-
Essay / Analysis of the filmmaking techniques of Alfred Hitchcock's unique style
Alfred Hitchcock once said: "The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them." " And he certainly did, on his way to becoming one of the greatest directors of all time. He has over 50 film credits to his name. Many of his films have a multitude of similarities that reflect Hitchcock's unique style. Hitchcock is often considered the master of suspense, and rightly so. In the world of knots, a “hitch” is a rope that connects other ropes together to form one rope. Hitchcock's cinematic style had a "hitch" that linked certain techniques used in most of his films. These include its innovative use of camera movement, music and exploration of the issues underlying the motivations and actions of its characters. Three films that exemplify these skills are his 1954 film Rear Window, his 1959 North by Northwest, and his 1960 film Psycho. Through these films, audiences can see many techniques related to Hitchcock's overall style. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Hitchcock's use of music is absolutely superb. Music is an important element in the making of a film. Hitchcock understood the importance of having something orchestrated to set the mood. The use of music helped create suspense in his films, such as the shower scene in Psycho and the cornfield scene in North by Northwest. The shower scene in Psycho uses silence to grab the audience's attention. When the music suddenly gets louder, our anxiety/fear also increases. The music for the cornfield scene in North by Northwest is constructed in the same way in Psycho. He achieved this with the help of his composer Bernard Herrmann. He worked with Herrmann for most of his career. Together, they created some of the most memorable soundtracks in cinema history. In an article by Edward Rothstein, he goes on to talk about the importance of music to Hitchcock: Bernard Herrmann, for example, who created the music for "Psycho," "North by Northwest" and some of the other masterpieces. Hitchcock's work, said that there were only "a handful of directors like Hitchcock who really know music and fully realize the importance of its relationship to film." But it was more than that. For Hitchcock, music was not simply an accompaniment. It was a priority. And it not only revealed something about the characters who sang the score's songs or moved beneath its canopy of sound; the music might seem like a character in itself. Hitchcock definitely treats the music as a character in its own right, providing additional emotional information throughout the film. Perhaps this is what makes the interplay between music and action so fluid in his films. A technique that Hitchcock is also well known for is his innovative camera movement. He uses point of view to arouse emotion in his audience. The POV used in Rear Window is designed to mimic the view that Jeff, our main character, sees through his camera lens from his apartment. In a sense, we feel what Jeff feels in every moment. In North by Northwest, Hitchcock focuses on the face of Roger, the protagonist, to show the emotion that makes us feel like we are there with him. It is best said in an article by Kurt Lancer: “Hitchcock made dialogue scenes cinematic by filming the subtexts – what people thinkand feel the characters made visible through the eyes, gestures and full body language of its performers.” Hitchcock uses a camera effect known as "Dolly zoom." Using this technique creates the illusion that the world is closing in around us. This gives the audience a feeling of paranoia or impending danger. The use of camera angles actively conveys the feeling of suspense. In North by Northwest and Rear Window, Hitchcock uses a lot of long shots. Rear Window has a long, sedentary shot for the majority of the film. The particularly long long shot shows Jeff's garden where he participates in a bit of voyeurism while he is immobilized and recovering from a broken leg. In North by Northwest there is a greater variety of long shots. The shots are often in motion, making us feel the stress of being chased like the main character. In Hitchcock's films, he tends to use a specific mold when it comes to women. He uses a lot of blondes. His best-known films each have a blonde in the central role. Blondes, however, aren't just eye candy projected on screen. While there's no doubt that the women are stunning, they also play a much bigger role in the films they appear in. They also project qualities of independence, poise, sexuality, determination, and most importantly, mystery. No Hitchcock film would be complete without his use of “Chilled Blondes.” Hitchcock is also unique in that he often depicts many sensual moments. Before North by Northwest, no one had talked so openly about sex in film. They never said the word “sex” outright, but they definitely alluded to it. North by Northwest offers easy, more enjoyable privacy. In Psycho he explores the darker and sinister side of sex. Norman, the antagonist, has psychologically disturbed perception. He feels guilty for having so many sexual thoughts that he thinks killing someone will make up for his lustful thoughts. There are a lot of "mother issues" in Hitchcock's films, especially in Psycho. Norman is suffering from major mommy issues. He has a bit of an Oedipus complex. Theorized by Sigmund Freud, the Oedipus complex defines “the idea of the young person having a fantasy and obsessive feelings about possessing the parent of the opposite sex and getting rid of the parent of the same sex in order to get rid of the rival ". This theory couldn't be clearer in Psycho, Norman never transferred his love and continued to love his mother too much and in a very twisted way. He killed her in a jealous rage towards her new boyfriend. Now, every time he gets a new love interest, he ends up murdering them too. In North by Northwest, Roger and his mother simply have a fundamental lack of trust and understanding towards each other, which of course is nothing compared to Norman and his mother. North by Northwest, Psycho and Rear window all have a common psychological theme. They all have an underlying theme of crime. In North by Northwest, our protagonist doesn't commit a crime but is accidentally drawn into a complicated conspiracy. In Psycho, the characters actually broke the law. There are two criminals, Marian and Norman, although the severity of their crimes varies. Hitchcock gives his characters a strange sense of morality. He shows that "Hitchcock's avoidance of abstract moralism may seem inconsequential, but it is key to the parallel he draws between the normal and the abnormal and the transferability of desire." In Rear Window, Jeff, the protagonist, does not commit a crime himself (although his voyeurism is.