Hot fuzz opening scene analysis

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

Hot fuzz is a british comedy film released in 2007. The two main casted named charcters are played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who are well known for their comedic values. Hot fuzz was directed by Edgar Wright and produced by Nira Park. The initial budget of the film of $12million and made $80million in box office and also lots more elsewhere. The film follows the narrative of two police officers who attempt to solve a series of mysterious deaths in Sandford, a fictional village based in England.

Throughout the duration of the opening sequence of Hot fuzz there is a non-diegetic input of a voice over that narrates what is shown on screen and also some subtext of Simon Pegg's character. The voice over is of Pegg and his descriptions are of his life up to the point of the initial opening to the film. This gives the audience an establishing subtext of information for this particular character. This section consists of flashbacks of his life as he comes to describe each section. For example as shown in the previously stated picture from the film, Pegg is taking a test as he describes doing very well in this particular test. The sound in this opening scene is mostly non-diegetic sound as the only clear sound in the scene is the voice over.

 

 

The opening scene uses camera movement with a vary of different techniques. One example in the opening scene is the camera using track movement to follow the character as they walk. This shot is particularly interesting as it uses the dirty hot technique as many objects pass the camera becoming in the way of the shot. As the sequences progresses it cuts to a close-up of his face creating an interesting shot to introduce the character. The reason for this particular shot is to show the facial expressions of the character as the close-up highlights this particular factor. The lighting throughout this opening scene is typically neutral consisting of normal outside or building lighting to highlight Pegg's character to be conveyed as a normal, hard working individual.

 

The implementation of the voice over creates a montage affect in the opening sequence from the variety of different descriptions from his life and this therefore had lots of different locations and settings shown in the first set of scenes. From the use of the flashbacks this highlights the location to not be a significant part of the opening equilibrium. On the other hand the section where his feet are tracked whilst he walks through the office is at present time and this is important as it links to this office being an important factor in the narratives initial beginning. The key identifiable costume in this sequence is the police uniform and due to this the audience can clearly find out from these aesthetics his job within the piece.

 

The picture shown above is an example of a dirty shot and this is used a few times effectively within the opening sequence. The use of the dirty shot is good because it steers away from simple shots like tracking from behind. This shot shows a clear juxtaposition of different shots.

 

To conclude, the camera shots, mes-en-scene and editing is places well together and creates a very good and interesting piece of media for this opening scene of Hot fuzz.