Analysing the opening sequence of Blood Simple

Analysing the opening sequence of Blood Simple


   

Blood Simple (1984)

The opening sequence of Blood Simple begins with a long shot displaying an empty road stretching to the horizon surrounded by large empty fields. The only object seen in this shot is a bit of old tyre on the side of the road which indicates that for the most part, this area is empty and not many people visit or pass through .To accompany the shot a non-diegetic voiceover can be heard. The voiceover is spoken by a man from Texas which helps establish the location of the film for the audience.

The shot then fades into a second one which shows a large field with a few oil rigs set up, but again there are no people. This shot creates quite a bleak atmosphere as it's showing the empty space of the country and nature but implies how this has been destroyed by man and machinery. This bleakness is also reinforced in the voiceover as the man has no enthusiasm and his words reflect this. 

The next shot again shows the open land and the vastness of the countries' fields however, this time it's showing the area's separation from people as the city can be seen in the far distance. This creates isolation and continues the bleak atmosphere being created. In each of the next few shots it continues to show the large country space along with distant objects such as houses in the background. This reinforces the disconnection, isolation and emptiness of the area.

The lighting then suddenly becomes very dark as a shot of the oil rigs is shown. The darkness creates shadows on the machines and begins to add a sense of mystery. 

After the oil rig shot has been shown, instead of the soft fade edits that had been previously used, a straight cut edit bluntly cuts to the next shot of a pitch black screen with one dot of light. This sudden change of editing reflects that of the lighting and as the voiceover says "down here, you're on your own" the sense of isolation and mystery drastically increases. 

The dot of light previously mentioned is a car which travels past the camera and non-diegetic music begins to play. The music includes a range of high pitched keyboard notes accompanied with a soft drum beat. Along with this there is also the diegetic sound of a car driving fast along a wet road. The shot then cuts to a very distinctive shot which appears to be taken from the bumper of a car moving fast on the road. This shot then fades to black and the title "Blood Simple" quickly emerges onto the screen. Unusually, the title includes a full stop and the choice of blue against the black screen seems unexpected as the word blood has connotations to red, not blue. The font used is quite "fancy" as it is serif which creates connatations that the film is proffesional and serious.

The following shot then shows the silhouettes of two people within the interior of a car. The figures are backlit by the light of oncoming vehicles, however this lighting is diffused by the rain water which has covered the wind screen . The two begin conversation which is accompanied by the diegetic sound of wind screen wipers and questions are created for the audience such as where the two are travelling and who they are. The up and down movement of the wind screen wipers reflects that of the earlier shot of the oil rigs moving up and down. This creates a visual rhyme between two types of machinery. Whilst the conversation is taking place titles flash up on screen in the same blue font as before whilst each vehicle passes. Finally, the content of the dialouge foreshadows violence, guns and infidelity indicating to the audience that this is a thriller.