We firstly see a high angle close up shot of the woman's bare feet running along a dark, night road, she is wearing just a coat and holds no baggage therefore she instantly is perceived as a victim, a weak character. A mid shot shortly after shows the characters face, we can see her worried facial expression and we are introduced. She is continually rejected as she attempts to hitch a ride and an establishing shot (seen in the second box) denotes how small the woman is compared to this long, dark road which could be a connotation of her personality and status. Whilst she is running a non-diegetic orchestral piece (mainly brass) is playing, the music portrays fear and desperation alongside her heavy panting which continues for a long while into the film.
When the male character arrives, he is somewhat mysterious and reluctant toward the woman. However, his car is white which stereotypically allows the viewer to interpret this man as a 'good' character rather than a villain of the film. Here we here the diegetic sound of his car radio which plays the soundtrack for the next part of the film, this is interesting because although it is a diegetic sound, it acts like non-diegetic soundtrack music. Also, the song acts as a sound-bridge from this scene to the titles (which also credit the song).
The titles are sophisticated in consideration to the time period this film was made (1955), the font is block white and credits many of the crew involved in the making of the film rather than just the actors/actresses. However, these credits roll backwards (as seen in final box in image above) and although the true reason for this is unclear in the opening sequence, this does effectively draw the attention of the audience.
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