Bedlam Opening Credits Decontrusction

Bedlam Deconstruction

The word Bedlam means, 'a scene of uproar and confusion' which already gives the audience ideas about what type of movie is going to be presented.

Typography

At the start of the opening credits for Bedlam, the text jumps about and glitches around (like the opening credits in SE7EN) which could indicate that the movie might be scary or jumpy like the text is. The text flickers like the lightbulb in the beginning of the opening credits, showing that it is unstable or broken, maybe like the mind of a killer perhaps. The font of the text is always white, this is because the overall colour scheme of the opening credits of Bedlam is dark and moody allowing the text to be seen easier.

Genre + Mise-en-scene

The opening credits of Bedlam begin with non-digetic sound and an effect which almost makes it look like a flashback for a character as the screen quickly moves around from image to image as if someone is recalling these events.

The scene then quickly moves into a room lit only with a single light dangling from the ceiling and we are met with a man in a chair with what seems to be wearing a jacket which is binding his hands together (similar to the one Hannibal Lecter wears) something which patients in a mental asylum would wear, showing that maybe he is one of said patients. Using only one lightbulb to lightup the room also adds an eerie feeling to the atmosphere as light is often seen as hope and freedom however the room is stripped of that. Straight after a pan shot of what looks like a hospital ward is then shown, confirming the idea of an asylum and the idea of there being no hope. The mise-en-scne in the hospital is messy, unkempt showing signs that it is old and perhaps not in use anymore, it might be an abandoned mental asylum.  A shot of a womens back is then shown next, however the way the camera moves towards the women is like that of a predator sneaking/approaching its prey, the use of this camera technique makes it seem like someone if watching her. The women is also seen looking towards the window, looking outside desiring freedom.

A scene with a rather wealthy man sitting on a desk with burning paper is shown after, however images of him were seen before in the little mini edits (timestamps shown in pictures), further confirming that this could be little flashbacks from a character. The character is already shown to be different to the other two shown, he dosen't look like a victim. This then raises the question as to why there is paper burning around him, could they be documents perhaps? documents of the mental asylum? The character look like someone who could be in charge of something important maybe suggesting that there is shady business going on within the mental asylum.

Supernatural activities can be seen during the opening credits of Bedlam, a women is seen rapidly being pulled or thrown backwards away from the wall at an insane speed, and the use of a camera angle and a sped up effect makes the POV seem as if it's from a ghost or otherworldly being. A women is seen looking at a mirror and then looking away, however the image reflected in the mirror is still staring straight ahead at her emphasising the fact that there is something ghostly there. Little supernatural edits like this are effective in showing the type of movie we are going to see, more of a supernatural horror than anything else.

 The use of a doll is also seen during the opening credits of Bedlam, something which conforms to the horror genre. The doll also has no eyes, something humans use to recognise one another, it is said the brain actively looks for faces (2 eyes and a mouth) which is why we can all say we've seen a face in a rock or somewhere there shouldn't be one. By removing the eyes it gives a chilly and ominous feeling to the tone of the opening credits. Finally the last scene of the opening credits is the title of the film over a building, which is most likely the mental asylum or abandoned hospital which is hinted majorly during the whole of the opening credits.

Sound

Bedlam mostly uses a synthesised non-digetic sound track during the background of the opening credits, there are elements of diegetic sound such as something which sounds like someone screaming or shouting. There is also a heartbeat noise which is diegetic and the pace of it quickens in time with the scene showing fast-paced action or how the audience should be feeling while watching the same scene, it is meant to be scary and get your heart pumping faster.