Thriller Textual Analysis:

Vertigo (1958) Thriller Textual Analysis:

Mise en Scene:

Vertigo’s colours are vibrant and bright especially the blue of the ocean, the green of the cemetery and flowers surrounding the shop while lures the audience into the film. The lighting is ambient to make the visual appearence of the film feel natural and to relax us, with the settings shot mainly outdoors in open spaces. The main male character wears a smart black uniform with a matching black hat, symbolising to the audience that his male dominance, professional occupation and wealthy background makes him successful. Females are represented wearing white blouses and navy blue skirts to denote innocence, purity and beauty which aesthetically please the audience. The rooms surrounded by paintings, lamps and wood support the artistic modern interior designs that have been placed to evoke positive reaction from the audience. Shadows appear on the walls to raise suspense and forward the narrative.

Cinematography:

The trailer begins with a zooming in close up of a dictionary entry with the word “Vertigo” as a code to the audience and tells them what the film title means (possible giving hints towards what might happen in the film). A shot of two people hugging is shown with their figures in centre frame to emphasise their warm affection, easing the audience in scenes where suspense is not raised. A long shot with a female character watching a male character climb on a stool convinces the audience that they are spectators, watching from afar to see what happens next. Low angle shots have been used to reinforce the main characters psychological condition (fear of heights). Extreme long shots such as the shot of the San Francisco bridge shows off the scenery with characters wandering in deep thought. A low angle shot zooming out puts the audience at unease as the main character hangs off from a building.

Sound:

The sound begins with non-diegetic strings and orchestral sounds, quiet at first but introduces trumpets etc to raise suspense. The sound then returns to a quiet level as the voiceover narrates the film trailer. The narrator asks rhetoric questions to invite the audience and persuade them to listen to the story told by the characters exchanging diegetic sounds of dialogue. Near the climatic point of the trailer the instruments build pace to fix the audience’s attention to the actions happening on-screen which involves the main character leaning off from a building, inches away from his death. This near death experience is supported by a few seconds of loud strings and orchestral sounds that hold a note down to emphasise the thrilling sensation.

Editing/Special Effects:

The first editing technique is a swirly transition that goes into a black screen with swirling objects of different colours prior to a thin light orange text font with “VERTIGO” on it. This has been done to allure the audience into the trailer, makes them create expectations and ask questions. The text used to introduce names of the actors is the same but with a smaller font size with white colour. Further effects include a transition used include fades between shots to move the trailer forward smoothly to ease the viewers before the pace of the music rises. Another editing effect was a shot placed over another shot where a beautiful female character is caught on camera looking outside the window to find a male character looking around. The transitions of the text effects enter and exit in various ways including wipes and rotations to excite the audience further.