Alfred Hitchcock is regarded as one of the most influential and groundbreaking directors of all time, and his film The Birds is often praised as one of his best films. The Birds was released in 1963, and is adapted from a story of the same name from English writer Daphne Du
Maurier. The screenplay was written by Evan Hunter, and the cinematographer for the film was
Robert Burks. The film stars ‘Tippi’ Hedren as Melanie Daniels and Rod Taylor as Mitch
Brenner. Co-stars include Suzanne Pleshette as Annie Hayworth, Jessica Tandy as Lydia
Brenner, and Veronica Cartwright as Kathy Brenner. The story revolves around the characters of
Daniels and Brenner, and their struggle to survive among fellow residents in a seaside town from the vicious
…show more content…
Grasping the bird, the camera then shifts upward and focuses on a medium shot of
Brenner. The camera maintains this perspective as it follows Brenner’s movements of returning the loose bird back to its cage. Brenner concludes by stating, “Back into your gilded cage
Melanie Daniels,” the camera now focused on both himself and the cage. The reason as to why this shot aids the sequence’s purpose is for the quote that is brought about by Brenner. “Back in your gilded cage Melanie Daniels” works as a metaphor, and in this particular case, the loose bird is Daniels. Brenner’s quote foreshadows that Daniels is a reckless person who needs to be kept in check. Only then will there be a sense of order and control. The idea that men are the ones who maintain order in society continues in the next and final crucial shot. As the opening approaches its inevitable conclusion, one last key shot that supports the reasoning that men maintain balance and the natural order, as opposed to women, is when
Daniels chases after Brenner as he departs the shop. The final shot starts with the camera in a bird’s eye view of the inside of the shop. Daniels then appears from the bottom of the frame
…show more content…
Throughout the entirety of the shot, the camera remained in a bird’s eye view perspective as it tracked Daniel’s movements of chasing after Brenner. This shot manages to successfully back up the sequence’s purpose because of the way the camera is angled and also for Daniel’s actions.
For the camera angle, Daniels is shot in a bird’s eye perspective, and the reason for this is to show her as being small and vulnerable. This sense of vulnerability shows that she is not in control of the situation. In addition, the camera angle reinforces Daniel’s actions of chasing after
Brenner. She succumbs to her lustful temptations by chasing after a man, therefore, the bird’s eye perspective is used to show that she is not in control and is easily tempted by her desires.
Thusly, as the opening reaches its conclusion, the fades out transition is used to signify the end of the sequence. The purpose for the opening sequence, as Hitchcock implied, was to show the audience that ‘social order is best maintained by strong men,’ and the use of key shots to support this claim proved significant. Hitchcock’s cameo, Brenner’s actions and remarks, and
to the film early on but makes the viewer want to make sense of what
.... The caged bird also symbolizes the pressure and control the individuals and society have over Edna. Initially, she complies with the image of green – and – yellow bird by obliging to the implicit rules of the society and goes along with the crowd, but later on when she realizes her inner desire for passion and sensuality, she contradicts this image and detests it (Kelly, 2001).
In the shot of Vera’s room, the camera is in a fixed position. This the fixed camera position gives the viewer adequate time to view the entire room, the clothes the characters are wearing, and the facial expressions the character. The camera angle makes it almost seem like the viewer is sitting in the room with the characters watching the argument between the prince and Vera unfold. When the scene flashes back, the transition is cut very sharply, catching the viewer by surprise.
The screenwriter chose an effective way of illustrating the point of attack, establishing the setting and handling of exposition. The first scene of the film was a black screen which had audio of a man and a woman having a conversation. After, the film switches to a grainy video of men being detained by police. The video clip manages to bring the dramatic tension to all time high because an unidentified character is shot by the police. Therefore, this left a sense of uneasiness and tension throughout the whole film. The beginning of the film also did a wonderful job of establishing the setting. The scene of the grainy video clip had a caption box stating it was “Fruitvale BART Station 2:15AM New Year’s Day 2009”. The film then introduces the
There was a time (not so long ago) when a man's superiority and authority wasn't a question, but an accepted truth. In the two short stories, "Desiree's Baby", and "The Yellow Wallpaper", women are portrayed as weak creatures of vanity with shallow or absent personalities, who are dependent on men for their livelihood, and even their sanity. Without men, these women were absolutely helpless and useless. Their very existence hinged on absolute and unquestioning submission…alone, a woman is nothing.
knows he can get through, the camera zooms in on the flap and the film
"When she heard it there came before her imagination the figure of a man standing beside a desolate rock on the seashore. He was naked. His attitude was one of hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him." (pp26-27)
There is one name that comes to mind when you think of a great director of the suspenseful film industry. That name that you immediately think of is Hitchcock. Sir Alfred Hitchcock is the greatest director there is for intense movies, and he is the master of suspense. Hitchcock did things with movies that other directors can only dream of accomplishing. He directed many major films in his career that a lot of directors can’t even get close to.
While Claire was discovering miracles there is a transition to a different scene when Simons sisters house was being shot at during a drive by shooting. Kasdan used the camera speed to emphasis the emotion in the film when she was crying. Simon is concerned about his nephew and his involvement in gangs.
...nations. His films were visually magnetic, tight and directed economically in such a way that little was ever left on the cutting room floor. John Houston left us with a rich heritage of films that will continue to entertain for generations to come.
Camera angles are used as a film technique to keep the scene interesting and also shows off the directors’ skill and abilities. There is a wide variety in which different camera angles were used during this scene, for an example of a camera angle is a low angle shot, this exact technique was used quite a lot at different points in this scene. The effect of this camera angle shows dominance; dominance to the personal where the camera is facing up on them from the ground. The opposite of this would be a high angle shot and this normally shows a victim’s weakness as it makes then look small and helpless. An example of when a low shot was used in this scene would be when V comes out of the flames at Larkhill in Finch’s flashback. This shows V’s power and how he survived through the fire and symbolises his dominance. An example of using a high angle shot would be of Chancellor Sutler talking to Creedy. Chancellor Sutler is on a big screen facing down on Creedy yelling orders at him, this shows who the boss in this scene is as Creedy is getting verbally abused by Chancellor Sutler and this makes him look weak. Another camera angle that is used would be a tilt this is used when V first flicks the dominos then the camera tilts up to show the dominos as they spread the effect this has is showing how easy they spread in relation to the chaos. It all starts with one would be the
In the opening scene, the camera zooms out to focus on both the men individually. The camera switches focus back and forth from Harmonica to Frank. The camera views the men from their faces to the whole body picture. By doing this effect to the men’s character it builds suspense on who may or may not fire first in the movie. Throughout, the beginning moments of the duel, the camera angles follows both men capturing them both, but the while the camera angle is facing both of the men I can see the emotional expressions in each of their faces. In Harmonica’s face, I see revenge, hurt, but also a man of much courage and bravery to defeat a man who had him kill his brother. In Frank’s expression I see a man of much confusion since at this point in time he still does not truly recognize who Harmonica is. Both men lead to a very suspenseful, but meaningful ending to the movie. I can sense violence in the future by the way the camera was used. The camera angles allowed Leone to depict a scene of terror, but builds the bigger picture of what Leone intended for it to be. I feel that movement was also a major key in the film. Right before, the men start to approach one another Frank begins to take off his coat and throw it to the grown. From this, Frank realizes that he is going to have to face the consequences of his actions, and be a man about it. I
The point-of-view shot, also used by Curtiz was intended to place the audience directly ...
Bird usually portrays an image of bad luck that follows afterwards and in this novel, that is. the beginning of all the bad events that occur in the rest of the novel. It all started when Margaret Laurence introduced the life of Vanessa MacLeod. protagonist of the story, also known as the granddaughter of a calm and intelligent woman. I am a woman.
The birdcage represents how Mrs. Wright was trapped in her marriage, and could not escape it. The birdcage door is broken which represents her broken marriage to Mr. Wright. It also represents Mrs. Wright escaping her marriage from Mr. Wright. When the door is open it allows Mrs. Wright to became a free woman. At one point in time the cage door use to have a lock that locked the bird inside the cage. This represents how Mr. Wright kept Mrs. Wright locked up from society. Mr. Wright knew that by keeping Mrs. Wright locked up, she would never be able to tell anyone how he really acted. Mr. Wright was very cruel to his wife.