Throughout the opening scenes of Cape Fear, the non-diegetic soundtrack creates tension through changes between minor and major keys and the use of woodwinds, strings, and brass. During the title sequence, a series of unsettling close-ups fade in and out behind a disorienting water effect. As the scene shifts to Cady's release from prison, the camera shows his solitary cell and books on law and war, implying an intelligent yet violent nature, while brass music plays and a storm builds outside, foreshadowing future danger.

1. Cape Fear – Opening Scene
Laura Neale

2. Throughout the opening scenes there is a non diegetic sound track that
causes a lot of tension due to the changes between minor and major
key (makes he listener unsettled and confused) and the use of
instrumentation – the trilling woodwind, the strings and the brass.
There is also a build in volume and a rise in pitch throughout the clip
which also adds to the tension. However the music drops in volume as
the girl begins to speak so the audience can hear the diegetic dialogue,
however the music is still there in the background, and so lowering but
still keeping the tension there. There is also more diegetic dialogue
later on when Cady gets released from the prison, and some the
diegetic sound of thunder, but the main sounds in the clip is the non
diegetic music.
Sound

3. During the title sequence we see a water effect that is quite confusing
(we later find out from diegetic dialogue that it is there because Cape
Fear is actually the name of a river), and is also quite disorientating to
the audience due to the constant flickering.
Title Sequence 1

4. There is also a series of close ups and extreme close ups that fade in
and out behind the water effect during the title sequence. There is a
shot of a bird of prey, connotating the danger to come in the film, as
well as more eerie shots like an extreme close up of an eye or a mouth
to create tension and fear.
Title Sequence 2

5. During the title sequence, a
shadowy figure is also featured,
adding to the eerie effect that the
close ups create, especially as you
can’t see the figure’s head, only it’s
body. There are dark colours
throughout the sequence however
towards the end it fades from the
top to the bottom of the screen
into red, with a drip of blood, the
colour red connotating the danger,
violence and evil that will be
featured later on in the film.
Title Sequence 3

6. A close up of a very young girl’s
eyes fades into the red screen,
which then fades to blue, and then
to normal (yet dark) colours. As
the camera zooms out we see that
she is older than we first thought,
but is wearing what looks like a
shirt from a school uniform,
showing that she is still young. The
shirt is also white, which has
connotations of innocence and
peace, yet the girl acts quite
creepily and stared directly into the
character as if she’s talking directly
to the audience with the diegetic
dialogue, and so these things
contradict each other.
Title Sequence 4

7. As this scene begins, the camera
pans down the wall, where we see
lots of pictures of Stalin and militant
figures, while brass instruments
dominate the non diegetic music
(important because brass
instruments are commonly
associated with war and militant
action). The camera also shows a lot
of academic books about things like
law, telling us that the owner of
them is violent due to the war
associations, and intelligent due to
the books.
Cady’s Release 1

8. As the camera zooms out we see a
man exercising, with a religious
tattoo on his back (explaining the
Bible that was with the books
earlier on), telling us that he is
religious, which is odd because of
the assumption that he is violent
from earlier on, and
stereotypically you wouldn’t think
of religious people as violent.
However as the camera continues
to zoom out, we realise there is
closed framing due to bars (there
is also a deep depth of field at this
point as the man is in focus but
the bars are not), and we realise
that the man is in prison.
Cady’s Release 2

9. As the man (who we now know is Cady
due to the prison warden’s diegetic
dialogue) is leaving the prison, we
notice that other prisoners are in
shared cells whereas Cady was by
himself, and this leads us to assume
that he was either dangerous, so
couldn’t be with other prisoners, or
was so well respected that he got his
own cell. As he leaves the prison there
is a sound bridge connecting the cuts
between inside and outside of the
prison, and the open framing of
outside is in contrast to the closed
framing from earlier, emphasising how
he’s free. As he leaves there is a storm
brewing, and we hear thunder and see
lightning, foreshadowing that this
character will be involves in danger and
violence later on in the film.
Cady’s Release 3