Charlie-Ray Mitchell Media studies homework 09/09/2015

Thriller work- Analysis of two opening titles

True Detectives & Dexter

Images used for opening titles:

.True Detective .Dexter

Protagonist- from what I have seen, I personally believe the person to the right is the protagonist. This is because he stands out from the rest of the characters and is dominant on set. You can see they have used binary opposition (possibly good or bad) to show two sides to either the plot or the character themselves. You also see he is with another person at the end of the opening titles which shows how both of them have to solve the mystery which the previous images give us (the viewer) an insight on.

View of characters ( female ) - in the following images you see the women look sexualised, they seem to look un-happy and are possibly forced (as they seem to have sad facial expressions) to do sexual tasks in the plot of the show. You can also see in both pictures either a male or a Christian reference which could show that the sexual activities are for male consumers and may have a dark secret behind it involving religion. The woman wearing the American flag also sets the scene (it is based in the United States.)

Religious aspect- we can tell religion has a major involvement in the story line because it is referenced in many images in the opening titles (e.g. preacher, church and crosses.) we can also gather that the religious views in this story will be bad or evil because the first time a red colour was used in the scene was when a preacher appeared. Multiple images had flames which could represent people are cleansing their sins or they are getting rid of some form of evidence to the puzzle.

View of character ( male ) - here we can see male characters hiding behind images or with their identity revealed. This could be because they are a part of the mystery and if they were shown now too much information would be given away for the plot. You can also see one of the two men looks like he is reminiscing about something, he seems to look upset or bothered about what he has either done or something he has seen which is causing him distress. The other person’s identity is hidden through some form of factory (atmosphere feels mysterious) and he’s wearing a suit. This shows he has an involvement in a business in the area or/ and is thinking about business at that moment in time.

Element of fear/ mystery- this person looks scared or worried about something, this image shows a house in the background which may represent family (is something threatening his family?) also throughout the footage we see the weather in the background as if a ‘storm is brewing’ (something bad is going to happen or something is going on.) this also shows a build-up to an event in the show.

Protagonist- in the opening trailer we see the following images. One image shows the main character as being dark and evil which represents his sinister side and shows his evil and murdering side, whereas the other image makes the protagonist seem more approachable and likeable (this is due to the lighting becoming a lot lighter and adopts a complete different persona then what was being shown in the rest of the clip (e.g. he smiles and waves at the camera.) this could mean he isn’t just a bad character and he does have a very likeable personality.

Imagery ( methodical ) - the following images in the opening trailer uses an extreme close up on multiple shots to show how precise and twisted he is as a murderer. It also shows his daily routine which the majority of killers have due to past traumatic experiences. The explanation behind the methodical shots is to show possible ways in Dexter will kill or harm victims (e.g. cutting up the egg shows he will slice people up, laces and tooth floss to show strangling and the blender could mean he savagely cuts people up.)

There is also a lot of blood or blood supplements (e.g. tomato ketchup.) This could represent his fascination with blood and killing as well as giving the opening a more evil and dark feel to it (this may cause the viewer to feel uneasy and slightly distressed.) The opening trailer also uses everyday objects and innocent items such as food as a representation of his perverse ways (for example, everything from cutting food to doing his laces , are carried out with absolute accuracy like he would when he is killing people)

Another feature about this opening title is it has very dark lighting on the objects that are not being focused on which causes the footage to be very gloomy and mystical when added with the music.

Camera angles- here you can see that the majority of camera angles used are either close ups or extreme close ups. This could be to show he viewers how close up and precise he is when it comes to murdering people. this is also to make each tasks that he does in his morning routine look a lot more sinister and less normal.