Analysis: Vertigo Opening

Vertigo is a Thriller by Alfred Hitchcock, released in 1959.

The opening starts extremely enigmatically - an extreme close up of 3/4 of a Woman's Nose and Mouth. The woman's features are at the left side of the screen, leaving a big black void to the right - What is behind her? Where is she? These questions riddle the viewers mind. The enigmatic atmosphere is only heightened at this point by the tinkly background music, which has rising and falling notations to it - This almost assimilates the feeling of the motion of breathing, or the wind blowing past - which is overall very tense and mysterious. But then, the light on her face brightens to show more detail (not clarifying her surroundings mind), to a level which you wouldn't really want - all of her imperfections are visible. The light could be described as clinical, like the light used in an interrogation. This may give a clue to later events in the film. 

The camera then pans to centre the woman's face on the screen, showing less of her nose but more of her mouth. The music crescendos dramatically, highlighting the impending drama of the situation. As the music crescendos, the Woman's mouth twitches, and the name of star James Stewart appears over her lips (as if she's saying it). The Camera now moves up to her eyes. Eyes are sometimes known as 'windows to the soul' and if this was a phrase used in the day this film was made, then it would explain the reasoning behind this shot perfectly. The colours of the shot also become more natural as we move to this shot, revealing something very sad about her expression - her eyes are shiny and moist, full of tears. She also has large pupils, and her eyes are overall very dark. She is looking around herself. Why is she so worried? What's going to happen to her?

The camera then pans and zooms to her left eye, and then zooms in further towards it. The music again Crescendos, as a Red wash is used on the shot. Red is a symbol of blood and death, and the shot becoming red highlights that the woman is not in a safe predicament. Thanks to the Wash, the details in the eye are more apparent - we can see the veins, the fact that her eyes are open much wider than before, and also her pupils have shrunk - indications of shock and fear. The Title then bursts from her Eye, followed by a small spiral pattern. This spiral grows as it spins from her pupil - it looks almost as if it was made with a spirograph. Although this is generally a cartoon trope, the spiral in her eye could indeed symbolise hypnosis. As the spiral grows and spins to fill the screen, the red-washed eye fades into blackness, leaving nothing but the spiral. Again, we are in a black void, only accompanied by this strange, swirling pattern. As the title sequence progresses, we are greeted with more spirals of different shapes, sizes and colours, all spinning and growing towards the viewer. This continues for the rest of the opening, further enhancing the mystery of the piece.