How Does Alfred Hitchcock Use Cinematography In The Birds
How cinematography and sound are used in a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) to create meaning and generate a response in an audience
For this essay I will be focusing on the scene in which Melanie is heading to the school to see Annie when they are suddenly attacked by numerous birds while trying to get the school children to safety. I will be focusing on the two micro features, sound and cinematography. The sound that is used in a film can be used to deliver information about what the atmosphere of the scene is or what a character’s state of mind is during the specific scene while cinematography supplies the audience with appropriate ways to ‘read’ the specific scene.
Alfred Hitchcock’s films changed the film industry and shaped it into what it is today. His horror films such as Psycho and The Birds had a huge impact on the horror films of today, for example, the scene I will be looking at in The Birds shows all of the crows silently on a school climbing frame. In the famous horror film Jeepers Creepers (2001) the ending scene shows the …show more content…
main female protagonist leaving a building and looking up to see a crow that then lands on a climbing frame silently with many other crows. Jeepers Creepers is a good example of how The Birds changed the horror industry as all of the Jeepers creepers films focus on the creature removing the eyes of his victims, this is relevant as the crows in The Birds did the same thing.
The scene starts with Melanie, in a panning shot, arriving at Bodega Bay School.
All of the sound is diegetic, It is being sung by the school children but the lyrics they are singing are very unnerving and strange, but until Melanie has entered the school it’s unsure if the music is coming from the children or not. By doing this it makes the audience feel very unsettled and worried, they start to care for Melanie and don’t want her to enter the school as they know it will end badly for her. This sound is asynchronous because it does not fit with the scene; the audience are able to hear the strange music from the very start of the scene before Melanie has even entered the school. The music is asynchronous because there is nothing odd about her arrival at the school which adds a strange affect to the whole sequence as the music is on-going until Melanie, Annie and the school children are attacked by the
birds.
There is then a close up shot of Melanie as she has entered the school and mimes something to Annie, the audience instantly knows something is wrong and makes them even more unsettled as they already know that Melanie entering the school was a bad decision. As Annie checks the time, all of the children turn around and look at Melanie but one thing that is clearly noticeable is that the school children are still singing but their lips are not moving; this means that the sound is non-diegetic as it is not natural sound within the scene. Melanie then leaves the school to wait outside, the diegetic sound of her footsteps going down the school stairs along with the diegetic sound of the children’s singing show that there may be something bad about to occur. As she reaches the bottom of the stairs it’s clear by her silence that she feels very uneasy being outside alone.
As Melanie makes her way to sit down on the bench in front of the playground there is a panning shot following her movement. With the children’s singing still playing it keeps the audiences fully focused on what’s happening; Melanie is walking away from the non-diegetic singing yet it remains the same as if she was in the classroom, as the singing coming from the children is quite un-nerving it unsettles the audience but because Hitchcock has chosen to leave the sound of the children there as Melanie leaves it unsettles the audience even more. With a close up of Melanie sitting on the bench with clear view of the playground behind her, she takes a cigarette from her purse and lights it; the audience are able to see she must feel very unnerved by the fact she is outside in open space for the birds to attack, Melanie has previously been attacked by the birds a number of times such as when she was on the small lifeboat therefore she has already established a small fear towards the birds. As the birds gather behind Melanie the audience become more and more unsettled because she has not noticed the mass of birds gathering behind her. The odd thing about the mass of birds is that all of the diegetic sound has been removed, there is no noise coming from the birds at all. It’s visible that the birds are flapping and would normally be squawking, but in this scene the sound has been removed and it’s silent. By doing this Alfred Hitchcock is sub-consciously scaring the audience, not everybody would notice that the sound of the birds has been removed but everybody realises in their subconscious. By taking the natural noise of the birds away from the scene it builds tension up until the birds attack.
Melanie then quietly walks away from the birds heading back into the school, making sure not to make a sound to alert the birds. As she heads back up the stairs into the school the non-diegetic singing stops and is replaced by Annie’s voice telling the children to get ready for recess, almost as an early warning to tell the children to prepare as they will have to escape the birds.
We are then shown a close up Melanie entering the school looking very scared which also makes the audience scared for her, the sound being filled with chattering from the school children. The diegetic sound of her hard and loud footsteps emphasise how worried she is because it shows that her adrenaline is pumping and that she needs to be as quick as possible to get everybody out of the school and to safety. Melanie then quietly but abruptly tells Annie to close the door in fear that the birds may enter the school.
There is then a close up of Annie instructing the children to show Melanie how they behave in a fire drill, the close up of Annie shows that she is the dominate one to the children and they must respond as they are told. As the children leave the school there is a cut to a close up on the birds, still silent, and then there is the diegetic sound of stamping which are the children running for safety. The birds are immediately alerted and scatter, they are no longer silent as there is diegetic sound of the birds flapping there wings and squawking violently.
There is then a cut to a long shot of the children running away from the school, it is also visible that the there are so many crows chasing the children from the tranquil school that they have all darkened the sky and completely changed the atmosphere from a small quite school into what could be the end for the school children. Also, they appear tiny compared to the school behind them as the birds appear from behind the school. This shows the children are insignificant compared to the mass of birds. As everybody sprints from the birds there is shot of the children’s legs, the diegetic sound of everybody stamping suddenly stops even though they are still running to escape from the birds.
One of the school children then falls and there is a loud smash of her glasses, as the glasses have smashed they were clearly the only way the girl was able to see so that she could escape. The girl then screams over the loud and violent sound of the birds for her friend Cathy. As Melanie and the two girls make their way to nearby car there is non-diegetic sound of the school girl crying yet it’s visible that her mouth isn’t moving. The glasses breaking could be a symbol for the girl’s weakness and the violence of the birds, as her glasses are now smashed and she has fallen this gives the birds a chance to attack her and peck her eyes out. Also, the screaming and crying of the girl worries the audience as it is not certain that the small school girl is going to make it out alive.
The sound in this scene is used superbly to add tension and emphasis throughout which makes this film a great horror and also changed the horror industry, from the beginning of Melanie arriving to the school up until the very end of the scene. It was imminent that the birds were going to attack when the non-diegetic sound of the children singing had stopped. It added even more tension to the audience as the music had lead up to the birds attacking the school. The disturbing thing about the scene was that the birds made no sound until the children were running to safety; this made it able for the audience to be drawn in. Sound and editing elements are absolutely essential in the creation of an engaging and effective film sequence.
Kyle Knight
For this essay I will be focusing on the scene in which Melanie is heading to the school to see Annie when they are suddenly attacked by numerous birds while trying to get the school children to safety. I will be focusing on the two micro features, sound and cinematography. The sound that is used in a film can be used to deliver information about what the atmosphere of the scene is or what a character’s state of mind is during the specific scene while cinematography supplies the audience with appropriate ways to ‘read’ the specific scene.
Alfred Hitchcock’s films changed the film industry and shaped it into what it is today. His horror films such as Psycho and The Birds had a huge impact on the horror films of today, for example, the scene I will be looking at in The Birds shows all of the crows silently on a school climbing frame. In the famous horror film Jeepers Creepers (2001) the ending scene shows the …show more content…
main female protagonist leaving a building and looking up to see a crow that then lands on a climbing frame silently with many other crows. Jeepers Creepers is a good example of how The Birds changed the horror industry as all of the Jeepers creepers films focus on the creature removing the eyes of his victims, this is relevant as the crows in The Birds did the same thing.
The scene starts with Melanie, in a panning shot, arriving at Bodega Bay School.
All of the sound is diegetic, It is being sung by the school children but the lyrics they are singing are very unnerving and strange, but until Melanie has entered the school it’s unsure if the music is coming from the children or not. By doing this it makes the audience feel very unsettled and worried, they start to care for Melanie and don’t want her to enter the school as they know it will end badly for her. This sound is asynchronous because it does not fit with the scene; the audience are able to hear the strange music from the very start of the scene before Melanie has even entered the school. The music is asynchronous because there is nothing odd about her arrival at the school which adds a strange affect to the whole sequence as the music is on-going until Melanie, Annie and the school children are attacked by the
birds.
There is then a close up shot of Melanie as she has entered the school and mimes something to Annie, the audience instantly knows something is wrong and makes them even more unsettled as they already know that Melanie entering the school was a bad decision. As Annie checks the time, all of the children turn around and look at Melanie but one thing that is clearly noticeable is that the school children are still singing but their lips are not moving; this means that the sound is non-diegetic as it is not natural sound within the scene. Melanie then leaves the school to wait outside, the diegetic sound of her footsteps going down the school stairs along with the diegetic sound of the children’s singing show that there may be something bad about to occur. As she reaches the bottom of the stairs it’s clear by her silence that she feels very uneasy being outside alone.
As Melanie makes her way to sit down on the bench in front of the playground there is a panning shot following her movement. With the children’s singing still playing it keeps the audiences fully focused on what’s happening; Melanie is walking away from the non-diegetic singing yet it remains the same as if she was in the classroom, as the singing coming from the children is quite un-nerving it unsettles the audience but because Hitchcock has chosen to leave the sound of the children there as Melanie leaves it unsettles the audience even more. With a close up of Melanie sitting on the bench with clear view of the playground behind her, she takes a cigarette from her purse and lights it; the audience are able to see she must feel very unnerved by the fact she is outside in open space for the birds to attack, Melanie has previously been attacked by the birds a number of times such as when she was on the small lifeboat therefore she has already established a small fear towards the birds. As the birds gather behind Melanie the audience become more and more unsettled because she has not noticed the mass of birds gathering behind her. The odd thing about the mass of birds is that all of the diegetic sound has been removed, there is no noise coming from the birds at all. It’s visible that the birds are flapping and would normally be squawking, but in this scene the sound has been removed and it’s silent. By doing this Alfred Hitchcock is sub-consciously scaring the audience, not everybody would notice that the sound of the birds has been removed but everybody realises in their subconscious. By taking the natural noise of the birds away from the scene it builds tension up until the birds attack.
Melanie then quietly walks away from the birds heading back into the school, making sure not to make a sound to alert the birds. As she heads back up the stairs into the school the non-diegetic singing stops and is replaced by Annie’s voice telling the children to get ready for recess, almost as an early warning to tell the children to prepare as they will have to escape the birds.
We are then shown a close up Melanie entering the school looking very scared which also makes the audience scared for her, the sound being filled with chattering from the school children. The diegetic sound of her hard and loud footsteps emphasise how worried she is because it shows that her adrenaline is pumping and that she needs to be as quick as possible to get everybody out of the school and to safety. Melanie then quietly but abruptly tells Annie to close the door in fear that the birds may enter the school.
There is then a close up of Annie instructing the children to show Melanie how they behave in a fire drill, the close up of Annie shows that she is the dominate one to the children and they must respond as they are told. As the children leave the school there is a cut to a close up on the birds, still silent, and then there is the diegetic sound of stamping which are the children running for safety. The birds are immediately alerted and scatter, they are no longer silent as there is diegetic sound of the birds flapping there wings and squawking violently.
There is then a cut to a long shot of the children running away from the school, it is also visible that the there are so many crows chasing the children from the tranquil school that they have all darkened the sky and completely changed the atmosphere from a small quite school into what could be the end for the school children. Also, they appear tiny compared to the school behind them as the birds appear from behind the school. This shows the children are insignificant compared to the mass of birds. As everybody sprints from the birds there is shot of the children’s legs, the diegetic sound of everybody stamping suddenly stops even though they are still running to escape from the birds.
One of the school children then falls and there is a loud smash of her glasses, as the glasses have smashed they were clearly the only way the girl was able to see so that she could escape. The girl then screams over the loud and violent sound of the birds for her friend Cathy. As Melanie and the two girls make their way to nearby car there is non-diegetic sound of the school girl crying yet it’s visible that her mouth isn’t moving. The glasses breaking could be a symbol for the girl’s weakness and the violence of the birds, as her glasses are now smashed and she has fallen this gives the birds a chance to attack her and peck her eyes out. Also, the screaming and crying of the girl worries the audience as it is not certain that the small school girl is going to make it out alive.
The sound in this scene is used superbly to add tension and emphasis throughout which makes this film a great horror and also changed the horror industry, from the beginning of Melanie arriving to the school up until the very end of the scene. It was imminent that the birds were going to attack when the non-diegetic sound of the children singing had stopped. It added even more tension to the audience as the music had lead up to the birds attacking the school. The disturbing thing about the scene was that the birds made no sound until the children were running to safety; this made it able for the audience to be drawn in. Sound and editing elements are absolutely essential in the creation of an engaging and effective film sequence.
Kyle Knight