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Hitchcock's Opening Sequence

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In this film, Hitchcock’s sequences represent the most abrupt and extreme usage of the technical means, including alternation, vertigo shot, and point of view shots that all pay off very well. The opening sequence, which has the chase and the fall, is among the most condensed and conceptual Hitchcock produced. The intellectuality is established within the first image on screen, where a metal bar is situated against an out of focus background that a hand suddenly grasps. The camera then dollies back and as the background turns into a San Francisco cityscape where three men climb over the top rung in a rooftop chase. After the first three shots in this sequence that stress on the three character structure, an alternating pattern commences that

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