As soon as the clip begins we are struck with the sound of thunder which grabs the viewers attention as it something that often makes people jump and or scared due to the randomness and loudness of it in real life. Therefore it is already subliminally assigning a fear factor into the viewer, especially as the audio level is raised in comparison to the following section of the clip. The sound of the thunder slowly transitions into what is a very industrial, metal backing track with hints of synth instruments being played too. Digitally distorted voices are heard before the sound of a vinyl being ripped off occurs. This implies that whoever it is in the opening credits has this recording and is listening to it, we presume that it's the murderer in the credits and this only reinforces our suspicions and beliefs that they are a sick and twisted individual. The general noise of the track is uncomfortable to listen to goes straight through you because of the deep bass which is regularly contrasted by the loud squeals of the vinyl. Just over a minute in, the soundtrack begins to develop a beat all whilst keeping hold of the deeply disturbing sounds in the background. This correlates with the stereotype of a serial killer as they often do things in patterns but are still erratic, much like the actual sounds making up the track.
All of the credits in the sequence are written in very untidy handwriting, it looks almost as if they've been carved into something such as flesh which doesn't come as much of a shock in regards to the rest of the film. Hand writing is a large part of some ones identity and this one is very stereotypical to that of a serial killer as it appears to belong to someone who is disturbed or in a great deal of discomfort whether it be emotional or physical.
The first real images seen are those of a pair of hands with what seems to be very severe arthritis. this could suggest that the killer is of age which isn't unusual in this style of film and has been done before in movies such as the Saw series. Then, it cuts a teabag in water. This is just a hint as to what the character is like in comparison to Detective Somerset who drinks coffee thus implying that they are in fact polar opposites. One likes to be clean, precise and is very regimented. The other is predictably going to be messy, and just do things in the spur of the moment. Just before this however we see him cutting off his fingerprints with razor blades as to make it harder for him to be held accountable for his crimes. This is common amongst serial killers as without a fingerprint it's very hard to be tracked and caught but this also creates an image of a very dangerous and twisted individual in the mind of the viewer.
There are then a series of blurred videos with the shot being an extreme close-up of the character writing on lined paper. However they aren't actually writing on the lines, more so just between them in a felt tip, so not even an actual pen. The words have little to no spacing which could suggest a lack of education which is understandable as a lack of education often brings with it a lack of morals and values, leading to not knowing right from wrong which can easily let someone deviate into a life of crime and violence.
Then they are scene cutting out rather disturbing pictures before adding them to one of the 'scrapbooks' they are making. One of the pictures is that of a naked child which automatically makes the viewer assume that the killer is a victim of child abuse themselves and that could even be an image of them for all we know. We also see some crude images of a males head post operation with a medical steel rod going through the skin and onto the skull. Then they begin to censor words out of printed books such as 'intercourse' and 'transsexual'. As of the opening sequence we have no idea as to why this happens but can only assume that it is one of two things, what was mentioned beforehand, abuse, or that this person feels that they hold so much power they can even begin to censor words that they don't like or are affiliated with things they don't approve of. To further this theme of censorship we see him black out the eyes of the face of a young boy with a single pen-stroke before doing it to the remainder of the image. We do not know whom this young boy is. Is it a victim? Is it the murderer? The last bit of 'censorship' we see is the character cutting and removing the word 'God' from the section of an American Dollar which says 'In God we trust'. This suggests that maybe the killer thinks of themself as omnipotent and in fact rivals God or just is God. He could also be offended by the word due to maybe experiencing a strict and violent religious upbringing.We see the character laying a piece of film down in his book which further suggests a man of age as it is an analogue form of technology rather than digital. This fits the stereotype of the elderly not being able to grasp new technologies as well as referring back to what I have already aforementioned.
The murderer begins to sew the book together with a very crude needle that has a gained a small blood stain after he ran it through his fingers. He isn't using thread either he is using a very thick and cheap string to do it and looks almost like what we imagine sewing up a wound in medieval times would consist of (Thick and dirty looking string on a clearly unsterilised needle). We catch more glimpses of the characters fingernails here as well as previously and they are very short and untrimmed. They are bitten. Biting of nails is something associated with people who are nervous or have anxiety. Alternatively people do it when they're bored so this could imply that this person is in fact bored when not killing so they do it for fun for some reason. Maybe because of the adrenaline rush they gain from the 'thrill of the hunt'. We also see a small section of hair being placed into a clear bag. This plays along with another stereotype and fact that a lot of serial killers like to claim 'trophies' such as body parts and locks of hair thus reassuring our suspicions that this guy is a serial killer, just like the rest to a degree. To end the credits we see a very short and quick tracking shot of all their previous books suggesting that they are experienced in what they do (murdering people) and enjoy documenting their victories.
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