Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
As well as being the pioneer of thriller, Alfred Hitchcock was an English film director and producer.
He pioneered a variety of techniques especially in the psychological thriller and suspense genre.
Often nicknamed as "The Master of Suspense", Hitchcock had a hugely successful career in British
cinema with both the production of both silent films and also 'early talkies'.
Alfred Hitchcock made himself famous using various forms of cinematography, one of which came
across to be a distinctive yet recognisable form of directing. He came across to be most famous
because of a particular shot type, which was used to mimic an individual's gaze and maximise the
emotions felt by the audience when they watch the film. The emotions felt by the audience included
anxiety, empathy and fear.
Psycho
In this film, Hitchcock used a common stereotype of a female being the victim. Her vulnerability is
increased because of the fact she's naked in the shower. In addition to this, low-key lighting was
used to create a shadow effect, which created a sense of mystery amongst the audience as they are
unable to see who it is, it was used to hide the killers identity. In addition to this, it may have also
been used to represent the inner darkness within the individual, the shadow effect can also add to
the tension that is being created. Black and white editing is another convention which Alfred
Hitchcock may have used so the narrative gets across to the audience as 'dark' and eerie.
He used a lot of close-up shots of the female protoganist character to emphasise her emotions and
helplessness, Hitchcock also used close-up shots of the mystery killer welding a knife, this may have
been a way of him aiding the narrative. At the time of Psycho's release, one film critic described it as
'nasty,skilful & clever' from this, we can see that the individual who gave this response was able to
see the manipulative emotions and responses that Alfred Hitchcock was perhaps intending the
audience to feel or think about.
The Birds (1963)
Within this film, Alfred Hitchcock emphasises gender roles significantly. He used a typical character
dress code based on gender within the film because males are in suits, on the other hand the female
characters were wearing dresses and jewellery. Although, one similarity was that regardless of their
gender, victims were usually shown to be isolated. In many of his films we includes countless images
of birds, for example in 'The Birds' the narrative is based upon a flock of birds attacking a small town
called Bodega Bay. Another example of this may be in 'Pyscho' where Norman describes Marion's