Daily Dose #15: Title Design Sequence of Vertigo (1954)
Though discussing the opening, this post has SPOILERS.
In our Hitchcock class we were asked to watch and comment on the following video - the opening credits of Vertigo. We were then asked to answer 3 questions. Here are my answers as posted on the TCM message board:
Describe what you think this film will be about simply from the sounds and images in these opening credits. Even if you have seen the film, try to focus on these sounds and images themselves and “the story” (or if not "the story," the mood and atmosphere they are establishing) that this sequence is communicating to the audience.
This opening is one of the greatest openings ever! The film starts with the Paramount logo, followed by the Vistavision logo, but in Black and white. The music starts with the Paramount logo, and not AFTER the Vistavision logo at the start of the credits. This is unusual, and to me starts tension from the first second the film starts. (I will discuss the music in great detail answering question #3)
We see a mouth, a pair of eyes, and a single eye. But it’s not as simple as that. Notice where the credits lie in this sequence:
We start with the mouth over which we see the credit for ‘James Stewart’. The story being told is HIS story. And, in the tradition of detectives, he EXPLAINS many important things in the film – like the denouement when he confronts Judy in the tower.
We move to a set of eyes. The eyes look left, and right, and back, which to me represents two things:It suggests the idea of something that has to be watched out for – something dangerous. It also suggests the DUALITY of Kim Novak’s part in the film – Madeline and Judy.
We then move to a single eye. Alfred Hitchcock’s credit is placed over this image. Hitch is the eye through which we see the film – the author.
The camera moving from mouth over nose to eyes and finally a single eye also represents the obsession in the second half of the film, where Scotty is trying to ‘recreate’ Madeline through Judy by CHANGING those details – hair color, make up, dress, jewelry, shoes… everything. So close to the face it’s also an INVASION of her, which again is what Scotty eventually does to her – he enters here apartment, then enters her life, then changes her, and all forcefully, in the sense he doesn’t even consider Judy’s feelings.
There is only one ‘non-swirling’ design, and this comes at the editor’s credit. I have always remembered the name ‘Tomasini’ because this one image stood out so much. To me, that design resembles an eye, like from the opening.
COLOR starts as we enter the eye, and the swirling designs start. The first color is RED. In the article “Verdant Vertigo: Dreaming in Technicolor” by Jim Emerson (linked in Monday’s module) he states that “red suggesting Scottie's fear/caution/hesitancy when it comes to romance, and its opposite green, suggesting the Edenic bliss”. Red is a warning.
The swirls come AT us, giving the effect that we are falling INTO the abyss. As one comes at us so far it disappears the next comes from INSIDE, again we are going deeper into the abyss. They don’t just swirl, some morph and change, like ‘living spirographs’. The idea of ‘changing’ is introduced – as when Scotty tries to transform Judy into Madeline.
The COLORS of the swirls alternate in color, between GREEN and PURPLE. In Jim Emerson’s article (quoted two paragraphs above) indicated, Green is Scotty’s desire for Madeline, and Purple is Judy trying to assert her own Identity. This alternating of two colors again reinforces the DUALITY of Kim Novak’s characters in Vertigo.
They look like cobwebs, which is significant because Midge says after Scotty’s traumatic loss of Madeline “Mozart is the music that sweeps the cobwebs away," Does Midge sweep away Scotty’s trauma, or sweep away Scotty’s obsession with Madeline? That line now has an ambiguity due to the credits. Were it not for the images in the credits the line ‘cobwebs’ would make no connection to obsession. We have seen Midge trying to get Madeline out of Scotty’s mind (the painting she paints, which is of Midge – Midge wants Scotty to drop Madeline for her).
The swirls all go counter clockwise (except one). The counter-clockwise motion suggests going back in time. In the film Madeline is obsessed with the past life, and often tries to ‘re-live’ it. Scotty is obsessed with recreating Madeline, whom he lost in the past. Even Midge regrets she never married Scotty, which begs the question “If Madeline is obsessed with a past life, and Scotty is obsessed with Madeline, is Midge obsessed with Scotty? She tends to him, almost in a motherly way, even though he will never return her affections. And in a fantastic close up, where Scotty says ‘We were engaged once’, the camera cuts to her, and she looks up with only her eyes – something Scotty could never see, and in that moment we know Midge loves and maybe obsesses over Scotty. I mention this because of the ‘eye’ iconography in the opening.
I said all the swirls go backward except one. After many green and purple we see one GREEN swirl going CLOCKWISE. To me it means that Scotty’s desire for Madeline (the color green) will effect Judy’s future.
FINALLY We see a different color swirl. And guess what color it is? It is YELLOW. In Jim Emerson’s article he tells us that “Midge is associated with soft, pastel shades -- yellow”. But what happens to that swirl? It is the ONLY swirl that changes color, and it turns to RED, which in the article was called “a cautionary color, suggesting Scottie's reluctance to get involved with members of the opposite sex.” That one moment in the credits hits at Scotty’s reluctance to commit with Midge.
We see a second yellow swirl, and it GOES AWAY from us, the only one to do so. Is it because Midge loses Scotty into the abyss of his obsession with Madeline?
At last we end up on the single eye over which for a second time Hitchcock’s credit is put, reinforcing that it is through Hitch’s directorial eye that we will see the story.
In your own estimation, what is the single most powerful image in this title sequence? Defend your answer.
The single most powerful image in the title is THE SINGLE EYE, which starts the journey into the swirling abyss, and is the last image in the credits. This film is about obsession – about looking for something that’s lost. It is about trying to recreate that, so you can see it again. The eye also represents perception: Scotty perceives Judy and Madeline one way, but we find out that perception is entirely wrong. It is when Scotty finally SEES this that he solves the mystery, purges himself from guilt and trauma, and is finally free.
How do Saul Bass’ images and Bernard Herrmann’s score work together? How different would this sequence be with a different musical score?
The music score in this film by Bernard Herrman is one of the greatest films scores in history.
The music starts the second the film starts, not at the credits, but at the Paramount logo. There is an ostinato (a continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm) of a fallling-rising arpeggio in the violins, and at the same time the woodwinds play an upside down rising-falling arpeggio. The piece is in e-flat minor (which I write in text as ‘eb’). Of importance is the notes in the two figures: In the violins we have D Bb Gb D Bd Db (7 5 3 7 3 5 in the scale of eb). In the woodwinds we have the arpeggio in an opposite direction playing Eb Gb Bb C Bb Gb (1 3 5 6 5 3).
The notes in a chord are 1, 3, and 5. The 7th is called a ‘leading tone’ because melodically and harmonically it wants to resolve to the tonic, or 1. It is the single most dissonant note in a scale, because the need to resolve is the strongest of any note away. Think of the ditty ‘shave and a haircut’
Shave and a hair cut, two---
If you DON’T say ‘bits’ you never resolve the 7th, which is the word ‘two’ in that song. Sing it to yourself to see. Yes, we are used to the words finishing a coherent sentence, so try humming just the NOTES and stop again on the penultimate note. It leaves you hanging because that last note desperately wants to resolve UP to 1, or the tonic. (a scale is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 )
I mention this because that D natural in the violins by itself creates incredible musical tension that never resolves. Wagner’s famous Tristan and Isolde opera was famous for using music that never resolved, representing unfulfilled longing and desire. The music in Tristan and Isolde ONLY resolves in the end of the Opera when the two are ‘joined in death’ and can finally consummate their love. (Liebestod).
The mention of Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from ‘Tristan and Isolde’ is by no means arbitrary. Herman was clearly influence by this monumental moment in musical history, when tonality started to break down. And Vertigo has so much to do with unfulfilled passion and desire: Scotty desires a married woman he cannot have. Scotty loses her when she dies and cannot give up this longing. Midge has unfulfilled love for Scotty, and she loses him, both to Madeline and after she’s gone to his trauma. Judy has unfulfilled longing for Scotty who will not love HER as JUDY, but wants to change her into MADELINE.
The CLIMAX of Vertigo is one of the single most powerful combinations of the visual and the musical ever put of film. (Think of the final moments of the Spielberg film E.T., told almost excursively with visuals in music barring the two short lines ‘Come’, ‘Stay’. If you watch this scene and you are familiar with the Wagner piece you will definitely see the similarities. The climax of the Wagner is on a downward resolutions.
This downward resolution is also found in the Bernard Hermman music. It is a pasionate, sighing musical phrase with the resolution a release of tension, even, and excuse the term, and almost sexual climax sense in the piece, both in the Wagner and the Hermman Vertigo score.
If you haven’t heard the Wagner, I earnestly ask you to listen to it, and compare it to the Herman moment from Vertigo’s climax. You can find it on Youtube under ‘Wagner prelude and Liebestod’, or follow this link:
(The place in the link I posted to start listening is the 15 minute mark, with the ‘climax’ occurring at 16 minutes 35 seconds)
OK, WHY am I talking about the END of Vertigo when the Daily Dose is the BEGINNING of Vertigo? The answer is because the SEED of the themes, the love theme, and this climax are in the music in the very first second. In the example 1 above, the bottom part (woodwinds) contains the notes: Eb Gb Bb C Bb Gb (1 3 5 6 5 3). The C to Bb resolution IS this part of the love theme.
Over this ‘swirtling’ arpeggio ostinato are played dark noted and chords in the brass. Two notes, again, resolving DOWN one step, just in the climax I mentioned. Is it a coincidence? No as we see what that brass line becomes. We are seeing the first two notes of a 4 note falling theme.
This ominous theme suggest ‘falling’ paralleling our journey into the abyss of obsession. But it is something more than that, it is the second half of ‘the LOVE THEME of Scotty for Madeline’. OK, if it is the second part, then what is the first part? THE SWIRLING OSTINATO in the violins. Let’s put the two together:
Therefor we can hear, perhaps subconsioucly throughout the movie, that this LOVE is born from and OBSESSION, a ‘falling into the abyss of that obsession.
Going back to the first picture and the ostinato figure. I said it was two mirror opposite arpeggios. This also suggests the DUALITY of the Kim Novak character. It also resembles ‘swirling which is in the visual design representing ‘descent into the abyss of obsession. This duality is heard also during the dream sequence: after some percussion in a ‘Spanish’ rhythm , tremolo violins play both the falling and rising melody at the same time. So the music is constantly reminding us of the DUALITY, established in the opening seconds of the score.
The interval between the 7th and the note above it (1) is a half-step, which is a VERY dissonant combination when played together. Since the upper arpeggio starts on 7 while the lower arpeggio starts on 1 – played at the same time, right from the start is a slightly disturbing musical sound. This ‘half-step’ interval is exploited in the dream sequence. I described the percussion ‘Spanish rhythm, and the tremolo violins. The violins alternate between playing a few bars of tremolo notes to another musical figure where the 1st Violins play an octave (1 up to 8 [and 8 is also 1]) and the second violins play a major 7th (1 up to 7). This results with 7 and 8 (which is 7 and 1) being played at the same time. It is an almost ‘screeching ‘, FAMOUSLY used by Hermman in the SHOWER SCENE in Psycho.
These dissonances are used on strong beats, and syncopated beats, which emphasizes that dissonance.
Speaking of the climax, the Falling Brass note chords (decent into the abyss) is used in tremolo violins in the huge musical build up to the climactic moment of the film, repeated, rising each time, step by step until the musical ‘descent into the abyss’ culminates in a near Orgasmic fulfillment of Scotty’s desire for Madeline: She is back alive again!
So we see how seeds of the music in the opening represent ideas of falling, an abyss of obsession, out of which is Passion and unfulfilled love, tension, as well as setting up the Love theme and the final Musical and filmic CLIMAX of Judy’s transformation into Madeline.
It is in this CLIMAX that not only does the music resolve (as in the Wagner) but it also triumphantly ends in a huge long MAJOR chord as the scene ends. The music up to this point has been mostly in very dark, minor keys ( like e flat minor) This switch to MAJOR at that moment adds to the glorious moment at that scene, when Scotty is finally fulfilled in his desire – he FINALLY has MADELINE all to himself!
