In 1926, Hitchcock directed The Lodger; which is considered his first real film; he reflects his technical abilities in addition to his capacity to manage narration and symbolism. This style transformed in his signature for the subsequent films. The Lodger is the template of Hitchcock´s films because in he established a certain formula as well as certain theme to develop and explore in his next films. According to Spoto one of the iconic elements that Hitchcock incorporate in this film was a revealing and full with important information opening scene, which he would use in all of his films. Also the couple formation, symbols and underlying ideas that would be treated in the films, start with the production of The Lodger. It would be appropriate …show more content…
to say that this film was Hitchcock´s experiment in order to see if the results would satisfy him, the producers and the audience. According to Spoto the main theme in The Lodger, which is recurrent in other films is “an innocent man wrongly accused of a crime”. Spoto also states that this theme emerge this way, because Hitchcock wanted the lodger to be guilty but the producers disagree with that end. In this movie Hitchcock develop a set of symbols that conceal his true thoughts, a way to leave the audience thinking, through ambiguity. For Hitchcock the idea of a wrongly accused man was not rigid and not necessarily it would be explicit and evident, it resulted attractive to him the idea of wrongness in general. In this film, the lodger is accused of being the Avenger even though it is shown that he is an avenger but his intentions are not to murder blonde women but to stop the killer. In this film, the character´s evident suspicious behavior and aspect mix with the jealousy of Joe, Daisy’s wooer, builds a plot in which the logical result is to accuse the lodger for the crimes. In Blackmail, is presented the same theme.
Alice decides to meet with an artist, Mr. Crewe, who invites her to his apartment and then assaults her. Alice stabs the man with a bread knife. She thinks he is dead, and escapes the crime scene. Later a man, Tracy, is accused for the murder of Mr. Crewe. Alice knows this could be unfair but fails to confess. In The 39 steps, Hannay is accused for the murder of Annabella Schmith. In The Lady Vanishes the idea of the wrong accused man is not that explicit, in fact in this film is shown the idea of the wrong woman, when someone in the train tells Alice that Miss Froy is back in the compartment and results to be Madame Kummar with the English lady´s clothes. Similarly in Rebecca the wrong woman is buried in the family grave while Rebecca´s body is in a boat in the bottom of the ocean, still in this film Maxim De Winter is wrongly accused for her death when is found that she was suicidal. The idea of wrongness in Hitchcock´s films is applied not only in terms of justice but also of relationships and the way the audience judges the characters. In the majority of the mentioned films the couple relationships at the beginning are form for convenience and are wrong in appearance, as the man is older than the woman and the relationship formed lacks of true feelings. Regarding the wrongness in the audience, Hitchcock manipulates the emotions and the information they receive, so that the characters are severely judge by the audience even though they are
innocent.
Psycho is a suspense-horror film written by Joseph Stefano and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This film was loosely adapted from Robert Bloch’s 1959 suspense novel, Psycho. A majority of the movie was filmed in 1960 at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. Psycho is about Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a secretary from Arizona who steals $40,000 from her employer’s client. She takes that money and drives off to California to meet her lover Sam Loomis (John Gavin) in order to start a new life. After a long drive, she pulls off the main highway and ends up taking refuge at an isolated motel owned and managed by a deranged Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). In Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho, symbols, character and point of view are three literary aspects used in the film to manipulate the audience’s emotions and to build suspense in the film.
Hitchcock has a way of throwing clues in the face of the spectator, yet still allows some room for the spectator to find their own less obvious details. In the same museum scene, Hitchcock shows the viewer exactly what he wants them to see. In a sense, Hitchcock can be very manipulative with the camera. The audience sees the picture containing the women with a curl in her hair holding flowers, and then the direct connection is made by the camera, by showing the curl in Madeline’s hair, and the flowers sitting next to her. The spectator is led to believe that they have solved the mystery and she is truly possessed by the women in the picture. However, Hitchcock does this on purpose to lead the audience away from the truth that she is only acting. It is for these reasons that Hitchcock’s work at an auteur adds a level of depth and intrigue.
Situated in the rising action of the film, Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954), this scene depicts Jeff sending a note to his neighbor, Mr. Thornwald, with the help of Lisa and Stella letting him know that they know about his crime. Hitchcock's use of mise-en-scene elements such as, lighting, setting, props, spacing and expressions between characters all allow Hitchcock to prove Jeff’s’ inability in the situation and develop important themes such as opposite perspectives and peoples’ engrossment with lives other than their own.
1. The scene begins by fading in on the back of the silent man’s head (Cary Grant) in Alicia’s bungalow. Then the camera zooms out while sweeping right to give the first full shot and view of both of the main characters. They are shown seated at a table, with many empty bottles of liquor and glasses.
Alfred Hitchcock’s films not only permanently scar the brains of his viewers but also addict them to his suspense. Hitchcock’s films lure you in like a trap, he tells the audience what the characters don’t know and tortures them with the anticipation of what’s going to happen.
One major attribute in Hitchcock films is how creatively Hitchcock tricks the audience about the fate of the characters and the sequence of events. Many people argue that it is a tactic by Hitchcock to surprise his audience in order to increase the suspense of the movie. For example, in Shadow of a Doubt, the audience assumes that young Charlie is an innocent young girl who loves her uncle dearly. However as the movie progresses, Young Charlie is not as innocent as the audience suspects. Young Charlie, once a guiltless child, ends up killing her evil uncle. In Vertigo, the same Hitchcock trickery takes place. In the beginning, the audience has the impression that the Blond women is possessed by another woman who is trying to kill her. The audience also has the notion that the detective is a happy man who will solve the murder case correctly. Just before the movie ends, the audience realizes that the detective was specifically hired by a man to kill his wife. The detective, in the end, seems to be the hopeless, sad victim.
bank. Marion went home there was a close up shot on the money then on
Alfred Hitchcock developed his signature style from his earlier works The Lodger and Blackmail. These films were the framework for his signature films later on. His themes of “an innocent man who is accused of a crime” and “the guilty woman” were first seen in these two films and are repeated throughout Hitchcock’s cinematic history
hitchcockVertigo stars James Stewart as Scottie, a retired detective, and Kim Novak as Judy Barton, who gets disguised as Madeleine, a woman hired by Scottie's friend to act as his wife in order to frame Scottie. The story takes place in San Francisco in the 1950's. The film opens on a high building, where officer Scottie and his partner are in pursuit of a suspect. Scottie's partner's life is on the line and only he can save him. Unfortunately, he has vertigo, a fear of heights. Scottie is unable to assist his partner who unfortunately falls to his death.
object as she slowly takes a sip. In a later scene, Mrs. Sebastian pours the
There are two other scenes that exemplify Hitchcock’s technical competence and ability to connect his vision with the film’s subject matter. A turning part of the film is when Alex realizes he has married an enemy to the Nazi party. He drudges up the staircase, a central facet of a Hitchcock film, to break the news to his mother. Alex, sitting in a chair, delivers the line “I am married to an American agent”. The image of Alex is an overhead close up shot in low-key lighting. This scene denotes a shift in Alex’s character. He is no longer trusting of Alicia because now she poses a threat to his façade for the Nazis.
Finally, I watch North by Northwest. In this film as with many of his others including Vertigo and Rear Window, Hitchcock sets up his hero as being the only one who knows the truth, that way he is the sane one and the audience sympathizes. Also very Hitchcockian is that the main character becomes the detective. Stylistically, the audience stays with the main character, only knowing as much as he does. As with both Frederico Fellini and Satyajit Ray, there is no denying Hitchcock's autuerism. When a movie of his begins, there is no doubt from the very beginning as to who may have directed it.
Cinematography of Hitchcocks Psycho Alfred Hitchcock is renown as a master cinematographer (and editor), notwithstanding his overall brilliance in the craft of film. His choice of black and white film for 1960 was regarded within the film industry as unconventional since color was perhaps at least five years the new standard. But this worked tremendously well. After all, despite the typical filmgoer’s dislike for black and white film, Psycho is popularly heralded among film buffs as his finest cinematic achievement; so much so, that the man, a big
Hitchcock’s cinematography, particularly the mis-en-scene and his use of techniques such as motifs and the McGuffin, they convey many hints to the audience and the character about the plot to reveal important aspects. Alfred Hitchcock’s use of
Alfred Hitchcock's film Rebecca, the 1940s film based on Daphne du Maurier’s novel, contains themes like death, murder, adultery, and incest. The film is also organized in a manner that is meant to be enjoyed by mature people or people who would take the film seriously. However, looking at the organization of the film in terms of the cinematic techniques, the director of the film made the right decisions regarding lighting and camera movement. The film attempts to explore the relationship between present and past, Mrs De Winter and Rebecca. In the chosen sequence, a defining character is Rebecca, a dead woman whose presence is dominant. Mrs De Winter is Maxim De Winter’s new wife who is placed into the position of lady of the house —a position