Analysis of the Vertigo title sequence

Vertigo Title Sequence

 

 

 

The Vertigo title sequence is a very iconic opening due to the extreme close up on the main characters face. The cinematography focuses on this to give in depth detail on the character without giving anything away from the storyline. Despite the film's genre being a thriller I decided to analyse this title sequence as I wanted to add key aspects from this title sequence to our opening credits such as the extreme close ups and the graphic matches portrayed in the video.

 

 

At the start of the title sequence, we see the camera pan to the left and zoom in on the lips to give a detailed account about the characters facial expressions and to prove this the camera cranes towards the other facial features of this character. We have decided we want to incorporate this into our own film as it immediately portrays our main characters expressions and facial features to the audience to make them feel related to the main character from the start.

 

 

As the title sequence progresses the camera continues to pan and zoom to the point where the camera is conveying an extreme close up of the characters eye suggesting the camera is looking into her soul. Meanwhile, a red filter is applied whilst titles zoom in from the centre of the eye. This red symbolism could foreshadow blood and pain will appear in the film as the connotations of red symbolises this. When editing our own film we will apply a similar style to Vertigo however instead of applying a red filter to symbolise blood, we will apply a yellow filter as the colour yellow is frequent throughout the film. We decided to add yellow to our film as this colour is a primary colour. This can connotate childhood innocence. By matching this with the main character this symbolises that our main character is child like and not very mature.

 

After the title progresses to zoom it fades away and a spiral swirl effect fades in in the centre of the characters eyes. This could emphasise to the viewer that maybe the character is being possessed or hypnotises as the spiral swirling effect is in the centre of her eye which could be seen as a reflection of watch she is looking at. In addition to this, this indicates to the audience that the spiral could be a main part of the film as it is shown in the centre of the characters eye in the title sequence. For our own film we will incorporate this effect into our title sequence. However instead of a spiral we will fade in our fidget spinner spinning around in the centre of his eye to convey a passage of time which links to our plot: time travel (that is caused by the fidget spinner itself).

 

 

Once a few seconds have passed the extreme close up of his eye fades to black whilst the spiral remains spinning to further emphasise the passage of time. Furthermore, the spiral continues to expand and grow suggesting that time is a major part of this storyline. Due to our film focusing on time we will replace the spiral with the fidget spinner because our fidget spinner manipulates time. In addition we will start with a faint image of the fidget spinner and as time progresses in the title sequence we will make the spinner more saturated and bold to emphasise the dominance the fidget spinner has on our film's storyline.

 

 

Also, the spirals remain spinning throughout the rest of the title sequence however they change shape to show the difference time can make on life. However due to our fidget spinner being a main necessity to our storyline we wont change the spinner in our title sequence and instead the spinner will just progress to get even bolder and bigger on the screen.

 

 

In addition to the visual effects the title sequence has on an audience, there are also sound effects which adds to the experience of the title sequence. Throughout the Vertigo title sequence there is incidental major key non diegetic music that adds a mysterious and engaging feel to the title sequence which positively coincides with the films genre; thriller as a thriller is meant to engage and entertain the audience. For our film, our films purpose is to also entertain but in a comedic effect rather than engaging. Therefore when adding in music to our title sequence it will most likely be major key music but fast paced to juxtapose the seriousness of Vertigo.