Vertigo Opening

This is the first scene from Hitchcock's 1958 classic thriller.

Camerawork

• The opening shot fades in from black and we see what seems to be a pole, and then two hands grab onto it. The camera moves out to reveal the pole is part of a ladder on the side of the building, so the man climbs up it and then runs past camera. Behind him, two men, one in a police officer's uniform and the other in civilian clothes, also climb up the ladder one after the other.
• Next is a wide shot used to show the rooftops of the city at night, and the camera pans and follows the rooftop chase, with the policeman occasionally firing a shot from his gun.
• After this is a mid-shot of the first man jumping over something and clinging onto another rooftop, and subsequently climbing over it. The police man follows him, but the third man fails to cling on, and a closer in mid-shot shows him falling, and another of him catching the drain pipe. A close-up shows his realisation that he is stuck.
• A close-up shows the policeman going to help the man who fell, and we cut back to a close-up to see that man looking down at the ground. The next shot is a long who looking down at the ground, and the camera zooms out so it looks like the distance is getting bigger and bigger. This imagery helps us to understand the vertigo that he's experiencing.
• We cut to and from a close-up of the man looking down in terror, and then at the ground beneath him. The policeman turns back to try and rescue him, and the camera looks up towards him on the the roof, so this could be the man's POV. In one shot the camera looks down at the man hanging off the drain, with the open framing and the ground beneath him, and the hand of the policeman reaching out to him.
•  Subsequently the policeman falls off the roof, and in two shots we see him slip down in a mid-shot showing the roof and the man hanging, and then fall past the man in a close-up. The policeman falls to his death, and the camera looks down to the ground in the same wide angle as before, again this being the man's POV. Here we can see what he sees, and we are more empathetic towards the shock he is experiencing.
• We cut to a close-up of the man looking down at the ground. The the same wide angle of the ground, the man sprawled on the floor with people running towards him.

Lighting and Colour

• The lighting is very low-key throughout as it is set at night, so there are lots shadows cast across faces and dark areas of the city behind them, or parts of the streets beneath them that are unlit. This creates a sense of mystery, we question what could be hiding in the shadows, makes the chase much more dangerous as it is set at night.
• On the rooftop from which the policeman falls, warm lights shine onto the roof, lighting the men from behind. When we see the close-up of the man dangling from the drain he is warmly lit from above. This casts strong shadows across his face. 
• The colour in the scene is mainly quite cold, and this is due to the clear, deep blue night sky behind them. However, lights used in the scene are slightly warm, but this imitates the colours of street lamps at night. 

Editing

• Other than the fade at the beginning, there are only straight cuts and continuity editing. 
• At the beginning the editing is very slow-paced, but when the man begins to slip off the roof the scene jumps back and forth between shots to help build to the climax.
• At the end after the policeman falls there is low-speed editing, which is really dramatic as we watch the man look down in fear, and then see his POV of people rushing ti the policeman dead on the road.

Sound

 

• The non-diegetic soundtrack is orchestral, with lots of stings and brassy instruments. The piece really helps to drive the scene on and keep tension high.
• There is sound of the men climbing across the roof, and the gun shots in that first wide shot that stretches across the rooftops of the city, but they are much quieter in comparison to the soundtrack. 
• In the music there are high, brassy notes when we look down at the ground before the policeman falls, which helps to show the fear that he feels when he looks at the ground too.
• The music settles after the policeman falls, so after the climax of the scene the music is deep and dramatic.  

Mise-en-scene

• It is clear that the first man in the scene must be a criminal as we see the policeman chasing after him, but it is unclear way the man in the civilian clothing is involved in the the chase too as of yet. 
• The policeman turns to help the man hanging from the drain, which shows where his priorities lie, and that he must be quite kind to offer to help instead of catching the criminal.
• All of the camerawork, sound, lighting and editing really help to emphasise that this is a moment that has really shaken the man, and this is enough for him to realise that he definitely suffers from vertigo.