Alfred Hitchcock Film Analysis

The way films are created and pieced together has progressed greatly over the past century, where before 1910 there was little use of film techniques such as special effects, animation, complex transition sequences and many more. However the introduction of film techniques have helped films gain a sense of genre and establishment as they were used to create specific intensities set out by the director; this is where roles corresponding to certain areas were introduced such as cinematographers, production designers and lighting directors. A classic example of a well-known director would be Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980) who is famous for creating suspense films like The Birds or Psycho. I am mentioning him as he had revolutionised the way films
Figure 2 is a frame from Oldboy that evokes the clear message of ‘insanity’, shown by the expression on the characters face along with the deranged almost primitive hair. Additionally, the lighting that is used allows the scene to have a more dramatic uneasiness about it yet draws the audience in, because of the offset of the lamp and the shadows that are cast along the back wall as the light source is within the frame; this creates an increase in depth. Here Chan-Wook uses a backlight to make the wall appear and add additional texture to the scene to contrast against the subject so that his shadows won’t get lost in the darkness. The additional soft key light that is not included in the frame is used to light the subject’s face and particularly his crazed expression. Chan-Wook has mixed colour temperatures to show the confusion within the frame because the key light is not the same type of light as the backlight. Looking at the work of another director that uses lighting in a particular way is Terrence Malick. Malick was b. 1943 Ottawa, Illinois and is well known for his Arthouse film The Tree of Life (2011). His films are very atmospheric and scenic to amplify the main role that nature plays
The film still itself is calm and includes a limited colour palette that ranges from dark browns and beige, with rays of light coming through the Venetian blind to enhance the dark room and even outline the main subjects face. The woman’s face in figure 4 have been highlighted by the only source of light (which would be natural light) seeping through to only just hit half of her face and create a soft shadow across the other half. This then allows a natural divide in the room bringing a dark and light side. Additionally, Malick allows enough light to enter the room for the tears in her eyes to be shown as you can see in the image a glisten of light is slightly highlighting it. From this, the viewers are able to see the subjects concern and emotion that is being expressed only briefly since her face is not fully exposed to the sunlight, adding a sense of enigma to the moment. Emmanuel Lubezki who was the cinematographer of the Tree of Life was inspired by Vermeer who was a Dutch artist who painted his subjects besides windows against dark walls. Initially, Malick and Lubezki had to find a house that was open enough that they could view the actors and had enough light coming into film everything naturally. This idea resulted in changing their environment in order to gain the lighting that is desired for