Opening Sequence: The Walking Dead

Thriller Opening Titles: The Walking Dead

 

Throughout this title sequence we instantly are shown the tone and atmosphere of the show so we know what to expect. The thrilling continuous music and dark colours are enough to tell us even the most little details about the characters. Once we start hearing the theme song slowing fading in we know its coming and it automatically draws us in for the episode ahead and gets us excited.

Firstly, we see Andrew Lincoln's name with a photo of the main character Rick Grimes in the local Atlanta newspaper, which is where they are from. We can see from his uniform that he is a sheriff and obviously a good one as he is featured in the papers. Straight away we learn who the main character is, his job, where he lives, and what he looks like.

Next we see Jon Bernthal's character Shane, we again see he is in similar sheriff uniform as Rick, showing us he works with him and that they must have some kind of relationship. However his photo isn't in the newspaper, it's in a photo frame, with smashed glass. This can foreshadow his future self as surely enough he breaks down and he's broken up Rick's family.

Third we see Sarah Wayne Callie's character Lori Grimes. We don't learn as much from her photo but again it's smashed and covered with dirt. Although in the pilot episode we see the full photo and it's of her, her husband Rick and son Carl. She appears happy but from the surrounding glass and dirt we can guess that this may not be true, it portrays the broken family and the dirt may show she could be the reason why. 

Then throughout we are shown different key features of the episodes or key features of characters. For example the first picture of the house is one of the houses Rick visits looking for gas and finding dead bodies inside, the first dead people he's seen since he woke up from his coma.
 The RV is one of the key features of season 1 as it belongs to a member of the Atlanta Survivor Group, Dale and doesn't travel without it. It's also what they use to sometimes sit in, take shade or wash.

Laurie Holden's name is shown across a shot of the empty city of Atlanta, we don't learn anything about her character, Andrea, from this but we get an idea of what they city now looks like after it's been attacked and abandoned. As we don't learn anything about Andrea from this, we can assume she may not be as important as the other 3 main characters who we do see.

From then on we carry on seeing shots of the city, such as an empty, burnt bus, the police station Rick once worked in, empty hospital he woke up in, empty train tracks, and of course the famous shot of the entrance to the city with one road completely over run as people tried to get out and the other empty. From this we can learn the setting that the show will be set in and what it looks like post apocalypse. Also we are introduced to the main 3 characters and basic facts about them and hidden messages about how they are now. The hidden foreshadowing about them creates mystery and can make us want to know more about them. It then finishes off with the shows title name and the tense music slowly fading out, telling you the actions about to begin.