film revision

• Auteur theory


  A filmmaker, performer or studio with a visible & distinctive 'signature'. The principal creator of a film.
• Scottie's treatment of Judy could reflect the way Hitchcock treated actresses working on his films and the guilt Scottie feels could be linked to Hitchcock's Catholic upbringing
• Hitchcock's femme fatale blondes and the wrong man regularly feature in his work
• God's eye view


  Technical competence
• In Vertigo, the God's eye view is used at the mission scene
• Catholic guilt


  Alfred's dad was friends with the police and put him in jail, gave Hitchcock fear of crime - "The wrong man"
• German expressionism


  • 360 shot of Judy and Scottie kissing; shown two locations in one shot (barn) - Scottie pieces it all together and shows his inner psychology
• Hitchcock began his film career in the 1920s, during the Silent Era. Before becoming a director, he worked as a screenwriter and art director, so he understood how to write and build mise-en-scène effectively
• The first ten feature films Hitchcock made were silent, and he famously said: "The sound could go off and the audience should still have a perfectly clear idea of what is going on"
• Hitchcock worked at UFA Studios in Berlin, where he learnt the techniques of German Expressionism
• German Expressionism is a Modernist style of filmmaking that aimed to represent the inner states of characters through unusual camerawork, lighting and editing
• A good example of German Expressionism is The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920)
• Soviet cinema was also a strong stylistic influence on Hitchcock
• Kuleshov technique of montage editing

  Intercutting images can change the meaning of a sequence, used to build emotional intensity between characters and show point-of-view
• Hitchcock worked mainly in black and white - only his final 15 out of 54 features were in colour
• In his UK films, Hitchcock had taken a key creative role in every area of film production: from sets and costume, to script, cinematography and editing, and music
• Hitchcock brought this approach to Hollywood when he moved there in 1940, which was unusual in the Studio System where directors were more like stage managers than artists
• Hitchcock was the first to make a British 'talkie': Blackmail (1929)
• Sound-bridges


  Linking the action, e.g. the scream of a maid discovering a body becomes the sound of a bus horn that awakens the killer
• Off-camera sound effects


  Used to extend the world of the film
• Expressionistic sound design


  E.g. the famous 'knife' scene
• Hitchcock took advantage of lighter film cameras to extend the range of photographic movement and angle
• Hitchcock's use of close-ups


  Utilised the emotional intensity generated by CUs of faces to imbue inanimate objects with significance, approaching symbolic
• Hitchcock took advantage of the richness of Technicolor to work colour motifs into his films, particularly the conflict between greens and reds
• Hitchcock's main themes


  • Looking at itself - how we look at other people, how it feels to look through someone else's eyes, what pleasures we get from that
  • Voyeurism
  • Taboo sexuality
  • Doubles and a dual/mistaken identity
  • Distrust of authority
  • Beautiful, blonde women in peril
  • Charming villains
• Vertigo title sequence


  Fast-paced non-diegetic composition in brass and woodwind instruments, eerie and unsettling, presenting the thriller theme
• Vertigo title sequence


  Company cards in black and white, portraying the film as mysterious, perhaps even implying a neo-noir style
• Vertigo title sequence


  Transition to technicolour with a sepia tint and low lighting, providing an illusion of mystery
• Vertigo title sequence


  Close up shot of a woman's face, sustaining the mysterious essence while introducing a character
• Vertigo title sequence


  Extreme close up focusing on the woman's lips and nose, objectifying her and implying romance and desire
• Vertigo title sequence


  Woman's lip is trembling, indicating fear and anxiety, possibly questioning mental health
• Vertigo title sequence


  Sudden loud burst within the music in contrast to the low volume riff, shocking the spectator's senses
• Vertigo title sequence


  Camera shot panning up towards the eyes at a slow pace, increasing the audience's anticipation, stimulating suspense
• Vertigo title sequence


  Woman's eyes are dark and flickering, looking side to side, reinforcing her apprehensive behaviour
• Vertigo title sequence


  Camera zooming into an extreme close up shot of one of the eyes, and the colour of the frame transforming into a red hue, indicative of danger and warning
• Vertigo title sequence


  Spirograph images (lissajous waves) emerging from the characters eyes, representing a character's mental health and echoing their state of mind
• Midge's apartment


  Yellow is the primary colour used to identify with Midge and everything in her apartment, connotations of motherhood, warmth and safety
• Midge's apartment


  Midge is presented as a blonde, linking to Hitchcock's obsession with blondes as opposed to brunettes
• Midge's apartment


  Midge is dressed modestly and wears glasses, this wasn't perceived as attractive and doesn't have a seductive presence in the film
• Midge's apartment


  Midge represents the ideal, submissive and domesticated female at that time