Alfred Hitchcock term 2

Alfred Hitchcock 

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, was and English film director and producer, at times referred to as “The Master of Suspense”. He pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres. His stylistic trademarks include the use of camera movement that mimics a person’s gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. In addition, he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative forms of film editing. His work often features fugitives on the run alongside “icy blonde” female characters. Many of Hitchcock’s films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of murder and other violence. Many of the mysteries, however, are used as decoys or “MacGuffins” that serve the films’ themes and the psychological examinations of their characters. Hitchcock’s films also borrow many these from psychoanalysis and sometimes feature strong sexual overtones. Hitchcock said that he was sent by his father to the local police station with a note asking the officer to lock him away for five minutes as punishment for behaving badly. This incident implanted a lifetime fear of policemen in Hitchcock, and such harsh treatment and wrongful accusations are frequent themes in his films.    

• He dealt with psychological issues
• He took a stage play and turned it into a 3D film
• Hitchcock was happily married, never had any affairs, he was such a big directer that people wanted to work with him. 

 Films of Hitchcock:

• Psycho
• Vertigo
• North by North West  
• Rope 

What are some influences that Hitchcock’s work has had on popular culture?

He started the slasher movie trend, he inspired new comedy and tv series, films, e.g Simpsons, Pretty Little Liars. Hitchcock has had a lot on impact on a lot of things   

Research another director

• Tim Burton 

What are Alfred Hitchcock’s signature elements?

Alfred Hitchcock was a fan of Pure Cinema. Pure Cinema is the telling of a story via film by using string visuals, as opposed to lengthy dialogue, to process/further the narrative. That is the way Hitchcock directed his films, emphasising the visual, something that makes perfect sense given he started his career as a director in silent films where visuals were the most important element in the telling of a story. Aside from the visuals, Alfred Hitchcock’s films also have a strong thematic connection as they all feature varying degrees of intrigue, suspense, murder, romance, sexuality and dark humour, or entering around a wrongly accused man, many  deal with patriotism, or international espionage, and most tell stories of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. When I watched a small scene from one of Hitchcock’s movie, I found that most compelling isn’t the story he tells, but the way he shows it. Several of his films, for instance, feature extensive chases where the protagonist has to go to great lengths to avoid capture. The important element in these cases is the running, the encounters, the avoidance – it is never the why. The why is rarely fully explained in any of his films and Hitchcock himself thought the why didn’t matter to audiences. He called this why the McGuffin and explained it as a nonsensical device used to motivate the action and suspense. Simply, this small somewhat confusing, inconsequential thing in many of Hitchcock’s films is one of the reasons he was such a genius in storytelling because he made his films so visually compelling that nobody cared why the suspicious situation arose in the first place. What mattered was the action that ensued as a result of the McGuffin, but the McGuffin could be anything at all.