Red Dragon - Opening Sequence

In Red Dragon the opening sequence starts with the usual production companies presenting something. It also uses a clear colour scheme with red and white writing on a black screen. Thrillers often use the colours red, black and white, it is now a genre convention. Red connotes blood and death whilst black is very dark and brooding. White is often associated with innocence and purity but with the colours red and black is almost corrupted. The first shot is an extreme long shot of orchestra playing to a large audience on raised seating. The stage is in the centre of the shot making it the focus of the audience's attention. We can hear the music really strongly in the background and theres a cut to a long shot of an old women playing the violin. In the background are the rest of the orchestra. There's a cut to men playing the flute and then a shot of the conductor facing the orchestra. The audience questions the significance of this scene and what it has to do with the rest of the film. The music is quite fast paced and quick making this opening clip quite active for the audience. We are shown many clips of the orchestra playing until the camera zooms in on a particular character in the audience, Hannibal Lecter. We see him smiling and the audience wonder who he is, whether he is the main character in the film or why we are introduced to him first. We have a close up of his face and we see him staring intently at a particular. We wonder what his intentions might be, whether he knows the man, what is their relationship and who the man is. This opening clip ends with a long shot the man so the audience is able to see his face even though we don't kno who he is we think he might be important.