Michael's analysis of cape fear

After watching the title sequence I have seen a few techniques used to foreshadow the plot of the film. Throughout the title sequence the text has a cut through it this shows that there is cuts/murder involved and that there is unease or confusion in the film as the text is distorted but still legible. It also represents the water, as the text looks like it has a slight ripple effect. The first image seen is an eagle, which is a key image in the title sequence, as it signifies a predetor. This forshadows death or attack in the rest of the film, however, we dont see the connection because it is noticed on a subconcious level, which is a technique used in a variety of thrillers and horrors. We have realised that Robert De Niro (the villain) is on the left side, Nick Nolte (the hero) is in the middle of the screen and Jessica Lange (the victim) is on the far right. The eagle on the screen before the names comes from the left, showing that Robert De Niro is the predator. Nick Nolte's credit is in the middle because it shows he's an obsticle in the film. In the credits, he blocks Di Niro's credit from Jessica Lange's, showing the during the film he's going to save her. The orchestral music is used to show a instant disequalibrium which goes against Tordov's narrative theory of equalibrium (normality), disequalibrium (conflict) and new equalibrium (back to normality), which is also used in John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). The next image we see is eyes darting around the screen the main place the eyes look are on the left side of the screen which is where De Niro's name was. This suggests that he is a terrifying character. Troughout the sequence the direction of the water changes from horizontal to vertical,this is used to signify the unease of the film and the confusion and paranoia of the characters. There is a image of a body and a single hand is showing. This is a reference to Nightmare On Elm Street where you see Freddy Krueger's hand with his trademark glove. This sets a simmilar mood and techniques like these occur regurly in many thrillers.