From script to screen: How does the credit sequence from Dexter work?

Eric Anderson's ideas started off as simple concepts. He first realised how much he's fascinated with crime scene photography. He said that ' as a kid I loved looking through my grandfather's True detective magazine collection.'  He thought that crime scene photographs gave mundane objects an overwhelming and sinister importance. For example this image is just an ordinary window until you find out that it was that window that Martin Luther King was shot at from.

He also like that work of Two other people; He spoke of ' David Byrne's book  'Strange Ritual' full of wonderful photos of nothing, and how in the simplest way, Mike Kelley made the cutest most usual things incredibly naughty.

But a big concept that Eric thought about was that if you flip the name Dexter upside-down then most of the letters are the same apart from a couple. This represents also how the character is like. He has a normal side but when he becomes the serial killer(the flip side of himself) he doesn't under-go a big change, he's still the same person just that something different, something's wrong. This is also shown in the opening because very normal things are filmed to look like they are sinister.  

I think the actual opening sequence shows this sense of normality with a dangerous flip-side, by filming very ordinary objects  and actions very close which creates a very sinister feeling. These shots also have a very shallow depth of field. In the opening we see drops of blood in a sink and also some eggs being cooked. This could be a very normal thing to have a bleeding cut after a shave but the close ups of the blood drops make it seem violent and sinister.

Noir lighting is used to add atmosphere. This is done by using very precise and focused lighting, this could  represent how the character is also precise in being a serial killer, it also makes the opening and the character seem quite evil.  However there is also lots of shadow and darkness in the opening that is quite dominant over the light. This gives the opening a dark and spooky feeling to both the character and the program. The shallow depth of field used help you focus on the details on the meat for example. This adds a tense atmosphere and makes the shot quite disgusting so the viewer feels squeamish.

The original Xploding Plastix track was originally chosen for the title sequence, however it created a feeling that the producers thought was not right for this opening. It was then replaced by another piece of music which worked very well and had the right feel to it.

The original piece made the fact that he's a killer too obvious.The music connotes an almost comical feel giving the opening titles a sort of split personality. This is also very prominent within Dexter as a character because at one point he is a dark, mysterious killer, however at other times he is a supposedly innocent forensic detective.