American Psycho Film Opening

The film opening I have decided to analyze is of my favourite film, American Psycho.

The opening starts with a plain, white background with the company 'LIONS GATE FILMS PRESENTS' in the middle left corner, no sound.
A red drop appears with the sound of suspense as it lands.
'AN EDWARD R. PRESSMAN PRODUCTION' is next to the screen, with another drop and the music again.
'IN ASSOCIATION WITH MUSE PRODUCTIONS & CHRISTIAN HALSEY SOLOMON', two more drops fall.
As 'A MARY HARRON FILM' appears on the screen in the middle, the music starts, with more drops, the screen stays focused on the director's name for awhile.
more drops fall, we start to see them land in a wax stamp way, the title of the film 'AMERICAN PSYCHO' appears on screen, PSYCHO in bold, with the red splatter surrounding the wording. Another drop falls, the drops fade away and the title is left there alone.
Next shot is of pouring red liquid, with a happier tune, it fades away slowly, in the right corner another red liquid appears, in a zig zag pattern. Shot changes to someone holding up a knife, with the main actor's name in the middle 'CHRISTIAN BALE', again, the last word in bold. The knife goes off screen, it stays white with his name on for awhile, then a piece of meat appears, the knife swings heavily down on it, with the music going higher and the slice blending in.
'WILLEM DAFOE' appears on the screen, with raspberries falling behind on the right side, the shot goes off to a close up of some food, the piece of meat with
the sauce and raspberries by it's side, with more raspberries falling. The shot goes out and the food appears to be on a plate, with someone holding it by either side, the plate moves to the right and 'JARED LETO' appears on screen, middle bottom. The music changes completely as the food is placed on a table with knife and fork, 'JOSH LUCAS' appears, the same way as Jared Leto's name. The camera swiftly moves round the table to another well prepared meal and also big pink roses, 'SAMANTHA MATHIS' is the next name on screen, someone tucks in to one of the meals with their fork, the shot goes to some woman's head looking at a menu, the camera goes around the restaurant looking at all the different people there and their food. 'BILL SAGE' is the next on screen, with more well prepared food 'CHLOE SEVIGNY' appears. The camera moves over to the torso of a waiter in a white suit and a black bow tie, holding two plates infront of him 'CARA SEYMOUR' appears as the waiter walks towards the camera. The camera goes over to a woman cutting into her desert 'JUSTIN THEROUX' is next on screen, the camera moves over to a man picking up his cigarette from an ash tray.

The camera flashes quickly to someone with black gloves eating a raspberry coolie with a marange swan, the coolie making it look like a murder scene, the coolie obviously symbolizing blood, with the way it's splattered and how the swan is cut open. 'GUINEVERE TURNER' appears on the screen near the end of that shot, you can hear a waiter explaining what certain items on the menu are to another table, the camera tracks behind him viewing the guests he is explaining to, 'REESE WITHERSPOON' is the next name, the camera closes up on the waiter's face, as he explains more food, the camera goes over to another waiter doing the same. The camera tracks a waiter's profile moving towards a table, CASTING by BILLY HOPKINS SUZANNE SMITH & KERRY BARDEN' are the next names.
The camera moves over to the main table of the sequence, the one holding Patrick Bateman, the backview of one man, looking over the shoulder at the two main character's in shot. The rest of this sequence is showing what their character's are like, joking around, reacting in sarcasm, also showing they're not too sure who others surrounding them are. 'PRODUCTION DESIGNER GIDEON PONTE' appears, another member joins the table, referencing doing drugs in the bathroom, the group begin to discuss other employee's accounts. 'MUSIC SUPERVISORS BARRY COLE & CHRISTOPHER COVERT' are the next credits, whilst Patrick and another employee are having a discussion 'MUSIC by JOHN CALE' 'EDITOR ANDREW MARCUS' their jobs appear in a smaller font than their names, a female waitress dressed in black and a low cut top, drops off a bill on their table 'DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY ANDRZEJ SEKULA' appears, the next shot is of the characters dropping their credit cards into the provided bronze plate and commenting on how reasonable the meal was, when in actual fact to me and you it is quite expensive, this shows what type of life the men lead.
The music changes completely, to 80's rock, showing an extreme close-up of a man counting a lot of notes, 'CO PRODUCERS ERNIE BARBARASH CLIFFORD STREIT ROB WEISS' the camera moves up towards a man dressed like Adam Ant. 'EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MICHAEL PASEORNEK JEFF SACKMAN JOSEPH DRAKE' appears whilst the camera is set behind the characters entering a nightclub, 'PRODUCED BY EDWARD R. PRESSMAN CHRIS HANLEY CHRISTIAN HALSEY SOLOMON' is on the screen as the camera long shots the entrance of the club and the character's walking in.
The scene changes to a dark, blue, UV-like setting, with three women dressed like Charlie's Angel's, moves over to a slight Birdseye view of the guests dancing to the music, a few being the character's around the table. 'BASED ON THE NOVEL BY BRET EASTON ELLIS' is the next credits, which is vital to the opening sequence, the camera moves shakily through the audience until it reaches a bar, 'SCREENPLAY BY MARY HARRON & GUINEVERE TURNER' The camera changes to a shot of Patrick Bateman on the other side of the bar, shouting over the music to the bar tender, holding a credit card in his hand, the bar tender explains the bar doesn't accept them anymore, he smiles as the woman asks for cash, he smiles sweetly and hands her the money, the camera stays on him smiling for awhile, then he suddenly gets an annoyed look on his face and says 'You're a fucking ugly bitch, I want to stab you to death and play around with your blood.' we see that he is talking to the mirror in front of him, and that the woman has her back to him, paying attention to the drinks, she hands them to him with change, the camera goes back to the mirror, where we can see Patrick smiling nicely at her again, as he turns back to the crowd 'DIRECTED BY MARY HARRON' are the last credits in the scene.
End sequence

I like the way how the opening blends in cleverly with the rest of the film, also pointing out main points about how the characters behave and act towards one another, it also gives a clear background of their social life and wealth. You get a clear idea who the main character is in a subtle way to start with.
The idea of moving to a complete different scene is clever aswell, the credits blend in with the film though, I've never noticed there was so many before I decided to analyze the whole thing.
I really enjoy this opening because the beginning is showing different objects which represent blood and violence, mostly food.
The bit where you see someone with the black gloves eating the coolie shows that the character must be the sadistic murderer in this story, however when it comes to finally seeing his face, he is not wearing any gloves.
I really like how the style of scene and music changes completely, starting off with soft, classical then going to heavy 80's music in the club scene. What Patrick says in the mirror is a main part of the sequence, it tells us what this man is about in just a few seconds.

The font used for the titles is effective too, it's simple yet classy, and the way they are presented on the screen is well done too. I find it effective how the director's name is after all the companies who helped and then at the end of the sequence it finally says directed by. I also like how the typical Lionsgate symbol isn't used, as this would ruin the effect of the titles and film, if it started off with a load of gears.
It's good how they included that story is based on a book and even gave the writer credit, also the credits seem to include all the actors in the film.



You can watch the opening sequence over at Youtube, there was no embed code.