The opening sequence uses disorienting shots and unsettling music to confuse the audience and set an ominous tone. Various shots feature a man who seems to be a central character, though his features are obscured until the end. Red is used prominently throughout to symbolize blood and horror. The location appears to be a cold, cloudy estate where much of the show will be set. Overall, the sequence establishes psychological horror and leaves the audience feeling bewildered and curious to learn more.

1. Durham County Opening
Sequence

2. The opening shot is a zoom shot into a
forest. No establishing shot is used leaving
the audience feeling disorientated and
lost.
The only sound is a piano playing an eerie
tune that leaves the audience with
discomfort.
The trees are without leaves and
desaturated in black and white which
shows that it is a cold, cloudy, unpleasant
day.
The production credits appear in the
bottom right corner of the shot, some
written in capitals and some written in
lower case showing the uncertainty and
leaving the audience feeling confused.

3. The first thing that stands out to the
audience about the second shot is the mise-
en-scene of the bright red jumper that the
doll is wearing. It stands out as the rest of the
shot is desaturated and red is a colour that
people normally associate with horror
therefore relating to the horror genre.
The long shot of the doll also helps to portray
the horror genre as you would expect the
doll to be a person at first glance but because
it’s a doll it is confusing to the audience. The
background has also been blurred in this shot
so that the audience isn’t distracted and has
full attention on the doll.

4. This is the sort of shot that the audience
would expect to see as an establishing
shot as it given them a sense of location
and helps them to give them more of an
understanding of what is going on.
However this shot is used as the third
shot in the sequence instead of the first
making the audience feel bewildered
appealing to the psychological horror
genre.
This shot is again desaturated and there
is smoke in the center of the shot coming
out of what looks like a factory chimney.
The writing that is in the shot is written
in a mixture of capitals and and lower
case letters.

5. This shot uses back lit lightening to show an
outline of a bald man. Back lit lightening is used in
order to show the outline of a person or object, so
that features and details cannot be seen by the
audience. Linking to the idea of being scared of
the unknown this shot may have been used to
either warn the audience of this man or make
them fear him.
Then a shot is taken where the man turns his head
to the side exposing his face but as a result of the
back lit lighting his features still can’t be seen. The
name of the actor appears to the right of him in
the shot and is written in capitals standing out to
the audience.

6. Similar to the second shot the
first thing that stands out to the
audience is the colour red
contrasting with the black and
white surroundings. However this
time the red looks like blood
insinuating the horror into the
shot making the audience feel
apprehensive.
The sound during this shot
sounds like a chime whilst the
piano is still playing. This music is
quite uncomfortable music that
would normally be associated
with the horror genre.

7. This shot is a close up of what
looks like an old hand hanging
blond hair onto a nail in a
damaged, ripped wall. This is
quite confusing to the audience
as it doesn’t make sense why
somebody would be doing this
and can come across creepy.
There are two actors names that
come up here however they are
written in black whereas all the
others so far have been written
in white.

8. This is a medium shot of a man that looks similar to the
man showed previously where his features weren’t visible.
The cinematography uses low key lightening making the
man fully visible. It shows him sitting at a table across from
an empty chair behind a window, which looks as if he is at
the police about to be interrogated. However the audience
are unsure whether he is good or bad drawing them in as
they want to find out more.
This is a close up of the man and in this shot the
audience get the first glimpse of what he really looks
like. This man had appeared various times throughout
the opening sequence suggesting to the audience that
he is a main character in Durham County.
There is still low key lighting and the colours are almost
black and white.

9. In both these shots the colour red is used again. In
the shot on the right it is used to portray blood where
as in the shot on the left it is instead used to show
roses. This colour is a colour which is typically
associated with horror and has a psychological affect
on the audience.
In the shot on the right it is similar to a previous shot
where the audience would expect the figure to be a
human when in fact its just a model person. The shot is
filmed by hand held and pans quickly over both model
people, then stopping and focusing on the male model
person lying on the floor with blood coming out their
head and a gun on the floor.
The shot of the roses is quite calm with them floating in
the water whilst actors names are displayed.

10. This is another establishing shot
which is used to show location to
the audience. This looks like an
estate, showing the audience that
this is where a majority of the TV
show will be set.
The shot is desaturated and the sky
is full of clouds looking like a
gloomy winter day in England.

11. This shot similar to a previous
shot is back lit so only the
outlines of the two people can
be seen.
This shot is different to
previous as it is faced paced
with a lot of movement as the
two people in the shot are
dancing compared to other
shots which have either been
motionless or very slow with
little movement of the people
in them.

12. This shot is a long shot of a man that
appears to have a spot light shining
on him. This shot is at night so the
spot light is what is used to see the
man as there is no other visible light.
Night time is when most horrors are
set as there is more fear of darkness
then there is of the day, so this shot
fits well with the horror genre.

13. This long shot of the man that
has been seen in previous
shots in the middle of a field
suggests to the audience that
he is either getting away from
something or trying to find
someone.
The trees are without leaves
and the cold, cloudy weather
relates well to the horror
genre.

14. The final shot is the same as the previous shot, however the man isn’t there and the final title appears in the middle
of the shot. The colour red is used in the title and has been a running colour throughout the opening sequence in a
variety of different shots as it is a colour that is associated with murder and horror, which reflects what the audience
should expect in the TV show.