How does the credit sequence from Dexter work?

The creative ideas for the film Dexter came from normal everyday things, the opening sequence makes a normal morning routine look sick and sinister.
The character Dexter is seen as an average working man, who takes care of himself, however the audience gets the sense that something is not quite right, as we see a lot of close ups of violent actions that are actually just everyday movements. We don't really notice they are violent until the sequence plays them slowly.


This tomato sauce splatter is a norm, however as red splatters are repeated in a violent way (on a knife) the audience links it to blood. Also this can be linked to the characters job as he is a blood splatter expert.





This shoelace is pulled so tightly the audience relate it to strangling someone however it is an every day thing. These things seem innocent on the surface but there is a deeper meaning, an undercurrent of violence which basically explains the main characters personality.




The character is shown looking average at the end of the clip but gives a kind of smile that suggests he's been up to no good almost sinister, making the audience think about the violence he used in his every day activities and what they say about his personality.

Here the narrow depth of field is used to force the audience to focus on an average thing, but as we look at it so close it looks unpleasant, almost gruesome, giving the first few minutes of the film a horror feel.





The use of music is very relaxed and calm, it gives the opening scene an eerie feel as it juxtaposes with the violent, yet normal clips of his actions. I think this was chosen over the Xploding plastix track as it makes the character seem more average, which creates more mystery and questions about his personality and the rest of the film.