From Script to Scene: Dexter

The original concept idea for dexter came when the director was designing the title. He noticed that the that the letter forms in 'Dexter' are nearly identical right-side up as they are up-side down.  This suited Dexter the character, because when he goes through his transformation into a serial killer, you dont notice many changes. He's exactly the same Dexter except that somethings wrong, keeping his serial killer and insane personality quiet and hidden, like a criminal mastermind.






The Title sequence itself was simply showing Dexter's average morning routine, however this had been filmed using extreme close ups and lighting to show how savage normal things can be. For example, in the first few seconds we see dexter wake up, and have a shave. However when we see dexter shaving, the action is shot in an extreme close up, and with film noire lighting it gives us a creepy impression 
of savageness, connoting to our views on the character of Dexter. Also with the position of his hands, and with the razor, it connotes the image of someone being strangled, and their throats being slit. This also connotes to Dexter's serial killer nature. 
The scene then continues to show Dexter accidentally cutting himself with his razor, and as we see the extreme lose up of dexter's blood running down his throat, we have a horrifying idea of what will come in the movie. 

Next in the scene, we are shown dexter making his breakfast. again the clips are shot with extrmeme close  ups and lighting. We see a shot of Dexter preparing some meat to fry, but we are greeted by a horrific close up view of him slashing the packet and cutting the meat up with a knife. This is shown in a savage violent way to connote the killings of his victims, and give us an insight to what will happen later in the movie. Finally, after his breakfast, we see Dexter preparing dental floss with his teeth. However with the close ups and lighting, the innocent act seems to connote a more violent meaning, and gives us the idea of Dexter strangling something with rope. This connotes to Dexters character because it shows us his violent nature, and what he could be capable of.

The director has used noir lighting and a shallow depth of field to create a savage atmosphere, to connote Dexter's character. The noir lighting is often associated with horror movies, and that general idea helps us associate Dexter with horror and thrillers, due to the lighting techniques. 



We see a short clip of Dexter grinding coffee in a machine, the shot contains noir lighting, and a shallow depth of field, and this connotes the idea that this simple every day task has been gloryfied into a violent image.
 All of the shots in the scene have been shot with the technique of extreme close ups, normal everyday activities are shown to be horrific and savage. For example, this quote was released by the producer of the movie:

"Everything, no matter how mundane or beautiful, has an undercurrent of violence to it. It is just a matter of how closely you look. We are conditioned to see a blossoming flower as beautiful. But if you look closely, if you look differently you will see it more like an explosion. Here we see a mundane morning routine illustrated in extreme close-ups showing the underlying tension found in everyday situations making violence a part of everything."

The scene contains music by Rolfe Kent. The producer originally intended to include the soundtrack by Xploding Plastix, but after editing it into the sequence they decided that it didn't suit the overall nature of Dexter. So the producer was advised to swap the track for one by Rolfe Kent, and after a few days of editing, they decided that the track suited the scene perfectly. The music went hand in hand with the imagery and gave the grotesque imagery a new, humerus light. However the music sounds quite eerie in a strange way, and its completely different from other genres. The music creates suspense perfectly and fits in with the actions and clips in the sequence.