Alfred Hitchcock was an extremely famous film maker and producer. He was particularly famous for his techniques of creating suspense. He directed more than fifty films in his life, and remains one of the most well known producers of all times. Being very famous, Hitchcock did receive many awards, such as Best Director for Psycho (1960), Rebecca (1940), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945) and Read Window (1954). He was also considered as the ‘Best Film Director of all time’ by The Screen Directory, and, was knighted in 1980. His most famous works were; Vertigo, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, and Psycho.
When Hitchcock was young, his father sent him to the local police station asking them to lock him away for ten minutes as a punishment for behaving badly. The idea of being treated harshly or wrongly accused, and many other life events Hitchcock experienced were reflected as plots in his films. His father died when he was 14, and that same year Hitchcock left to study at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in London. Once he had graduated, he became a draftsman and an advertising designer for a cable company. While working there, he became more and more intrigued with photography, and began to work in film production in London as a title-card designer for what would become Paramount Pictures. He eventually received a full time position at Islington Studios as the designer for titles of silent movies.
Films
Shadow of a Doubt is one of Hitchcock’s personal favorite films. It features a young woman who suspects her Uncle of being a serial murderer. It was filmed in Santa Rosa, California, which is portrayed as a peaceful, small American city.
Psycho is without a doubt one of Hitchcock’s greatest films. It was acclaimed as one of the most effective horror films, and is now a genre defining film, and almost every scene is legendary. Many of the scenes have been copied or parodied, including the hugely controversial scene of the shower murder, which has been studied, discussed and analysed countless times on how it is so truly horrifying. The scene shows only three, almost subliminal frames of film showing the penetration of the knife. This gives it a whole new look into the psychological side of the thriller/horror genre, making you suspect the worse, never actually seeing much. There was also the music to take account; the short stabbing high pitched screeching sounds, as if it’s the knife piercing the air or skin. This tune is probably one of the most well remembered conventions for the music of thriller/horror having almost anyone who knew the film remembering it.
Psycho is without a doubt one of Hitchcock’s greatest films. It was acclaimed as one of the most effective horror films, and is now a genre defining film, and almost every scene is legendary. Many of the scenes have been copied or parodied, including the hugely controversial scene of the shower murder, which has been studied, discussed and analysed countless times on how it is so truly horrifying. The scene shows only three, almost subliminal frames of film showing the penetration of the knife. This gives it a whole new look into the psychological side of the thriller/horror genre, making you suspect the worse, never actually seeing much. There was also the music to take account; the short stabbing high pitched screeching sounds, as if it’s the knife piercing the air or skin. This tune is probably one of the most well remembered conventions for the music of thriller/horror having almost anyone who knew the film remembering it.
North by Northwest is a suspense film about a tale of mistaken identity where an innocent man is perused across America by agents of a mysterious organization who want to stop his interference in their plans to smuggle out some microfilm. (Tiny Documents). It could be seen as one of the first James Bond films, due to the main characters characteristics.
The Birds is about a wealthy San Francisco playgirl pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness. It is a horror film based on a book by Daphne du Maurier around the theme of the revenge of nature.
Hitchcock used a specific camera zoom in many of his films, one being remembered as the Hitchcock Zoom, which has the camera on a dolly zooming back where the main picture stays the same, but the background moves,. This was best known in his film called Vertigo, where it gives the effect of Vertigo, an emotion causing the person so see images distort and change in panic.
Another of Hitchcock's devices is incorporating the number 13 into scenes for its superstitious nature. For example, in Psycho, Norman Bates first chooses cabin 3, then turns to cabin 1, for Marion Crane. She is spotted driving in a car where the license plate numbers add up to 13. 13 being an unlucky number, you know what will happen to them, if you can spot it. Hitchcock also used suspense much more than surprise in his films. In surprise, the director assaults the viewer with frightening things. In suspense, the director tells or shows things to the audience which the characters in the film do not know, and then artfully builds tension around what will happen when the characters finally learn the truth. Hitchcock once said "There's two people having breakfast, and there's a bomb under the table. If it explodes, that's a surprise. But if it doesn't..."
Placing an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances is a common element of Hitchcock's films, as well as the mistaken identity as a common plot device (such as the plot of North by Northwest). Sexuality often came in as a strong theme in many of his films, such as the plot line of Psycho; the sexual feelings are expressed with violent behaviors. To emphasize suspense, he commonly used Silent Scenes, where he used graphic rather than dialogue to portray the narrative.
Famous Quotes
“The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.”
"There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it."
"In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is and what a messy thing it is to kill a man."
"Suspense is like a woman; the more left to the imagination, the more the excitement."
"I have a perfect cure for a sore throat: cut it."
"Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints."
"I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach."
"Some of our most exquisite murders have been domestic, performed with tenderness in simple, homey places like the kitchen table."
"The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture."
"Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms.
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