Inspiration: Halloween (1978)

This is the trailer to Halloween (1978). We chose to look at this film because the main character is masked/disguised throughout the film. The protagonist, Michael Myers, is a serial killer and this is what we are looking into for our trailer. 


Characters

Michael Myers challenges the typical representations of a young child as they stereotypically innocent and naive, however he has just brutally murdered his sister. Clowns are meant to be happy and cheery for children, so the fact that he is dressed in a clowns outfit holding a knife, presents clowns as a horror figure. 

Throughout the rest of the film, the adult Michael Myers wears a mask to hide his identity. 
We were inspired by this as we want our killer to be anonymous, therefore he will be disguised as a clown. 







Sound

Halloween starts with children chanting a Halloween 'trick or treat' song, this makes it seems innocent as they are children, which is ironic for the start of a horror film. The rhymes the children sing echo as if sung in a vast space, this brings out a slight insecurity about the sound as it is so unusual.

"The one, the only, the classic, Halloween. Halloween night, a small American town, fifteen years ago. Halloween. Halloween. Halloween. The night HE came home."

                                                                                            - Halloween voiceover

There is a reoccurring high pitched, non-diegetic drone that suggests something bad is going to happen throughout the beginning. The score is very simple but this suits the simplicity of the plot, it's minimal and repetitive, this creates an awkward sound that is uncomfortable to listen to and creates a tension in the trailer which scares the audience.

Lighting

Low lighting is used throughout the film Halloween with an eerie blue lighting. Together this creates mystery and fear as you are unable to see everything in the shot, adding to the horror aspect of the film.

Camera Angles

A lot of wide angle, long tracking shots are used throughout the film, these point-of-view shots make the viewer feel more involved in the action and therefore more scared. This is a very popular shot to use in horror films as it makes the audience aware that there is something or someone else there that the main character does not know, this adds suspense to the audience and questions them as to what is going to happen next.