How Is Alfred Hitchcock Use Of Film Techniques Used In Vertigo
The Life of Alfred Hitchcock
"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible". Alfred Hitchcock.
Alfred Hitchcock was one of the first celebrity director. Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899 in Heytonstone, England. His early life could be compared to a Charles Dickens novel full of hard work. The Hitchcock's were a hard working strict Catholic family. His father William Hitchcock was a store owner in Heytonstone. With three children, his mother Emma Jane Hitchcock stayed at home to take care of the family. Hitchcock describe his childhood very lonely and shelter. Probably due to his obesity. He was a very quiet child and didn't get along with a lot of people. One time as punishment his father sent him to the local police …show more content…
station with a note saying lock him away for 10 minutes. Since that day Hitchcock has had a morbid fear of the police. He also had a fear of driving and never learn how to drive. Because of this he could never get pulled over by the police. His mother also wasn't the nicest she used to make him stand at the foot of the bed for several hours as punishment for bad behavior. She used to also make Hitchcock tell what happened each day. Which made its way into his film "Psycho". How Hitchcock was treated in his youth later come in themes with his films. As a boy, the first play Hitchcock recalled seeing was about a villain casted in a green light with eerie music playing in the background. Alfred was very impressed with the heroin in covered lighting better known in today's terms as special effects. This memory would impact Hitchcock's style throughout his career. As a young man he attended Saint Ignatius College in London, where he studied engineering. After graduation he got a job as a draftman and adversting designer for the cable company Henley's. It was when he was working at this place he started summiting articles for the in-house publication. In 1919 he got his first job which was making title cards for silent films which got him a job as a script writer, then art director, and then a assistant director. By 1925, he had completed his first film, "The Pleasure Garden". His first film receive critical success was "The Lodger" which was a retelling of Jack the Ripper filmed in 1920. Alma Reville was Hitchcock's editor and worked with him on his first films. The two were later married in a Roman Catholic Ceremony on December 2, 1926. Alma Hitchcock was married to Alfred fifty-four years and she was known to voice her opinion on his work. She also consider to be Hitchcock closet collaborator. The Hitchcock's only had one child during their marriage. Their daughter Patricia accompanied them on their trips from England to the United States. During the first nine years of Hitchcock's film career, he made fifth teen films. Three of these films could be classified as thrillers and one would be classified as a murder mystery. These films were called Blackmail 1929, The Man That Knew Too Much 1934, and the Thirty Nine Steps 1935. These types of films would be the films that would make Hitchcock world famous. During this time, he was one of England's most popular and wealthiest film producers. However, Hitchcock wanted the publicity that came with the recognition and acclaim he would get from the United States. With World War II on the horizon, the British film industry was in dire straits. This gave Hitchcock the perfect opportunity to leave England and take his talents to The United States. Hitchcock relocated his family to Hollywood in 1939 and to work for David O. Selznick. Upon his arrival in Hollywood, he produced and Directed one of his one his most critically acclaimed movies, "Rebecca". Which was Alfred Hitchcock first America Film. Hitchcock was nominated for the best director for "Rebecca". Unfortunately, this was the same year that "Gone with the Wind" was released. Hitchcock lost Oscar, but gained a lot of recognition with film industry and fans in the United States. David O. Selznick continued to produce Hitchcock next few films all the way up to "Spellbound" in 1945. It's not like he needed him, because Hitchcock made some of his best works after their partnership ended. For example "Strangers On a Train", "Rope", "Dial M for Murder", and many more great films. Hitchcock had an obsession with his leading ladies having blonde hair. In his mind, blonde haired leading were more photogenic. He expressed "that blondes had a coolness, a passion that was waiting to be revealed". "Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints". He even wanted his leading ladies that were not blonde, to bleach their hair before they started filmmaking. He could not understand why some leading ladies do not want to do this. One of Hitchcock's favorite leading ladies was Grace Kelly, a natural blonde. She made three films with Hitchcock "Dial M for Murder", "Rear Window", and "To Catch a Thief". She actually won an Academy Award not for a Hitchcock Film, but for the film The "Country Girl" directed by George Seaton. He work with a bunch of other actresses but these were the ones that were blonde. Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint, Janet Leigh, and Tippi Hedren. Most of his memorable films were directed during the 1950's and 1960's. Two of the most memorable were "Dial M for Murder" starring Robert Mallard and Grace Kelly, and of course "Rear Window" with Jimmy and Grace Kelly. "Rear Window" was a film that had everything: humor, romance, and suspense. "Psycho", released in 1960. Psycho was probably his biggest success yet and ground breaking Films to come out. It was extremely controversial at the time for its violence. Keep in mind this was 1960 and nobody had seen anything like it before. With the main character being a female which was never done before and then killing off the main star Janet Leigh in the first 40 minutes. In the famous shower scene which was shocking to audience everyone and being one the first movies to use fast paced editing. When reherasing the famous scene Hitchcock came at the actress doing the same motion as the killer. It left actress Janet Leigh terrified. The film was also one of the first to have a character cross-dressing and partially nudity in the shower scene. Speaking of the shower scene the blood that was used in that scene was actually chocolate syrup. Since it was black and white you couldn't tell. "Psycho" made horror films scary again. The music from the film is one of the most famous scores every put to a film. To get people to see the film Hitchcock told theaters not to let anybody in after the movie had started. This would get people curious about the film and eventually lead them to see it. The film inspired so many copy cats films. "The film also invented the slasher sub-genre of horror, giving filmmakers new and creative ways to stab people to death on screen. Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are the most obvious examples". Reynolds, Dolan. "The Genius Of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho." WhatCulturecom The Genius Of Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho Comments. N.p., 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. The film received four Oscars nominations, but won none of them.
After "Psycho" he made "The Birds", released in 1963 which was his biggest budget yet 3.3 million. Which was consider by many his best of his later movies. It's about a small town that gets attack by some vicious birds. Apparently The star of the film Tippi Hedren did not like filming with Hitchcock. She was injured on the set by one of the birds. Tippi came out about this a few years ago. She didn't want to say it during the shoot or after, because she feared she could lose her career. "Birds" and "Frenzy", released in 1972 were consider the last films of Hitchcock that were good. His other movies "Marnie", "Torn Curtain", and "Topaz" were consider good, but not great like his earlier films. Hitchcock was known as a director that had to be in control of every aspect of his productions.
He preferred shooting on location instead of using the film studios due to the natural light obtained on location. He also had certain tricks that he would use with his camera techniques. One he would use to add intensity to a scene would be called a push pull. The Push pull would make the foreground steady while the background moves closer. This would cause the audience to pay attention to certain parts in the movie or to feel distorted. The main example of this one would be when in "Vertigo" James Stewart looks down. He would use P.O.V (point of view) a lot mainly in Rear Window. It works extremely well in that film because you feel like you're in James Stewart shoes. Close ups were used when a character discovered something important or to reveal something. He uses dolly tracks to move the camera smoothly like in "Rope" which was filmed in 10 long takes. "Rope" is supposed to create the illusion of one shot. He also has a cameo in all of his movies. There almost like little Easter eggs because you usually don't notice because he's in the background usually as a face in the crowd, a driver, or just some random extra. He also was an innovator in the use technology to build and maintain suspense in his
films. Not many directors have their own television show. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was a television series that ran from 1955 thru 1963. It was a combination of mystery and suspense stories that were his original work. In every episode, Alfred would always begin the show with the words, "Good Evening" followed by a description of the nights show. The show had a distinctive theme song that will always be identified with Hitchcock. One episode Hitchcock wanted to show Disney world, but Walt Disney wouldn't allow this because he made the "That disgusting film Psycho". The show won a Golden Globe for best TV show and won two Emmys. It ran from 1955-1962. Hitchcock only directed seventeen episodes. In the show last season the show the running time was extended and renamed the Hitchcock hour. Hitchcock was nominated five times for best director for his films "Rebecca", "Lifeboat", "Spellbound", "Rear Window", and "Psycho". Even with all of his critical and fan acclaim, he never won an Oscar. He was awarded the Givierinc Tralberg Award in 1968 for his work as a producer. In true Hitchcock fashion, his only comments when accepting the award were thank you. Hitchcock had a sense a humor for such acclaimed director. " I do have a weakness for the practical jokes and have played quite a few in my time". He would often have a dry sense of humor. Like when a actor ask what his motivation is Hitchcock would often respond in " Your Salary". Other times he would be more of a prankster like putting whoopee cushions under people seats. Another example he would invite some people out for dinner and order dessert first. If you watch some of his films even they have a sense of dark humor. Off-Screen Hitchcock lived in a very happy household. Which he shared with his longest collaborator and wife Alma Reville. Even though life was happy Hitchcock had his moments. When Alam was pregnant with their child, Patricia. He could not stand to look at her when she was at this state. He once gave the star of the "The Birds" Tippi Herden daughter a custom doll with that same cloths as Tippi in the movie inside of a odd shape box. It scared the young girl because the box that the doll was in look like a coffin.
Hitchcock directed more than 50 films and in 1970, Hitchcock made his final film, "Family Plot", released 1976. That same year he was granted knighthood in his home country of England by Queen Elizabeth II. Because of failing health, Hitchcock was unable to travel and had to receive the award by proxy. He received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1979. When he won this award he made a joke saying he must be about to die soon. A few months after receiving Knighthood, Hitchcock passed away in his sleep on April 29,1980 at 9:17 from complications of kidney failures. His closest collaborator and wife Alma Reville died in 1982 due to natural causes. Even to this day he is being talk about he is consider to be the greatest director who ever lived. People still are inserted just recently there was two films that were about Hitchcock. One was an HBO movie title "The Girl", released in 2012. It was about the production on "The Birds" and the rough relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren. Hitchcock was played by actor Toby Jones. Tippi Hedren was played actress Sienna Miller. The other film about Hitchcock was simply title "Hitchcock", released also in 2012. Anthony Hopkins played Hitchcock, Helen Mirren played Alma Reville, and Scarlett Johannsson played Janet Leigh. It was about the relationship between his wife and Hitchcock during the making of "Psycho". He even has a un-released documentary about the Holocaust he made in 1945.Which was banned until now today in will be shown on HBO on January 26th and January 27th. Alfred Hitchcock was consider a filmmaker far ahead of his time. He is the most famous director of them all. You don't even have to know that much about movies to know his name. He changed the way we looked at films. Many people back in the day were terrified to take a shower because of the scene in "Psycho". His techniques in cinematography have been used by many of the top directors of all time. Directors such as Quentin Taratino, Steve Spielberg, Brian De Palma, David Fincher, and M. Night Shyamalan are just a few of the modern day directors that give him credit for influencing how they make movies. Hitchcock films will be talked about for years to come. There are even classes about understanding and breaking down shot by shot of his films. There is even a famous term people like top use when describing his films "Hitchcockian" for suspense thrillers. Out of all the films Hitchcock had made his favorite was "Shadow of a Doubt". With the diversity of making movies to producing a very successful television series, his genius will continue to be enjoyed by fans for many year to come.
"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible". Alfred Hitchcock.
Alfred Hitchcock was one of the first celebrity director. Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899 in Heytonstone, England. His early life could be compared to a Charles Dickens novel full of hard work. The Hitchcock's were a hard working strict Catholic family. His father William Hitchcock was a store owner in Heytonstone. With three children, his mother Emma Jane Hitchcock stayed at home to take care of the family. Hitchcock describe his childhood very lonely and shelter. Probably due to his obesity. He was a very quiet child and didn't get along with a lot of people. One time as punishment his father sent him to the local police …show more content…
station with a note saying lock him away for 10 minutes. Since that day Hitchcock has had a morbid fear of the police. He also had a fear of driving and never learn how to drive. Because of this he could never get pulled over by the police. His mother also wasn't the nicest she used to make him stand at the foot of the bed for several hours as punishment for bad behavior. She used to also make Hitchcock tell what happened each day. Which made its way into his film "Psycho". How Hitchcock was treated in his youth later come in themes with his films. As a boy, the first play Hitchcock recalled seeing was about a villain casted in a green light with eerie music playing in the background. Alfred was very impressed with the heroin in covered lighting better known in today's terms as special effects. This memory would impact Hitchcock's style throughout his career. As a young man he attended Saint Ignatius College in London, where he studied engineering. After graduation he got a job as a draftman and adversting designer for the cable company Henley's. It was when he was working at this place he started summiting articles for the in-house publication. In 1919 he got his first job which was making title cards for silent films which got him a job as a script writer, then art director, and then a assistant director. By 1925, he had completed his first film, "The Pleasure Garden". His first film receive critical success was "The Lodger" which was a retelling of Jack the Ripper filmed in 1920. Alma Reville was Hitchcock's editor and worked with him on his first films. The two were later married in a Roman Catholic Ceremony on December 2, 1926. Alma Hitchcock was married to Alfred fifty-four years and she was known to voice her opinion on his work. She also consider to be Hitchcock closet collaborator. The Hitchcock's only had one child during their marriage. Their daughter Patricia accompanied them on their trips from England to the United States. During the first nine years of Hitchcock's film career, he made fifth teen films. Three of these films could be classified as thrillers and one would be classified as a murder mystery. These films were called Blackmail 1929, The Man That Knew Too Much 1934, and the Thirty Nine Steps 1935. These types of films would be the films that would make Hitchcock world famous. During this time, he was one of England's most popular and wealthiest film producers. However, Hitchcock wanted the publicity that came with the recognition and acclaim he would get from the United States. With World War II on the horizon, the British film industry was in dire straits. This gave Hitchcock the perfect opportunity to leave England and take his talents to The United States. Hitchcock relocated his family to Hollywood in 1939 and to work for David O. Selznick. Upon his arrival in Hollywood, he produced and Directed one of his one his most critically acclaimed movies, "Rebecca". Which was Alfred Hitchcock first America Film. Hitchcock was nominated for the best director for "Rebecca". Unfortunately, this was the same year that "Gone with the Wind" was released. Hitchcock lost Oscar, but gained a lot of recognition with film industry and fans in the United States. David O. Selznick continued to produce Hitchcock next few films all the way up to "Spellbound" in 1945. It's not like he needed him, because Hitchcock made some of his best works after their partnership ended. For example "Strangers On a Train", "Rope", "Dial M for Murder", and many more great films. Hitchcock had an obsession with his leading ladies having blonde hair. In his mind, blonde haired leading were more photogenic. He expressed "that blondes had a coolness, a passion that was waiting to be revealed". "Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints". He even wanted his leading ladies that were not blonde, to bleach their hair before they started filmmaking. He could not understand why some leading ladies do not want to do this. One of Hitchcock's favorite leading ladies was Grace Kelly, a natural blonde. She made three films with Hitchcock "Dial M for Murder", "Rear Window", and "To Catch a Thief". She actually won an Academy Award not for a Hitchcock Film, but for the film The "Country Girl" directed by George Seaton. He work with a bunch of other actresses but these were the ones that were blonde. Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint, Janet Leigh, and Tippi Hedren. Most of his memorable films were directed during the 1950's and 1960's. Two of the most memorable were "Dial M for Murder" starring Robert Mallard and Grace Kelly, and of course "Rear Window" with Jimmy and Grace Kelly. "Rear Window" was a film that had everything: humor, romance, and suspense. "Psycho", released in 1960. Psycho was probably his biggest success yet and ground breaking Films to come out. It was extremely controversial at the time for its violence. Keep in mind this was 1960 and nobody had seen anything like it before. With the main character being a female which was never done before and then killing off the main star Janet Leigh in the first 40 minutes. In the famous shower scene which was shocking to audience everyone and being one the first movies to use fast paced editing. When reherasing the famous scene Hitchcock came at the actress doing the same motion as the killer. It left actress Janet Leigh terrified. The film was also one of the first to have a character cross-dressing and partially nudity in the shower scene. Speaking of the shower scene the blood that was used in that scene was actually chocolate syrup. Since it was black and white you couldn't tell. "Psycho" made horror films scary again. The music from the film is one of the most famous scores every put to a film. To get people to see the film Hitchcock told theaters not to let anybody in after the movie had started. This would get people curious about the film and eventually lead them to see it. The film inspired so many copy cats films. "The film also invented the slasher sub-genre of horror, giving filmmakers new and creative ways to stab people to death on screen. Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are the most obvious examples". Reynolds, Dolan. "The Genius Of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho." WhatCulturecom The Genius Of Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho Comments. N.p., 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. The film received four Oscars nominations, but won none of them.
After "Psycho" he made "The Birds", released in 1963 which was his biggest budget yet 3.3 million. Which was consider by many his best of his later movies. It's about a small town that gets attack by some vicious birds. Apparently The star of the film Tippi Hedren did not like filming with Hitchcock. She was injured on the set by one of the birds. Tippi came out about this a few years ago. She didn't want to say it during the shoot or after, because she feared she could lose her career. "Birds" and "Frenzy", released in 1972 were consider the last films of Hitchcock that were good. His other movies "Marnie", "Torn Curtain", and "Topaz" were consider good, but not great like his earlier films. Hitchcock was known as a director that had to be in control of every aspect of his productions.
He preferred shooting on location instead of using the film studios due to the natural light obtained on location. He also had certain tricks that he would use with his camera techniques. One he would use to add intensity to a scene would be called a push pull. The Push pull would make the foreground steady while the background moves closer. This would cause the audience to pay attention to certain parts in the movie or to feel distorted. The main example of this one would be when in "Vertigo" James Stewart looks down. He would use P.O.V (point of view) a lot mainly in Rear Window. It works extremely well in that film because you feel like you're in James Stewart shoes. Close ups were used when a character discovered something important or to reveal something. He uses dolly tracks to move the camera smoothly like in "Rope" which was filmed in 10 long takes. "Rope" is supposed to create the illusion of one shot. He also has a cameo in all of his movies. There almost like little Easter eggs because you usually don't notice because he's in the background usually as a face in the crowd, a driver, or just some random extra. He also was an innovator in the use technology to build and maintain suspense in his
films. Not many directors have their own television show. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was a television series that ran from 1955 thru 1963. It was a combination of mystery and suspense stories that were his original work. In every episode, Alfred would always begin the show with the words, "Good Evening" followed by a description of the nights show. The show had a distinctive theme song that will always be identified with Hitchcock. One episode Hitchcock wanted to show Disney world, but Walt Disney wouldn't allow this because he made the "That disgusting film Psycho". The show won a Golden Globe for best TV show and won two Emmys. It ran from 1955-1962. Hitchcock only directed seventeen episodes. In the show last season the show the running time was extended and renamed the Hitchcock hour. Hitchcock was nominated five times for best director for his films "Rebecca", "Lifeboat", "Spellbound", "Rear Window", and "Psycho". Even with all of his critical and fan acclaim, he never won an Oscar. He was awarded the Givierinc Tralberg Award in 1968 for his work as a producer. In true Hitchcock fashion, his only comments when accepting the award were thank you. Hitchcock had a sense a humor for such acclaimed director. " I do have a weakness for the practical jokes and have played quite a few in my time". He would often have a dry sense of humor. Like when a actor ask what his motivation is Hitchcock would often respond in " Your Salary". Other times he would be more of a prankster like putting whoopee cushions under people seats. Another example he would invite some people out for dinner and order dessert first. If you watch some of his films even they have a sense of dark humor. Off-Screen Hitchcock lived in a very happy household. Which he shared with his longest collaborator and wife Alma Reville. Even though life was happy Hitchcock had his moments. When Alam was pregnant with their child, Patricia. He could not stand to look at her when she was at this state. He once gave the star of the "The Birds" Tippi Herden daughter a custom doll with that same cloths as Tippi in the movie inside of a odd shape box. It scared the young girl because the box that the doll was in look like a coffin.
Hitchcock directed more than 50 films and in 1970, Hitchcock made his final film, "Family Plot", released 1976. That same year he was granted knighthood in his home country of England by Queen Elizabeth II. Because of failing health, Hitchcock was unable to travel and had to receive the award by proxy. He received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1979. When he won this award he made a joke saying he must be about to die soon. A few months after receiving Knighthood, Hitchcock passed away in his sleep on April 29,1980 at 9:17 from complications of kidney failures. His closest collaborator and wife Alma Reville died in 1982 due to natural causes. Even to this day he is being talk about he is consider to be the greatest director who ever lived. People still are inserted just recently there was two films that were about Hitchcock. One was an HBO movie title "The Girl", released in 2012. It was about the production on "The Birds" and the rough relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren. Hitchcock was played by actor Toby Jones. Tippi Hedren was played actress Sienna Miller. The other film about Hitchcock was simply title "Hitchcock", released also in 2012. Anthony Hopkins played Hitchcock, Helen Mirren played Alma Reville, and Scarlett Johannsson played Janet Leigh. It was about the relationship between his wife and Hitchcock during the making of "Psycho". He even has a un-released documentary about the Holocaust he made in 1945.Which was banned until now today in will be shown on HBO on January 26th and January 27th. Alfred Hitchcock was consider a filmmaker far ahead of his time. He is the most famous director of them all. You don't even have to know that much about movies to know his name. He changed the way we looked at films. Many people back in the day were terrified to take a shower because of the scene in "Psycho". His techniques in cinematography have been used by many of the top directors of all time. Directors such as Quentin Taratino, Steve Spielberg, Brian De Palma, David Fincher, and M. Night Shyamalan are just a few of the modern day directors that give him credit for influencing how they make movies. Hitchcock films will be talked about for years to come. There are even classes about understanding and breaking down shot by shot of his films. There is even a famous term people like top use when describing his films "Hitchcockian" for suspense thrillers. Out of all the films Hitchcock had made his favorite was "Shadow of a Doubt". With the diversity of making movies to producing a very successful television series, his genius will continue to be enjoyed by fans for many year to come.