The document analyzes the opening sequence of the film Vertigo through its camera angles, soundtrack, editing, and mise-en-scene. The sequence starts with a close-up of a frightened woman's eye that pans up to her face. It establishes an eerie tone using dizzying camera angles and a unsettling non-diegetic soundtrack. The editing employs slow pacing and spirals to mirror themes of confusion and obsession. Elements like the policeman's uniform and use of vivid red contrasted with a washed-out palette set the dark and ominous tone through mise-en-scene.

1. VERTIGO: ANALYSIS
By Harry Heath

2. CAMERA ANGLES
The film starts off with a close-up shot of a
women's mouth and pans up to the women's
eye. The persons eyes seem scared and restless.
The screen turns red while focused on the eye
and the music hits a eerie climax. At this point
we get a wide-eyed reaction shot of fear
without being able to see what this women is
scared of.
With the wide shot on the rooftop and the
dolly zoom shot of the street when Scottie
experiences vertigo on the ledge, the film sets
a tone that is outside the realm of reality.

3. SOUNDTRACK
• The non diagetic music is eerie and helps to builds up the suspense. The
soundtrack then gets much faster paced so as a result the audience can expect
something to happen.
• When the policeman is falling to his death, the music gets much deeper, echoing
the mood of the scene.
• There is not much diagetic sound, but when there is it is over emphasized, such as
the metal guttering bending, enhancing fear.
• The incidental music begins with a simple melody which is reminiscent of a child's
lullaby. However, the tune has eerie undertones that build up to reverberating,
broken chords. The use of a childish melody subliminally suggests the idea of
haunted past or disturbed childhood, themes that reinforce the ominous and
sinister feel of the sequence.

4. Editing
• Spirals are used repetitively, which connote the prevalent themes of the film:
confusion, fear and obsession.
• They also signify a lack of control and echo the protagonist's extreme fear of
heights; the vertiginous and sickeningly continuous
circles parallel Scottie's spinning, twisting views of sheer heights that occur several
times throughout the film.
• The slow pace of the opening sequence is created by the editing; the takes/shots are
relatively long and the transitions used are slow.
• The pace is important for evoking tension within the audience and conveying the
dark mood of the entire film.
• The slow descent of the film as a whole is hinted at in the opening sequence, as is
the film's dystopian ending. This is also reinforced through use of music.
• The entire sequence is made up of about 10 shots and fade and dissolve transitions.

5. Editing
• The opening credits hypnotically spiral out of a mysterious eye- setting an enigma code of
who’s eye it is?
• The editing is slow paced with straight cuts- this is due to the age of the film as they did
not have the same availability of technology as we have today.
• Slowly, coloured spirals come out of the persons eyes and slowly spin their way towards
the camera. This intensifies the air of suspense and creates a very stereotypical thriller
atmosphere, since the red connotes blood and murder, and the spirals and very intimate
portrayal of the eye seem both supernatural and makes the audience think of a person in
some kind of distress, respectively.
• The effect of the transition from the woman’s eye to a spiral is that the audience can make
the connection between the spiral and the inner workings of the woman's mind. The
suggestion of an unstable mind is then created and a stronger enigma is evoked within
the audience.

6. MISE EN SCENE
• The coloured spirals continue for much of the opening sequence, and their
changing colour, shape, and consistency aids to give the audience the feel of a
never ending fall, and it also has an hypnotic quality, which is in keeping with the
films thriller theme.
• The uniform of the policeman gives the impression of authority, implying who the
‘good guy’ should technically be.
• The colour of the sequence is predominantly washed-out and colourless; it’s
nearly black and white. However, as the camera moves closer to the woman's right
eye, the screen is flooded with red. This use of colour connotes danger, violence,
blood etc. and reinforces the dark and ominous atmosphere.
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