Thursday, 20 October 2016

Analysing a Thriller Opening Sequence

Dexter

What titles are shown?


‘Dexter’ The actors. Special guests. ‘Developed for television by…’ ‘Based on the novel…’ ‘Main title theme by…’ ‘Produced by…’ ‘Consulting producer…’ ‘Co-producer…’ ‘Producer…’ ‘Co-executive producer…’‘Executive producer…’


How do they fit to the genre?


The actual sequence is about a guy who works as a Blood Splatter Specialist in a police department, matching the first piece of text when we can see the blood dripping onto a surface or paper to make his name fits


Describe the typography


Blotted blood on paper when the title ‘Dexter’, reiterating that he works as a blood splatter specialist.The rest of the titles are in plain text the colour red, this could signify that his life is bland, or maybe he likes it that way.


Camerawork, Sound, Mise-en-scene and Editing


Close ups of what the character is doing, match on action, sound contradicts the actions of what we see, juxtaposition. Diegetic sound yet enhanced so that they were clear. Mise-en-scene of a razor against the man’s throat, it cut’s him slightly which then switched to a shot of a sink and blood dripping into it, referring to the “Dexter.” Mise-en-scene being of casual objects and fruit such as an orange that looked as if it was filled with guts, editing was smooth and had continuity, making sense all the way through. A jump cut of the coffee beans to make time pass by quicker.

How does the sequence indicate genre and suggest narrative?


Close-ups of the man getting dressed, the actions quite retrained. Flossing his teeth with an extreme close-up of his tying the string around his thumb, looked intimidating.


How does the sequence engage your interest?


Every shot was very close to the character, which makes us feel a little Closter-phobic, enigma created of not knowing his identity until it is was released at the end. Sinister edge on someone doing their normal routine in the morning.

5 Shot Analysis: Dexter


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