Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Rear Window, is an excellent film that brings together some very interesting aspects. The film takes place in the main character, Jeff’s apartment; he is a professional photographer who broke is leg and is confined to his apartment. Jeff begins watching the daily lives of his neighbors for entertainment, he suspects that his neighbor murdered his wife and the movie is all about gathering evidence and probing that this really happened. Throughout this movie Hitchcock makes use of Mise-en-scene, characterization and secondary plot, all of which are very interesting topics that work together to make an exceptional film.
I found The Wrong Man and Rear Window to be a bit slow in pace, whereas I found that Psycho and The Birds had a quicker pace. Rear Window, like The Wrong Man, were similar in style of trying to solve a mysterious problem and were slower for me than the others. Perhaps this is another instance where Hitchcock 's brilliance shows. If this film was created like his other films, I feel as if it would not have been as effective. By demonstrating a pace similar to how the characters would be living day-by-day, it heightens the suspense that seemed to be lacking when compared to his other works as it is imitating the pace of if the viewer was in the characters ' shoes. Nevertheless, The Wrong Man did not have as abundant of thrilling aspects as Rear Window 's death of the dog, moments of screaming, wondering what will happen to Lisa in the apartment, etc. Even so, I am not sure if I would argue that The Wrong Man was a complete stylistic and tonal departure from his other works since I found its pace and chain-of-events to be similar to Rear Window. One thing that I can agree on is that I am continually impressed by the artistic genius in each Hitchcock film that I watch, constantly making him my favorite
Alfred Hitchcock was a very famous film director who also made very good movies. He filmed famous movies like The Birds (1963), Saboteur (1942), and of course, Psycho (1960). He starred in his movies as cameos most of the time, and for the rest he just helped direct. His movie Psycho revolutionized a lot of horror/thriller movies today, as it brought in new ideas and innovative thoughts. He was born August 13th, 1899 and died April 29th, 1980.
Alfred Hitchcock redefined the laws of cinematic history when he released his most popular thriller film Psycho in 1960, staring Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Janet Leigh as Marion Crane. Psycho follows the story of a Phoenix secretary who embezzles $40,000 from her employer 's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother. Hitchcock uses mise-en-sćene of motifs to explores several different themes such as voyeurism, duality and the line between good and evil to manipulate and position the audience in each scene.
The story of The Haunting of Hill House is a horror classic. The book and movie depict this terrifying story in vastly different ways. The movie uses cinematic techniques that a book can not portray: music, acting, and props. The book uses imagery, internal monologue, and suspense to peak fear in the readers. Movies are a different way of portraying a story, but movies aren’t always able to depict everything in the book. The movie depiction is able to elicit fear through cinematic techniques, and the novel uses fear in a different way than the movie which is more effective in frightening the reader.
When mention about suspense, “Hitchcock” must be the first word appears out in the mind. Alfred Hitchcock produced plenty of films which are suspense and thrilling. In his filmography, Spellbound and Rope were produced in a bit earlier stage. Spellbound is the first batch of film using the topic of Psychoanalysis. Rope is the first experiment film made by Hitchcock. Even though, these two films produce early before the well-known film such as Psycho and Vertigo in his filmography. Hitchcock was successful in creating suspense and mystery in these two films as using rusty technique and editing.
Both of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, North by Northwest and Rear Window, were great movies with lots of suspense. The suspense, however, would not have been created without the entire mise-en-scene of the movies. Hitchcock was a master at using the elements of lighting, sound, and cinematography to heighten the suspense in his movies.
Alfred Hitchcocks powerful and complex psychological thriller, horror film “Psycho” (1960) was classes as the first sub genre of horror, the slasher. The film ushered in the era of slashes with graphic content of blood-letting and shocking killings of the time. Although this was Hitchcock’s first horror film, he was labelled as a horror film director ever since. The film contains disturbing themes of corruptibility, confused identities, voyeurism, human vulnerabilities and victimisation. These themes symbolise the effects of money, oedipal murder and the dark histories. These were explored by the use of the motifs of birds, eyes, hands and mirrors (Filmsite.org, n.d.).
To the unknown eye, Hitchcock has carefully and skillfully used Mise-en-scene to his advantage, causing the audience to feel fear and a sense of caution towards the character of Norman Bates. It isn’t until we reflect back on the scene and notice how intelligently Hitchcock uses the positioning of props and the characters, lighting, camera angle and staging, that we notice how he has added meaning to his characters but has also to the film, creating suspense and fear from one scene to the end of the film. Ultimately proving the point that Hitchcock “the master of suspense” uses Mise-en-scene to not only help make a brilliant film but also uses it as his disposal to add meaning in his
With Rear Window (1954), Alfred Hitchcock proved himself to be one of the best directors of suspense thrillers filled with mystery and humour. He himself called the film his most cinematic one because it was told only in visual terms (Morrow), but it was also a challenging “editing experiment” as the entire film was shot from one place, Jeff’s apartment that overlooked his backyard. The Film follows L.B. Jeffries “Jeff” (James Stewart), a photographer confined to a wheelchair in his apartment after breaking his leg at work. He spends his days watching his neighbours and eventually suspects that one of them killed his wife. His caretaker, his girlfriend Lisa and his detective friend, at first unconvinced of his suspicion, eventually join him in his voyeurism and help him to solve the crime. In this essay, I will discuss how the film is about film itself. The notions of gaze will also be analysed, through a discussion of voyeurism and Jeff and Lisa’s relationship.
Hitchcock utilizes sound, camera work, MacGuffins, and plot twists to tell the storylines of the movies.
Since the beginning of American culture, it has been tradition for rich white men to oppress and dominate in order to gain and maintain power and control. This oppression began with the conquering of the United States and continued on for centuries. In the modern world, these men, many generations ahead, seem to be similarly programmed, and are still hungry for the things that fuel their ego: A healthy appearance, powerful social status, superior educational background, and a high-powered profession. These things are key ingredients for modern social superiority, a kind of superiority that seems to be the key for success in American society. And a kind superiority is something that the most power-driven men would kill for. In the film American Psycho, the director uses satire to illustrate the life of Patrick Bateman, a typical Yuppie in the 1980’s who is a monster because of his psychotic tendencies, which are influenced by his destructive male ego.
Because of the attention it received in America, the portrayal of psychopaths in film was channeled into this nearly separate and exclusive film genre. The actions and details of the Ed Gein case, including cannibalism, necrophilia and grave robbing, became a pattern for the characteristics and activities of what was considered psychopathic behavior. Then two variations on the usual presentation of the psychopath emerged: the socially functional misfit often with a sexual obsession to kill, and the violent, dysfunctional mass murderer with idiosyncratic mannerisms and appearance.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho redirected the entire horror genre, and in doing so dismantled the prudent 1950’s societal barriers of cinema. Although unseen for its potential by the large studios of the time, Psycho became one of the crowning achievements of film history. While based partially on a true story of murder and psychosis from Wisconsin, the widespread viewing of this tale made way for a new era of film and ushered in a new audience of movie goers. The use of violence, sexual explicitness, dramatic twists, sound, and cinematography throughout this film gave Hitchcock his reputable name and title as master of suspense. In 2018, reviews of films often are headlined with “the book was better.” But, in 1960 there was no such thing
Alfred Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, England during the Edwardian Era. His parents, William and Emma Hitchcock, instilled the ideas of guilt and punishment into him from an early age. They were devout Catholics and sent their son to a strict religious boarding school. He was taken out of school, however, at the age of fourteen because of his father’s death. Due to his upbringing, Alfred developed a fear of punishment at a young age. His fear transformed into a morbid interest as he grew older. His fascination for guilt and punishment shaped the way his films were made.