DTRT: title sequence

• The opening credits introducing the 'Spike Lee Joint' of Rosie Perez, jump cutting as she dances in front of classic red bricks of Brooklyn NYC.
• The title sequence slides in with the opening bars of 'Fight the Power' introducing the audience to Rosie Perez and the music of Public Enemy (FTP written for SL), the perfect opener for the provocative subject matter Lee tackles head - on.
• Perez dancing in a red dress against the orange glow: immediate introducing this sense of heat that fills the film.
• Cross cutting between Rosie shadow boxing and her powerful dancing, the shadowboxing foreshadowing the inevitable fight at the end of the film.
• Ernest Dickenson: 'the opening scene was definitely an attempt to do something very stylized, to get the feel of Brooklyn, Spike being a big fan of Hollywood musicals.'
• Similar to Hitchcock, Rosie Perez has said that spike kept telling her to 'bring more passion and anger to the dance', bringing her to a real level of anger at Lee that translated into her dancing. Which succeeded for the emotional part of the sequence, seen in a LA CU of her face, but for Perez meant she was extremely tired and disliked her performance.
• The opening credits are an intertextual reference / homage (SL auteur trait) to 'Bye Bye Birdie'
• 'i wasn't trying to be sexy, i was just so angry that i couldn't even look at the camera.'
• Like Hitchcock, Lee creates this dual identity for Rosie as she switches between the different costuming's.
• To a similar extent the opening of DTRT reflects SL auteur traits rather than New Hollywood.
• Her dance helped the opening become a turning point for hip-hop in film and a triumph of title design - much like Vertigo and the Lissajous waves.
• The raw emotion established in the opening titles courses throughout the film, rousing audiences, igniting controversy, and raising questions about race and social structure — many still resonate today.
• The title sequence uses ELS, wide lens, differing angles and bold red colours to incite emotion.