The film begins , a wide shot which shows Detective Somerset reading in bed. Then a close up, his hand enter the shot placing his glasses beside him bed. The camera tilts upwards with Somerset's eye-line; a technique that is used a lot in the opening sequence and Somerset sets off a metronome which reveals he has trouble sleeping, maybe due to his line of work. We see that the he is reading a book; this shows Somerset to be intellectual. From now until the end of this shot the camera slowly zooms in on Somerset then cut away s are used to show the metronome still ticking coinciding with the zooming in on Somerset. This together shows that Somerset is falling asleep, this leads the viewer to think why does he need help sleeping? And what will happen when he wakes?
The credits begin, the titles are edited into various strange strange shots, firstly a close up of a book, pages turning,shot at an upward angle. This is the first contact with the killer, even though the audience do not know it, showing close up of scribbled pictures maybe a way of crossing people from a list, this also shows that the killer is psychotic and deranged Throughout this sequence the music is a heavy beat of percussion and creaking creaking from what seems to be in background, this music was used to provoke tension . the final close ups of the killer are of him slicing his fingertips probably to obscure his fingerprints ,this shows the killers determination not to be caught or even suspected shrouding him in mystery.