ALFRED HITCHCOCKRahel Miah

Film Opening 1 ( F.O.1) Colour – Black and White Framing – Mainly 2-shot Shot Type – Tracking shots

Medium Shot

Close Up

Birds Eye View

The Camera also moves with characters, so as the character moves, the camera tracks their movement and then holds to a still.

Title (F.O.1)

Title text fades in after 20 seconds of the opening, on top of the title we see it says Alfred Hitchcocks’. Showing us the audience that it belongs to Alfred Hitchcock.

It then Fades away after 7 seconds on screen

Editing (F.O.1)

At the beginning we see the use of fade and dissolves of text

Music/Sound We hear nondiegetic sound at first, whilst the screen is black.

This type of sound is classical but before that we hear the sound of chimes, which indicates to the audience that there may be a wedding or some sort similar.

We then progress into more crescendo type of sound, due to slow tempo and deeper sounds, we do not know what the sound is meant to signify but it creates a mystery to us immediately that the film will start off with something bad happening.

Film Opening 2 (F.O.2) Colour – Colour Filming Shot Type – Birds Eye/Establishing Shot

Straight away we know that the film is set in London

F.O.2 Extreme Long Shots and Long Shots

F.O.2

Not much movement from the camera, camera is still most times, it’s the edits which add the effect. There are uses of Tracking Shots for example when this character leaves his room and heads to get a drink.

Title

Title appears 15secs in and fads away after 7 seconds, similar to the first movie.

Hitchcock had a dramatic preference for blonde women, stating that the audience would be more suspicious of a brunette

In several of Alfred Hitchcock's movies there are characters for whom murder is an intellectual puzzle

Images of staircases often play a central role in Hitchcock's films. The Lodger tracks a suspected serial killer's movement on a staircase

Hitchcock often used the "double" in his films as a way to draw parallels between two characters. For example, two characters sharing the same type of desire, although only one of them is ruthless enough to take action.

Hitchcock preferred the use of suspense over the use of 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, then builds tension around what will happen when the characters finally learn the truth