Vertigo - Georgia Worsfold

Camera Work

• After the credits it starts with an extreme close up of a persons eye, it highlights fear and deep concentration.
• There is then a close up on someone’s hand, then it zooms out to reveal the character. This works well as it gets the viewers attention when the hand appears, then you can identify the character.
• The characters run past the camera, the camera doesn’t pan after them, it makes you want to know where they are running to. Then the next shot reveals where they are and how far up they are when it pans across all of the roofs. Showing how insignificant they are. But also shows that something is happening on that one roof and no where else.
• It zooms out from the ground to show how far up he is, but also shows how close he is to falling at the same time.
• There is a mid close up of the main character and then the police man to show their reactions to the situation, it shows the pain and effort it is to the police man.

Sound

• With the hand shot there is music that builds up tension, this happens throughout the opening. It keeps the viewer on their feet and wanting to know what’s going to happen next.
• When the characters jump over one of the roofs, the music goes quieter, so then the viewer can focus more on what is happening. Then they can understand the plot better.
• Then the music gets louder when the main character falls and quickly grabs onto the ledge, this highlights fear.

Credits

• The credits go on for a long time, and takes up half of the opening.
• They’re rather basic and don’t really have any relevance to what happens next. This could confuse the viewer and make then want to understand the storyline.
• The music gets louder during the credits which builds up to the first shot you see of the eye.

Mise en Scene

• There’s low key lighting, it’s very hard to see what exactly is happening at some points, which again makes the viewer have to look harder at what is happening.
• The police outfit makes it easy to tell the difference between the types of people within the opening.
• The police silhouette makes him look like the bad one, as dark usually represents evil. So when he goes back to help the main character you are almost shocked. His face is then highlighted slightly, which then makes you realise that he isn’t the bad one.