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| Psycho (1960) Dir. Alfred Hitchcock |
The genre of Psycho is horror, this is my focus film because the auteur uses a lot of simple effects like sound and lighting to give the audience suspense. Hitchcock successfully abides to the horror genre due to the pattern of 'damsels in distress', which are repeatedly used in the majority of his films. In the iconic scene of the women getting stabbed in the shower, Hitchcock creates terror among the audience and uses the point of view shot of the murder to reflect the fear of the woman. Suspense is created in many scenes for example the shower scene is probably the most suspenseful in terms of the whole film and the build up before it goes to the death scene. This film text is going to be used in order to display the most iconic Hitchcock film scenes to establish why he is the master of suspense and how this does make him an auteur.
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| Vertigo (1958) Dir. Alfred Hitchcock |
Is a psychological thriller based on the novel, 'D'entre les morts' by Boileau-Narcejac, Hitchcock successful captures the theme of fears, this is because the main character, John develops the fear of acrophobia, which is the fear of heights and vertigo, which is a sensation of false/rotational movement. The camera shot that acts as the turning point of the plot, is when John is hanging from the gutter pipe and looks down; this creates the fear which plays a big part of the narrative. The camera shot is looking between two buildings using a bird-eye shot. This creates empathy and fear amongst the audience because it is used as a point of view shot, defining him as a auteur. By using these shots he is able to create a large amount of suspense, is John going to fall? is John going to survive. By using these shots and having the narrative already explain his fears to the audience he is able to go and be a director and instead of state, he can create the fear all with the use of suspense.
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| The Birds (1963) Dir. Alfred Hitchcock |
Item 3: The Birds
This is another one of Alfred Hitchcock's films based on Daphne du Maurier book of the same title. Immediately the film is a Horror/Thriller hybrid which means a massive cause for suspense which makes it easier for Hitchcock as a director to portray he's use of suspense which makes him a great auteur. He shows this though his use of sound, he creates tension within the audience.
Item 4: Dictionary definition of an Auteur.
- "a film director who influences their films so much that they rank as their author."
Item 5: The Genius of Hitchcock; Sight and Sound Magazine, August 2012, Page 40.
"I'm 47 years old now, and every day when I go into the shower and turn on the tap, I think of Psycho (1960)" - Del Toro.
Page 41
"Drama is life with the dull parts cut out"- Alfred Hitchcock
Page 42
"All so different - so which one of those is Hitchcock? He's all of them. Over the course of more than 50 films, he became a genre himself."
Within this magazine I will use various quotes in order to back up my response to how Hitchcock's use of suspense makes him an auteur. I will be using quotes from Hitchcock himself and Del Toro. Which shows both his own and another point of view.
Item 6: Hitchcock is still on top of film world, Roger Ebert
"By making a cameo appearance near the beginning of almost all of his films, he became personally famous at a time when most people never ever thought about a film's director."- Roger Ebert.
I will use this to back up the fact that Hitchcock became influential and he changed peoples thoughts on film within his time as a director within my presentation script.
Item 7: Alfred Hitchcock Book Quote
"In fact, the auteur theory itself is a pattern theory in constant flux. I would never endorse a Ptolemaic constellation of directors in fixed orbit. At the moment, my list of auteurs runs something like this through the first twenty: Ophuls, Renoir, Mizoguchi, Hitchcock, Chaplin, Ford, Welles, Dreyer, Rossellini, Murnau, Griffith, Sternberg, Eisenstein, von Stroheim, Buñuel, Bresson, Hawks, Lang, Flaherty, Vigo."
I will be using this quote which can be found on page 563 in 'Notes notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962' by Andrew Sarris. The reason that I will be using this quote it because within the book it explains the auteur theory and then the author states specific people whom he thinks are truly auteurs. Within this list is 'Hitchcock' which suggests that he believed to be an auteur not just by anyone but by a specialist.
Item 8: Quote from himself- Good Reads
"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible."
I think that this shows that Alfred Hitchcock purposely has in mind what the audience is going to feel at all times, which I think makes him an auteur because not only is he trying to tell the story he is trying to make the audience feel uncomfortable etc by using technical features to create suspense. I think that by him using the word 'suffer' additionally states to the reader on how Hitchcock is as a person as well as a director. It shows that he is trying to use suspense to specifically make the audience 'suffer' which potentially will make the audience remember his films more because of the emotional trauma they go through from his uses of suspense.
Item 9: Horror Films- James Marriott
"Psycho was,simply, an assault on the audience"- Page 94.
This quote will be used in my presentation script to show that Hitchcock is an auteur and backing up my argument that he takes some of his ideas from being based on real events. He clearly shows you them on screen to add to the reality of it to make the audience feel terrified.
"The only way to remove numbness [of civilisation] and revive our moral equilibrium is to use the artificial means to bring about the shock. The best way to achieve this, it seems to me, is through a movie. -Alfred Hitchcock." Page 2.
This will be used in my presentation script because it shows Hitchcock's thought of view on society.
Item 10: Alfred Hitchcock- Screenwriter, Director, Producer, Television Personality.
"He described his childhood as lonely and sheltered, partly due to his obesity. He once said that he was sent by his father to the local police station with a note asking the officer to lock him away for 10 minutes as punishment for behaving badly. He also remarked that his mother would force him to stand at the foot of her bed for several hours as punishment (a scene alluded to in his film Psycho). This idea of being harshly treated or wrongfully accused would later be reflected in Hitchcock's films."
I will be using this quote within my presentation script to back up my point that Hitchcock may be such a great director because of his childhood and his influences.
Rejected Items
Item 11: The 39 Steps |
| The 39 Steps (1959) Dir. Alfred Hitchcock |
Item 12:Quote - Alfred Hitchcock
I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach.
I rejected this quote because I think it shows him more of a daunting director rather than a suspenseful director.
Item 13:Quote - Alfred Hitchcock
Give them pleasure - the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.
The reason I rejected this quote is because I thought that it doesn't specifically address Alfred Hitchcock's use of suspense therefore I did not find it useful
Item 14: Image of Alfred Hitchcock for Presentation Script
Bibliography
Item 1: Focus Film - Psycho
Item 2:Focus Film - Vertigo
Item 3:Supporting Film - The Birds
Item 4: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/auteur
Item 5: The Genius of Hitchcock; Sight and Sound Magazine, August 2012, Page 40.
Item 6: http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/hitchcock-is-still-on-top-of-film-world
Item 7: http://dramaandfilm.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/files/2011/06/Sarris-Notes-on-the-Auteur-Theory.pdf (Page 563)
Item 8: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/35957-always-make-the-audience-suffer-as-much-as-possible
Item 10: http://www.biography.com/people/alfred-hitchcock-9340006
Item 11: Rejected Film - The 39 Steps
Item 12:http://vickielester.com/2015/02/27/i-am-a-typed-director-if-i-made-cinderella-the-audience-would-immediately-be-looking-for-a-body-in-the-coach-alfred-hitchcock/
Item 13:http://www.alfredhitchcock.com/brand/quotes/
Item 14: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=alfred+hitchcock&view=detailv2&&id=3E593C137F588E0FE8D2A507014959FC1586FAC6&selectedIndex=1&ccid=WDGCo8MR&simid=608048253340552157&thid=OIP.M583182a3c311a83d52ee5f9fcb73b433H0&ajaxhist=0
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