'Vertigo' Opening Sequence

Vertigo - 1958 - Alfred Hitchcock

• Begins with an extreme close up of a woman's face, half a mouth and a small portion of a nose, part of the cheek face is off centre with only show behind it 
• Music is creepy and plink-plonk-like, harp, strings 
• Lighting brightened up, revealing part of the face in more detail, like a interview light/spot light 
• Camera pans across to reframe her face in the centre, showing almost only her mouth, her lips have a small smirk 
• Music reaches a crescendo as the camera zooms in tighter on her lips, first credit appears 
• Order of credits: main actors, title of film 
• Camera pans up to her eyes, big dark shadows, looks scared and tearful, very dilated pupils because she is in the dark, makes her eyes look very dark, she looks around, second credit 
• Crescendo as each credit appears 
• Further into the extreme close-up onto one eye, pupil is now very small, third credit, camera zooms slowly into her eye, red tint appears, eyes open wide as if she is in shock 
• Crescendo as the title zooms in from small in the centre of her eye to big across the centre of the screen, uncomfortable and vague title 
• Spiral spins out from her pupil, hypnotic, as the spiral gets closer and fills the screen the woman's face fades out to a black background, spins off screen 
• Another spiral zooms from the centre, credits run along side the continuous spirals, hypnotic, uncomfortable feeling of infinite enigma