From Script to Screen: How does the credit sequence from Dexter work?

"Dexter's" opening titles takes a normal, mundane morning routine and shows that they all have an underlying sinisterness, this is shown by zooming in on these tasks. Drops of blood fall in the sink and around the title giving an even more sinister look. The sinister activities are only connoted, but these give the audience a predetermined opinion of the main character, Dexter.

Stabbing and strangling is connoted through clips like cutting up fruit and tying laces. 

The name dexter inspired the creative editor, Eric Anderson. 

"I saw that the letter forms in DEXTER are nearly identical right-side up as they are up-side down, much like DEXTER the character. He doesn’t go through a massive transformation when he becomes the serial killer, he’s exactly the same Dexter except somethings wrong. I really thought that would go somewhere."

The opening title gives a lot of information about Dexter. It shows that even though on the surface he looks like a normal man, his actions have an ulterior motive, and a sinister underlay. It shows that he is very much the same as most people, so it gives him a sense of normality. A shallow depth of field helps to add intensity to an otherwise boring clip. A very good example is when the noir lighting and depth of field come together in the close up shaving clip, these set a dark, moody trend for the rest of the series.

The music plays a key part in this section, the music in the background contrasts the grotesque, violent looking clips. The music changes with Dexter, as the music gets more strange, so do Dexter's actions. A track by 'Exploding Plastix' was going to be used at first, but it did not provide the same effect. Dexter was not seen as a 'normal guy', it gave the impression that he was a killer and completely different to everyone else.