Analysis of the Opening to Vertigo

Camerawork

• We fade in from black. We are unsure as to what we are looking at: an iron bar with an out-of-focus background. The camera tracks out to reveal that this is a ladder, and there is a man climbing it. \we also see that he is on a rooftop, and then we see two policemen following behind him.
• The next shot is a wide shot where we see the man being chased across the rooftops. The camera pans to follow the chase.
• We then have a mid shot where the man clings onto a rooftop, showing the struggle, but this man makes it over. The policeman is quick to follow, but the third man slips, and we see him fall through another mid shot. We then have a mid shot; he realises he is stuck.
• We cut between this mid shot of the man looking at the ground, a zoom-dolly POV shot of the ground below the man, and a mid shot of the policeman trying to help. The zoom-dolly shot helps to showthe man's fear of heights (which we find out later). It alters the perspective, making it look like the distance just seems to be getting greater and greater.
• When the policeman falls, we have a POV shot of the man - this helps to emphasise his fear. The sound worls with the camerawork to create a great deal of jeopardy here.

Sound

• The music in this sequence is very orchestral and dramatic, parallel to the action and non-diegetic.
• In terms of diegetic sound, the policeman fires his gun a couple of times in the chase sequence. and there is general shouting and screaming as he falls. These are comparatively quiet to the soundtrack.
• The music throws us straight into the action - the chase music begins before we see anything at all.
• There is an incidental with the zoom-dolly shot - a dramatic brassy moment which helps to place emphasis on this shot. We hear the same incidental when the policeman falls off the roof and the man reacts. 
• The music calms down a lot after the policeman falls - this is the climax of the scene, and it needs to do so in order to flow into the next scene properly.

Mise-en-scene

• The costume is the biggest establisher of roles in this scene, as there is no dialogue at all. At first, we are unsure as to what the first man is doing on a rooftop, but we quickly see the policeman and realise that he is a criminal. The third man appears to be dressed as a detective, so we assume this as his role.
• The lighting is very low key during this sequence. This is mostly due to the setting; you would expect a night-time rooftop chase to have quite a low key feeling. This creates a sense of mystery; the audience questions what the shadows could be hiding.
• Colour is generally cool, and this helps to reinforce the setting, as that is what you'd expect on a night-time rooftop.