CW Opening EG 4: Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz

Edgar Wright, 2007 (Comedy/Action, 15)

Produced by: Universal Pictures

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Budget: $8M

Box Office: £20M

Trailer, Wikipedia

Rotten Tomatoes: Scored 91%

Opening Length: Approx. 5 mins

Idents and Titles:

The Idents are linked together by an audio bridge of some sirens and a jail door, these both link to police and so prepare the audience for the setting

Opening Shot:

Opening Shot.

The opening shot shows the main character walking towards a desk. It is an extreme long shot. The yellow light connotes an action film or a sci-fi. The light is polysemic, as we do not have any Anchorage, we can see on the desk files and other office items. From this Mise en scene we know that this is a busy office as, opposed to having just a few files, there are many files, one of which is open and there is also a paper tray filled with paper. This indicates that the office is actually in use, even though we do not see any receptionist.

Note the people in the background.

Later Shots:
The next shot is cut up by clips from a montage. This was done in order to make the scene feel busy and well populated. This is also shown by having people cross in front and behind of the character. All of the people on screen for this shot are facing the opposite way to the main character, this emphasizes the mission that he is on and also reinforces the busy feeling of the scene. 

Screenshot 3

The character is also shown, throughout the montage as being brave and a good policeman however, (particularly in screenshot 3) he is also shown to be looking stupid. this highlights both the action genre and the comedy genre. There are other shots within the montages, such as a shot where the camera is seemingly running towards the door, that presents the busy nature of the main character's life.

We then cut to an almost complete contrast of this to a meeting between the Sargent and the protagonist. The scene has been slowed down completely. The background music has stopped and been replaced with standard office sounds (ie telephones, typing and paper). This scene shows a dialouge between two characters about nicholas' (the main character's) transfer. This scene sticks to the 180° rule. The camera always stays on the right of nicholas and the left of the Sargent, even during a track shot.