"Homeland" Opening

Showtime shows have some interesting opening credits. "Dexter" and it's opening makes use of some great cinematography and chilling sound effects to effectively creep the viewer out upon each viewing. But what about "Homeland" and it's opening credit sequence? Take a look at the video below. It has some of the clips from it's opening along with the music.

Using disorienting jazz music and a plethora of oddly placed diegetic sounds, this is easily one of the oddest opening credit sequences I've ever seen. The images don't help with my confusion either. Characters are shown standing in a maze and videos of the 9/11 attacks taking place also bring about more questions for me. Perhaps the credits are more important than I think in this show, but so far I have yet to see many correlations, yet. I'm about one episode away from finishing the first season, and if I am proven wrong, I will post the results here. But so far, the opening isn't my favorite, and I would prefer it if they tried to be a little less jarring with something the viewer watches at the beginning of every episode.

Opening Credits

This past Sunday the season premier of Dexter was on Showtime. In my house off campus, this is one of the house's favorite shows. After what seemed like forever, we were very pleased that Dexter was back on TV and we had a large viewing party in our living room for the premier. Most of us were avid Dexter fans and have seen every episode of the previous six seasons. However, there were a few people that came over that were new to the series. As the clock struck 9:00 PM the music began and the best intro and opening credits to a TV show began.

This may seem ridiculous but in my opinion the opening credits or the intro to a show is very important. Think about all of your favorite shows... Entourage has the Jane's Addiction song blaring, Breaking Bad has the Periodic Table, Weeds has the "Little Boxes" song, and Game of Thrones with the map of the realm. These introductions are something that sticks with us and something that prepares us for the show. In my opinion the opening credits are an important part of drawing the viewer into the show. Not  to gain viewers but to put the people that are actually viewing the show in the right mind set for the show.

No show does this better than Dexter. The creepy music in the background coupled with weird shots of the cutting of meat, Dexter shaving, and getting dressed, reminds you of how peculiar Dexter's character really is. It draws you back into the show and into the mind of a serial killer.

As the newcomers in our living room shuttered at the blood splatter from Dexter's razor, or the the knife cutting threw the piece of meat, the rest of just smiled because our favorite show had just drawn us back in for another season.