Rope, Alfred HitchcockMagdalena KarbowskaCG Arts & Animation Year 1Unit 4: Story- Telling

Contents

Introductionpage 2

Main bodypage 2

Conclusionpage 4

Bibliographypage 4

Quotespage 4

Illustrationspage 4

Illustration 1: "Rope" poster art

Introduction

This essay explains the relationship of the story of „Rope” 1948 by Alfred Hitchcock to the structure. The examples of the cinematic techniques will be compared to more modern approaches. Rope (1948) directed by Alfred Hitchcock is a movie based loosely on a story about real life murder committed by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. The same as Nathan and Richard, Brandon and Phillip decided to commit an ideal murder, but their confidence backfired at them and both of the characters got caught. The “Rope” is different from other movies made at the time, mainly because of the use of only one set, one continuous take and the camera doesn't always concentrate on the characters when they are talking about something important to the plotline. The research for this essay is mainly based on on cinematic techniques in 1940's, Alfred Hitchcock techniques of movie making, creating suspence in the 1930 - 1946 Hollywood classics and modern approach of the same subject.

Main body

Apart from the opening scene Rope was filmed using only one set, this feature allowed the film makers and actors to carry on even if the location or angle changed, requiring to only move the camera and some of the props. In the 1930-1940 static shots were popular in the Hollywood cinematography and they are still present in the modern films. Rope however doesn't consist of only static sets and there are many travelling shots. The camera follows characters when they are moving to the other room and it pans all over the place, showing the surroundings to the audience. This feature is important to the plot of “Rope” because it allows the audience to take a part in the party. The camera movements from the part of the room to the people casually chatting together equals to the person nervously sitting at the party, knowing that at any moment the dark truth could be discovered. Long continuous take is often used to build up tension, but in the earlier films it was never used to build a film which seems like it was made in one shot. Before the digital cameras movies were made using 35 mm or 16 mm film cameras, which did not have enough capacity to hold a whole movie on one reel. Filming Rope, Alfred Hitchcock used 35 mm film, which means he could only make scenes up to 10 minutes long. When the reel was coming to an end the best way to make change invisible was to concentrate on a still object or zoom in on something close enough to loose detail and continue the action on the new reel.“Filmmaking without coverage, without the escape of "we'll fix that in the editing room" is a highwire act, much closer in spirit to live theater than regular old movie-making and as such, it feels expectant of your applause. The performers and crew must be perfectly in synch to pull this showmanship off.” (Fig.1)

Illustration 2: Stage set of Rope

Today it is easy enough to film numerous takes of the same scene to get a perfect one which editors can use and join with other scenes. Even slight mistakes or imperfections can be removed in the editing. In the “Rope” even slight mistakes of actors or the people behind the scenes could result in the need to react the scene right from the beginning. This makes Rope similar to a play, where the margin of mistakes is limited and constant errors could result in stopping the production.

“There's a great sequence with only one actor, the hired help, walking to and from the foreground cleaning off the living room chest cum coffin as the murderers and the guests continue their conversations” (Fig.2)This scene takes advantage of the long take. The suspense start to rise high and pile up right after the camera pan from the group of guests to the innocent lady who is trying to clean up the chest. The audience is made to feel helpless in the situation where they can't stop her actions. In this situation less is more, this single scene creates the most tension in the whole piece and at the same time it is very simple. The woman is walking back and forth, from one room to another while taking down everything from the

chest. While doing this she doesn't leave the view of the camera.Modern movies directors when creating suspense rely more on the lighting, mood and not fully showing the cause of the fear. Hitchcock in his movie revealed the “cause of fear” in the first scene and build the fear on the fact of knowing what happened.“While working on a screenplay Hitchcock would often ask, “Now wouldn’t this be a funny way to kill him off?” (Truffaut) He built his stories around ironic situations. He liked to play practical jokes on the characters, putting them through the worst possible things that could go wrong.” (Fig.3)

Murdering someone with a piece of rope and then using it to tie a pile of books, hiding the dead body inside a chest used as a table for a party, and invite the father of the killed man to the said event. The irony of this could be felt from the beginning, making the audience suspect that something will go wrong. Bad things always happen in those situations, like if there is a shower scene and someone could be heard or seen behind the curtain and then the character asks if there is someone you just know that usually she will be killed. Irony will easily create suspense if it's not overused and if done right together with other factors like mood, lighting, surroundings and sound.

Many modern movies try to tell a bigger story, making the film fast paced. This trend isn't something new, and to the younger audience who didn't watch any classics “Rope” will seem boring and extremely slow in the beginning. The change in the people's lifestyle could have a connection to the way movies are made. Compared to the 1930 – 1940's the society now is going on a on a high speed, and not having time to watch a film which doesn't give enough thrill and action. “Rope” is 80 minutes long and it shows action from one evening, in comparison Avatar (2009) dir. James

Illustration 3: Lady cleaning the chest, not suspecting anything

Illustration 4: Rope used to kill David Kentley

Cameron, is 162 minutes long, making it only twice as long but it manages to show two different civilisations, fauna and flora, the world they live in, technology they use, near annihilation of one group of creatures and there is even romance. The less is more changed into more is better, it's like value for money. On the other hand Alfred Hitchcock was able to create films which are still appreciated until today without many useful resources which are widely available today, making the filming easier.

Conclusion

If “Rope” would to be remade by someone else using modern standards for a film, there is a high chance that it would evolve into completely different movie. The illusion of no editing in the scenes is what creates the unique mood, starting off slowly and building up the suspense. The use of one set together with static and travelling takes make the audience feel involved in the action. The camera pan around the room, it is all to make sure the audience doesn't feel left out, the fear is created by putting the scene of murder as the first one in the movie. Because in The 1940's technology wasn't as advanced as it is now, Alfred Hitchcock had to use 35 mm film which lead to planning out the exact place where the reel would be changed over and not breaking the illusion of “no edits”. Hitchcock did like to use ironic situations to create suspense, creating something what audience expects to happen, but also hopes it won't happen at the same time.

BibliographyIdeology and cinematography in Hollywood, 1930-39, Michael J. Cormack, 1994Seamless Storytelling: The Continuity Style, Fathom, http://www.fathom.com/course/10701053/sessions.html 01.03.2012the FILM EXPERIENCE, http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2011/6/22/personal-canon-100-rope.html 01.03.2012Film Techniques of Alfred Hitchcock, Borgus Productions, http://www.borgus.com/hitch/ 01.03.2012The Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com 01.03.2012

QuotesFig.1 the FILM EXPERIENCE, http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2011/6/22/personal-canon-100-rope.html 01.03.2012Fig.2 the FILM EXPERIENCE, http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2011/6/22/personal-canon-100-rope.html 01.03.2012Fig.3 Humor: Hitchcock's Secret Weapon, Borgus Productions, http://borgus.com/hitch/hitch-humor.htm 01.03.2012

IllustrationsIllustration 1: "Rope" poster art, Soundtrack Collection, http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/14377/Rope 01.03.2012Illustration 2: Stage set of Rope, the FILM EXPERIENCE, http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2011/6/22/personal-canon-100-rope.html 01.03.2012Illustration 3: Lady cleaning the chest, not suspecting anything, The Seventh Art, http://theseventhart.info/2010/04/05/ellipsis-5/ 01.03.2012Illustration 4: Rope used to kill David Kentley, Alfred Hitchcock Geek, http://www.alfredhitchcockgeek.com/2005/08/rope-part-3-nietzsche-is-dead.html 01.03.2012