, the victim, the killer and the victims boyfriend. As it is shown to be in a family home, more characters are going to be introduced, her family. Also because the age group of the victim was around 16-18 it suggests this may be a horror based around a school like others such as Scream and Prom Night. How is the story told?The story is told in the present, the audience knows this because it says Halloween Night, 1963. However this could also be said that they are looking back on the event. Also horrors are usually told in the present so this is what an audience would expect in the movie. What questions are you left with?Why did he kill the girl?Why did he not kill the boyfriend?Who is the killer?How old is he?Where were her parents?Who else is he going to kill?