This is my film opening analysis of the film 'Hot Fuzz'

1. OliverBooth
Film Opening Analysis – Hot Fuzz
The film starts with non-diegetic sound of police sirens as the film production logos appear on the
screen. The eerie sirensgradually get louderandbuild a bitof tensionuntil they suddenly cutoff asthe
camera cuts into a long shotof a corridor, andat the very end is a dark figure coming towards us. The
sound now is only diegetic as we can hear this person’s footstep and the automatic double doors
opening and closing. Although this long shot of the corridor is quite long in duration, it builds tension
aroundthismysterious character. This is because first of all we cannotproperly see the character until
he finally comes close to the camera. His determined, purposeful walk is slightly intimidating, as it is
directed at usand all the time the audience cannot help butwonder, who exactly this character is and
whether he is goodorbad. Whenhe gets close enough, we canfinally identify himas a policemanfrom
his uniform, and soon he takes off his hat, shows a serious determined face and holds up his badge
directly to the camera. At this point a voiceover cuts in starting with the words, “Police Constable
Nicolas Angel,” at the same time as we can clearly see his name written on the badge.
The openingisvery muchfocusedon thischaracter, NicolasAngel, andthevoiceover guidesusthrough
all the important achievements he has made to become a valued member of the police service.
Throughout this voiceover, the camera cuts into shots showing his past achievements and it
occasionally also cuts back to him walking throughthe police station in the present day. For example,
hesayshereceived the“BatonofHonour,”andherethecamerashowsamid-closeupofAngel standing
proudly infull police uniformholdingthe trophy, withotherofficers surroundinghim. Thecamera then
zoomsoutintoalongshotshowingalltheofficers, withAngel inthe middle. Themany flashesrepresent
the many pictures being taken by the surroundingphotographers. Infact, one of the flashes acts as a
transitionintoa new shot, which is a low angle shotback in the police stationin thepresent day. Here,
the camera is set under some stairs as we see Nicolas run up them energetically.
The opening is full of quick edits; the shots we see are brief but they show a great deal of action.
Particularly at the beginning when he says, “Attended Hempen College of Police Training…displayed
great attitudein field exercises.” Inthese two shortlines he says, ninedifferent shotshavepassed. The
first shot is a tracking shot showing a line of people from the side; the camera focuses upon Angel,
whereas the other men around him are slightly blurred. The next shot is very quick zoom in of Angel
which starts from a mid-long shot to a close up of his face. The next seven shots show him running
aggressively througha bunchof tall, heavy punch bags. The editing here in particular is extremely fast
andit is quite hardto identify all the different shots. There is a long shot from the side as we see Angel
run into the punch bags. We then see a long shot from behind him as he runs through, followed an
extremely quick mid-shotshowingthe front of him as he aggressively fights his way throughthe bags.
The camera then cuts into a side trackingshot of him and then a close up of him finally escaping from
all the bags. There is then a jumpcut of him as we see him transportfrom one place to another place
in the next shot. Though jump cuts are usually very amateur, this jump cut seems to work well. This
opening is meant to show fast-movingaction and with the use of a quick jump cut, this speedsup the
action slightly. It is also effective in the way that the transitionbetween these two shotsis like a flash
of a camera which seems to add more to the eventful scene.
From the Mise-En-Scene, it is very clear thatthis character is in the 21st
Century world of policing. The
building in which he walks appears very well built and modern and his uniform is typical of that worn
by policementoday. Theoffices are equippedwith computers, andtheclean, clustered andslightly cold
appearance of the station makes it believable that it is a professional working environment. The
different clothes whichAngel andtheothercharacter’swear inthe many scenesallmakefor a plausible
verisimilitude. For example, when we see the shots in the police college, all men are dressed in the
same appropriate sporting attire. Also when they are together in the chaotic urban area, they are

2. OliverBooth
dressed in fully padded armoured clothing carrying terrifying looking machine guns. This is typical of
today’sSWATpolice. When Angel is showngiving a lecture in the prison, in the brief longshotin which
the prisoners are shown, all of the men look very tough and un-forgiving – they portray the typical
stereotypesof a prisoner. They are also all dressed in the same, plain outfit, which is typical of prison
uniform.