Opening Scene Analysis - Hot Fuzz

Hot fuzz is a film released in 2007 of action comedy genre. The films main actors include Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. It was also directed by Edgar Wright and produced by Nira Park who had previously worked with the two actors on the famous 'Shaun of the dead' film. The film had a budget of $12 million and made high revenue, getting $80.7 million from the box office alone. The film is about two police officers who attempt to solve a series of mysterious deaths in Sandford, a fictional village based in England. 

During the opening scene there is a voice over throughout. This voice over is used to introduce the film but mostly the main character, Simon Pegg as its him talking. He talks about his life so far therefore allowing the audience to know about him and what he does/has done. Throughout this time of narration there is several flashbacks to his subject of narration. An example of this would be his graduation, as shown. There is very little diegetic sound in this opening scene. The voice over makes the film feel unique as it's rare for a film to be introduced in this way. Furthermore, the only other sound during the opening scene, also lasts the duration of the clip. This is upbeat and quite fast music in the background to the voice over. This sets a mood for the film and implies that it is partly an action film. Therefore, the music is specific to the genre and also the pace at which he is speaking throughout this opening scene. 

Furthermore, the introduction to this opening scene uses the camera movement of track to follow the character whilst he is walking along. This is an interesting shot as it shows some dirty shots along the way too due to other objects such as windows and doors getting in the way of the shot of the character. Furthermore. as the walk continues it cuts to a closer up shot of his face. This is to show the expression on his face, especially as he's talking about his life and what he's done/doing in the voiceover. The use of lighting during this opening scene is not very important towards it, to have the desired effect that they want for it. The lighting is very general and is the typical stereotype for what you would expect for the time of day used throughout the opening scene.

Moreover, the location of this opening scene also varies a lot as it shows many flashbacks to previous times.Therefore, the location of this opening scene doesn't play a big part in the effect that the scene overall produces.  However, it shows him walking through an office at the present time and this would be to link him to his job. Throughout the flashbacks he mentions nothing about his social life and therefore, this gives the audience the impression that his job is mostly his life and that most of the film will be based upon this subject. Also Simon Pegg not just throughout the opening scene but throughout the duration of the film only seems to wear his police officer uniform as this is generally what the film is about. However, it doesn't show variation for the character and doesn't allow the audience to get a false impression by other costumes etc because its not shown.

Also, the opening shot of this film as shown, is a wide establishing shot. This shows the character walking towards the character and shows the location he's in. Moreover, when the character gets closer towards the character you can tell his job, you can do this from his uniform and when he shows his police ID to the camera. This shot is very stereotypical for the opening of most films, however, the effect of this is that the character shows his police ID to the camera, clearly acknowledging that the camera is there unlike most other films do. Therefore, this brings a closer link between him and the audience and the audience want to know more about him.


In addition, the editing of shots in this opening scene is very interesting, this is because all of the different shots link together well through different transitions. Some of the transitions used are slides and zooming in to a subject, to then zoom out of another subject etc. The editors have done this and so the clips flow well and have a fast pace to them, linking with Simon Pegg's voiceover and the background music that there is.

Also, this use of a dirty shot is an example of the variation used throughout. The clips flow together well and so the attention of the audiences attention isnt brought to the camera shots or transitions used. This dirty shot is shown and so there is variation in the shots used instead of the stereotypical mid shot from behind that would be used in most other films. The movement of the camera has more effect in this opening scene than the camera shots that are used. An example is where the camera is moved away through the use of a dolly from the character/subject instead of just zooming out like the generic camera shot would be.

In conclusion, Hot Fuzz uses camera shots, editing, sound and mise-en-scene together well to enable a fast paced introduction to the film that links the audience well, giving them a insight into the main character and so you are able to know about him before the film even begins. Also they use a variety of different shots for effect and have very little diegetic music enabling them to create their own effect and create their own pace of the film.