THINKING ABOUT GENRE.

Intro: Music is used by directors to tap into and guide the viewer's emotions. Certain music can invoke particular responses. In horror films, music can add to the suspense, mystery and even brutality of scenes.

Describe: Hitchcock was considered a master of suspense and often used music to create tension in a scene. This can be seen in the thriller Psycho, especially in the infamous shower scene. In this scene Marion is attacked while in the shower. Before the killer enters the bathroom the music is minimal and at the start of her shower there is no music at all. The absence of music here serves to create a strong and dramatic contrast with the tense string music that plays while Marion is stabbed.

Describe: Similarly, in the film Halloween music is used at particular times to shock the viewer. For example after Laurie Strode drops off a key to the seemingly abandoned Myers residence, the head of the psychopathic Michael Myers suddenly appears in front of the camera accompanied by loud and sudden organ music. Like Psycho the unpredictable entrance of this music also shocks the viewer and draws an association between Myers and danger.

Explain: In Psycho music was used by Hitchcock sparingly and in carefully considered places to guide the viewer towards feeling afraid. The sound used in the shower scene becomes an indicator for the viewer that bad things are going to happen. Whenever that sound is used subsequently in the film, it will make the viewer expect danger, for example the music is used again when the private investigator is killed. By using the music when the killer strikes Hitchcock ensures that the viewer associates that sound with death. Additionally, the music links to the film as a whole because it reflects the psychotic state of Norman Bates mind. The unnaturally loud, tense, and fragmented violin sound that plays in the shower scene  parallels Norman Bate's fragile, egg shell like mind.

Explain: Like Psycho, Halloween also uses music to give cues to the audience. Used in specific scenes chosen by the director, the musical score of Halloween repeats through out in scenes where the killer is seen, or acts violently(killing predominently). This repetitive use of sound turns it into the killer's own theme music. Thus, whenever the sound is heard in the film, the audience expects the killer to come onscreen. The music is used not only with the scene where Laurie Strode is dropping the key off, but also near the climax of the film, where Strode discovers the bodies of her murdered friends.

 
Analyse: The use of music in this disjointed way is extremely effective in creating suspense and inciting fear in the viewer. The sound is unnatural and uncommon, no listener had ever heard a violin stretched to sound as it does in the murder scene. At the time, this was an innovative use of music to create anxiety in the viewer as well as creating a theme sound that the audience could associate to the killer and  imminent death. The short bursts of music also match the quick takes of the scene that cut between Marion and the killer. This reflects the sudden nature of the attack.

Analyse: By using the music in this way, Carpenter pays homage to the technique Hitchcock used in Psycho. This shows how particularly effective techniques last and are reused in films even when they are made decades apart. Pauline Kael supports this when she says “one can trace almost every idea on screen to directors such as Hitchcock”. Even though Kael is negative about Carpenter's resuse of conventional horror techniques, her comment reveals that Carpenter's reuse of music in this way is a sensibile choice to not meddle with a good formula, particularly when that formula is borrowed from a master of cinema such as Hitchcock. Carpenter's similar use of music to create tension and indicate danger is more of a tribute to Hitchcock rather than a rip off. 

Conclusion: The music in both Psycho and Halloween mirror each other in that they both use music to inform the viewer of danger. The music acts as a theme for the killers, ultimately playing when the attackers strike; the sharp, unnatural cutting of the music in Psycho acts as a trigger for Norman Bates' entrance into scenes. In a similar fashion the creepy melodic piano tune in Halloween plays a part in cueing the audience to Michael Myers presence. The consistent use of music in this fashion in both films is an example of  how a technique becomes a standard convention across different years.