Hot Fuzz Opening scene: Analysis Essay

Hot Fuzz Opening scene: Analysis Essay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RAkY4R691E 

Movie information

Hot fuzz was released in 2007 as a mystery crime drama film with a lot of dark humour in it. It stars some big actors like: Simon Pegg, Martin Freeman, Nick Frost and Bill Nighy. It had a budget of $12 million and made $80.7 million at the box office.

Target audience

The target audience of this movie was teens and above as the dark scene of humour may be to adult for younger audiences to understand; however as it is an action movie it could still appeal to a younger target audience.

Opening scene

The opening scene consists of the protagonist walking down a long corridor with his shoes tapping against the ground. This builds suspense and tension while the audience waits to find out why he is walking so determinedly down the corridor. While this is taking place we see the credits pop up. The first credit was to

Universal pictures that helped fund the movie. The slow pace start to the scene allows the reader to read all the credits without paying too much attention to the scene; this is useful for the company as it helps promote its name better. The slow start to the scene is purposely slow to add diversity to the next shots that are  incredibly quick with fast editing. This immediately draws the watchers attention. This shot is an establishing shot and sets the scene as a formal building most likely one of high importance as it is in great quality and everything looks very organized, this makes the character walking down the corridor seem very organized and intelligent. Someone who knows what he is doing. Also you can see that he is the protagonist as he is highly featured in the main sequence where the plot of the movie starts off with a small anecdote.

Editing

There is an interesting contrast between the shots in the opening scene as they can vary from one extreme to another with very quick transitions that flash before your eyes. The type of shot goes from (extreme) long shots to (extreme) close ups. This contrast gives an interesting effect and keeps the viewer very entertained and busy. These types of shots help develop the character as they make him seem as if he has just sailed through life and also the diversity in shots makes the characters personality quite diverse as well as the variation of shots is not something you always see. The quick transitions between shots are like that to make it seem as if the character is having flash backs to his past life. The shots often flash to the next and in certain shots like in 0:54 seconds in, where the camera flashes can be interpreted as flash backs. The quick editing can also be inferred as his life going quickly. There are a lot of visual effects in the clip as well, like the one at 0:43

where you can see the protagonist twice as the filming has been layered so you can see two shots at once, one of the shot fades nicely in and out. This shot stands out as in is one of the only shots in the clip that does that. You can also see jump cut editing at 1:15 which is similar to the layered shots as it one of the only parts to the clip that features a shot in the same area. One interesting thing that two of the shots do in the clips is they start out as an extreme long shot and then zoom to be an extreme close up or goes from a close up to a long shot by zooming out. This continues to add diversity to the clip. The clip also uses a linear narrative as the protagonist talks about his story in order. The clip uses cross cutting in places as well.

Camera angles

There are a couple of different types of shots used in this clip, you have (extreme) long shots and close ups, mid-shots and a reaction shot at the end where the protagonist gets stabbed in the hand. You also have multiple establishing shots, and a couple of POV shots,

all of which focus on the protagonist. Also we have shots where the camera tracks the protagonist using a dolly and/or Steadicam.They also show a tilt shot.

Sound

There is mainly diegetic sound in the clip because the movie focuses on a realist approach, but it does have non diegetic sounds like a swoosh that's made when the camera moves quickly seen in 1:23, where you can also see a graphic match. There is also a voice over where the protagonist describes his past journey in an empowering, controlled and confident tone. Dialogue is used when the armed force storms into the building and when they are shouting during their training. Also non diegetic sound is used when they play a song over the clip. There is also ambient sound like the bashing around of the punch bags.

Mise en Scene

The movie is set in England as the protagonist has an English accent and is part of an English police force. This is seen and heard in the first shot where he shows his identification. The colours used through-out the video are very bland, plan and dark which reflects the characters dull but hardworking attitude. In the first shot we see bright colours then as we see the character and get to know him the use of bright vibrant colours disappear. The costume

seen through out on the character is black which shows the character is formal and what profession he is in. The gesture of the character is tense and he stand up straight at all times, this suggests that the character may not know how to relax or is completely consumed by his profession that he acts like that all the time.