Opening Sequence Analysis of Number Seventeen

Number Seventeen was written and direct by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1932. The film is a classical thriller which involves a detective who tracks a group of criminals to a deserted house above a rail depot which they are using to escape to the continent.

In the opening sequence for number seventeen, it introduces the title credits along with non-diegetic music which helps to set the scene by creating tension and giving a mysterious feel towards the film.

After the credits are shown, the scene fades into a dark street which zooms into a tree, as the leaves blow off the tree the camera uses a tracking shot to follow the leaves along with a hat down the street, accompanied by the intense non-diegetic soundtrack, this draws the audiences attention to the hat and what and who the hat is going to lead to, this helps with the genre of a thriller as this genre plays with your imagination, the audience does't know what's going to happen.
The hat leads to an old gloomy house where the owner of the hat picks it up, this introduces the first character, suggesting that this is the main character within the sequence.

After this the tracking shot used for the main character continues showing him entering the building, and along with the mid-shot used creates a realistic sense. The lighting inside the building is very dull, and dim, and this creates a creepy and mysterious atmosphere and also creates tension for the viewer and leaves them wondering what will happen next. The music is very low toned, it makes the audience very tense as they are suggested towards something mysterious happening. The music speeds up when the man enters the house which suggests an extremely tense moment. It then fades out once he has been in the house for a while. The sound is non- diagetic so the man cannot hear the music. The music sounds as though a violin is being played and maybe even a piano. The house is very bare and empty which is another way in which makes the audience feel as though something mysterious is about to happen. There is shown a point of view low shot on the stairs which makes us as the audience think that there is something up there, the point of view makes us feel as though we are looking through the characters eyes at what they see or what they are worried about.

When the man enters the house we immediately think it looks odd/ suspicious as it is a stereotype of a 'haunted house' the reason for this is that the house is covered in leaves and it looks as though it has been overgrown, this suggests that no one has lived in this house for a while which is odd when the character finds the door to be wide open, the bareness of the house creates the mystery