The first film we watched was The Birds made in 1963, which was both produced and directed by Hitchcock himself. It was distributed by Universal Pictures (also his first film with them), and released on March
28th. The movie had a budget of $2.5 million, with a gross revenue of $11,403,529, making it a huge success.
I noticed the film consisted of a
variety of camera angles from just the short bit we watched, such as long shots, wide shots and tra
cking movement when nothing frightening was happening. As the birds away - the "villains", the camera gets closer; medium close up to close up.
There is then a panning shot from the increasingly large group of birds, to the classroom of children. This shows a c
ontrast between the two very different situations. It's like good vs. evil, with the diegetic sound of the birds and the children singing to enhance their innocence. The still prolonged shot of the birds in their mass group creates tension as we are unsure and uneasy as to what they will do.
As they attack, the editing gets shorter and faster, with extreme close ups of the children and the woman's face as they run for safety. The scene then ends with the woman and a child in her car, out of danger, relaxing the mood of the audience with slower paced editing.
Psycho:
The second film we watched was Hitchcock's first real horror film Psycho, which was made in 1960, and is known as the "mother" of all modern horror suspense films. The film was low budget, costing $800,000, all in black and white with brilliant editing.
The part we analysed was the shower scene, possibly because it was one of the most dramatic parts of the movie, full of different camera angles such as medium close up of Morian Crane (Janet Leigh) as she turns on the shower. This shows the audience her location and what she i
s doing. We then get a low angle shot of the shower head as the water falls towards the camera. I really like this shot because it is clever and intriguing. The scene then carries on with her taking a shower, until the camera switches to the opposite side and through the shower curtain we see a figure get closer. This makes the audience nervous and anxious to see what or who this is. This creates enormous tension and Hitchcock delivered this well. At this moment the sound remains diegetic as the shower continues to run, but when the curtain is pulled back, the famous soundtrack begins, adding to the apprehension. The figure is dark making it unable to see who it is, causing the audience to wond
er. Hitchcock then uses lots of extreme close ups on the two faces and the knife cutting her body. This is fast paced unlike the beginning of the scene and gets faster as it progresses. The shot then cuts to an extreme close up of her hand as it trails down the wall, then to a wide shot of Morian against the wall - this shows the open space which helps us to focus on her. The scene then ends with a panning shot of her dead body, to the plug hole as it follows her blood towards it. The running shower washes her blood away, which I believe is like washing away the evil.
Rear Window:
The last film of Hitchcock's we studied was Rear Window, made in 1954, the earliest of the three.
The masterpiece was set at Paramount Studios and consisted of 32 apartments at a non-existent address in Manhattan where the protagonist spies on his neighbours through his 'rear window'.
This was my favourite film of the
three because for me, it created the most tension as almost all of the camera angles are from the protagonist's own apartment so it felt as though I was in the room with Jeff (James Stewart), the magazine photographer confined to a wheelchair.
The film does not seem to be scary to start with, as jazz music plays underneath the credits as we view a long panning shot of all the apartments, introducing the audience to the area and helping them get a feel for the neighbours and their characteristics. The camera moves from each apartment and lets us view through people's apartments as they get on with their day. The sound during this scene is from a radio, making us feel more involved.
Towards the end of the film, a lot of it is filmed through a pair of binoculars, making the audience believe they are looking themselves. This makes the viewer much more attached and intrigued, which is always a good feeling. Tension arises when Jeff's girlfriend, Grace Kelly is in their neighbours apartment snooping around when the house owner comes home! The situation contrasts with the light jazz music playing across the courtyard, making the audience feel hopeless as they watch the man find Grace in his apar
tment. The two camera angles switch from extreme long shot from Jeff's window, and a mid shot of Jeff as he helplessly watches. Soon after, the suspected villain enters Jeff's apartment. He is alone and vulnerable, and the high angle medium long shot of him in his wheelchair supports this.
David Fincher
David Leo Fincher was born on the 28th August 1962 in Denver, Colorado. He is an Academy Award-nominated American film maker and music video director, known for his dark and stylish films such as Alien 3, Fight Club, Se7en, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and more.
Fincher has a list of trademarks, such as his single frame insert. His movies such as Fight Club, often include several single frames that flash on the screen in the middle of a scene.
Another one is that his films often end in a suicide, both attempted or successful. He uses wide shots a lot, and his films often have a low-key lighting with green or blue tinted colour temperature.
Panic Room:
The 2002 thriller film starring Jodie Foster and Forest Whitaker tells a story about a mother and daughter that have just purchased a four-story town house in New York, when three armed robbers invade the house in search for millions on dollars stored in the panic room, where Meg (Jodie Foster) and her daughter are hiding.
From the start, Fincher makes it clear to the audience that the panic room is not as safe as it seems due to the sudden change in mood and sound when the estate agents and Meg enter the room at the start of the film.
During the credits, there is a faint ticking noise which indicates a sense of time running out and urgency, reflecting what the film is about. The font of the credits blends in with the background of the buildings, and reflects in the windows, and when the title 'Panic Room' entered the screen, the music suddenly become lower and more intense, creating tension for the audience. As for the mis-en-scene, Jodie Foster is dressed in business clothes, to give some sort of idea as to her background and lifestyle.
The panic room contrasts to the rest of the house because it is filled with an unnatural light, whilst the house itself is dark with a source of natural light.
