Here is my textual analysis for 'Dirty Harry' in this I have discussed a variety of media terminology
Analyse the opening sequence of ‘Dirty Harry’ (1971) using the framework...
The opening sequence of the cop-thriller, Dirty Harry, includes a variety of camera shots, angles and movements along with skilfully arranged editing, music, sound, lighting, ideology, mise-en-scene, representation, dialogue and production design to showcase the film to the viewer to generate interest right from the start.
We are firstly transmitted an image, where the camera zooms in to the words ‘In tribute to the police officers of San Francisco who have their lives in the line of duty’, this establishes where the location of the film is and the non-diegetic sound of the church bells create a melancholy atmosphere to these words, insinuates a theme of loss and mourning and conditions our expectations for some poignant occurrences in the film. The writing combined with the sound helps the viewer to comprehend who we are meant to support in the film - the ‘Cops’.
Next we view a slow dissolve to an image of a shining police badge which stays central to the screen appears, whilst the camera scroll down a list of names and dates of people who have been killed whilst working as police officers, this is set on a grey background, representing a gravestone, which could be seen as a sign of respect and a tribute to these police officers. The amount of names displayed, saddens us and makes us wonder whether it maybe foreseeing the outcome of someone in the film we are about to watch.
This fades and dissolves, and a soundtrack begins to play. It is modern, tense and feels abnormal; drums and symbols can be distinguished amongst the sound. We then view footage of a gun in at an interesting angle, it isn’t pointing directly at us which makes it less intimidating for the viewer, and however it is clearly aiming at a potential victim. We can also establish how the low angle of the camera has been used to purposely obscure the shooters face. The Director has used mise-en-scene with this, hoping to create a sense of mystery and ambiguity.
We see the view of the shooter; he is aiming at an attractive woman in a bright yellow swimming costume near a swimming pool. She is being followed by the snippier riffle; the camera pans her movements as we are shown medium shots as she dives into the swimming pool.
The camera zooms out slowly to show an overview of the city, the extreme wide shot is used as an establishing shot to show the location, whilst film an over the shoulder shot of the shooter places the two characters into context with each other. The over the shoulder shot once again means we are only able to see the back of the man firing the gun and not the face which increases tension and suspense. We then cut back to the camera panning the woman, swimming in the pool.
Suddenly – for a fraction of a second – we see a close-up of the trigger being pulled, and then there is a long shot of the girl drowning in the pool.
We then cut to a man named Harry, walking up some steps, then he pauses in front of the camera, so we can admire him and to show he is protagonist of the film. The title ‘Clint Eastwood’ in bright yellow writing appears on the screen. The lack of emotion on his face, despite the close-up, helps to represent him as ‘tough’ and not easily broken down. Eastwood is renowned for being a ‘cool’ guy and at the time the film was created most would associate him with this, many women liked him, whilst plenty of men wanted to be like him. Through the costume and appearance: shades, expensive suit, well-groomed, posh jacket, we receive a clear message on how the director is trying to portray the masculinity character to the viewer. Harry is a stereotyped character of a promoted detective.
The words ‘Dirty Harry’ appear on the screen. The words ‘Dirty’ is in orange which is an alternate colour to use, compared to the yellow colour scheme of all the other names. This amplifies the word, and expresses the contamination in its meaning.
The detective and Harry our captured in a two-shot, as Harry walks around the swimming pool, then stops at the body, near the detective. He purposely looks up at the sky scrapper the killer had aimed from.
Next we get a cut to Harry walking down the road, the camera pans his movement, the stops and tilts upwards slowly to show the sky scrapper, whilst more names appear on the bottom of the screen. The music has changed since Harry appeared and we are now presented with a funky track, this helps to influence our perception of the character – helps to make him ‘cool’. We see him climb us stairs and hear the diegetic noise of a fan; the fan is angled in a low shot. The fan also implies the hot weather in San Francisco, and what people there require to cool down.
The camera then pans Harry walking around a roof top. We are given a wide-angled shot, so we are able to see the city surrounding the building, giving the idea of the grandness and scale of the city. We are able to distinguish that it is actually the place where the killer was standing earlier, it establishes his flair as a detective. We see Harry find the bullet, then there is a close-up of the bullet, so we can see it clearly, as he places it in a bad.
The Director decided not to have a voice over, so we pay more attention to the action in the film, and it helps to create the require suspense. The only dialogue in the opening sequence is ‘Jesus’, when he finds a later, this is effective, as it shows us dialogue is about to begin.
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