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Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo Mise En Scene Analysis

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Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo Mise En Scene Analysis
Cecilie Skogheim
FS 101
Term Paper

VERTIGO
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) is an American film noir psychological thriller. Hitchcock made Vertigo during a very creative period (1958-1960) of his life. In that time period he released three historic films, Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960). Each film took a radically characteristic approach to the genre suspense thriller, and Hitchcock made a massive change to the thriller genre. His films were not black and white anymore. Also, he started to use more glamour in his films like glamorous blondes as the leading ladies. We can see examples of this in Vertigo. The film was written during an earlier era for a different audience, which is an important factor to have in mind. However this does not distract the whole experience, rather one has to put the movie in its proper historical context. The 50´s was know for a lot of things like post war influence, the middle class values, the rise of …show more content…
All of them have to be planned very well to create a good effect. Every aspect of Vertigo seems to be planned thoroughly. Lighting is a very important aspect of the film that is used to affect the viewer’s perception of what is happening. For instance, when Scottie meets Madeline for the first time at the restaurant. Ernie´s restaurant are fully decorated with red garments, a color of warning. All the guests seem to have dark anonymous clothing on and they therefore do not stand out as much. However Madeline is wearing a green gown, what makes she stand out instantly. The color green is used throughout the whole film and is also identified with Madeline. Green is a color of passion and mystery. As she is leaving the restaurant, she stops for a bit behind Scottie. We now see a close up, profile shot. Madeleine seems dominant and powerful. Another repeated technique is the profile shot that emphasize her
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