Alfred Hitchcock starts the sequence of The Birds in a rather unusual way, he uses contrast in his title sequence to confuse the audience which is a common feature of a thriller opening.
Black birds on a light grey sky with bold turquoise colours. The black is a symbol death and evil, whereas the light grey sky creates a double meaning: it could represent hope from the evil or innocence being destroyed by the evil. The turquoise is a symbol of action as it stands out from the two rather dark colours. It can also be that its two (black and grey) verses one (turquoise). When the credits are finished in the opening sequence it cuts to a blackout from the light grey which hints that the light grey is not a symbol of hope.
The font of the credits is very bold and almost as if it has authority over you because its in capitals. It’s the kind of font which is usually used in a police department.
Alfred Hitchcock uses diegetic and non-diegetic sound to build suspense for the audience. The sound of the birds is diegetic sound, we are given a clue of what the film may include, its also an unpleasant sound of birds which we see at an isolated place, its not the stereotypical sound of birds singing and damsel in distress appearing and singing with them like they do in fairy-tales. The non-diegetic sound is of a piano with other instruments such as the drum, the non-diegetic gives an isolated imagination to the viewers. Hitchcock is trying to make the audience feel like when they do when they go to the kitchen at night without turning the lights on to wake anybody up.
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