Transcript The Master of Suspense  Creating Dramatic Focus  Controlling Narration and Point of View – control the flow of story information and visual point.

The Master of Suspense
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Creating Dramatic Focus
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Controlling Narration and Point of View –
control the flow of story information and
visual point of view
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Continuity – story and images must move
along in an orderly manner
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Creating Tempo and Mood – shorter shots
produce a faster pace while longer shots
produce fuller, measured pacing. The length
of shots should NEVER remain the same
throughout a film
British
Started in small films in England, always
relying on his wife, Alma, for help with
screenplays and other artistic issues
 Was lured to America by the Hollywood
producer David O. Selznick after the
success of The Lady Vanishes (1938)
and Jamaica Inn (1939).
 Selznick wanted him to direct the film
Rebecca, which went on to win the
Oscar for Best Picture (the only of
Hitchcock’s films to do so)
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His experience with Selznick was not good (due
to Selznick’s micromanaging nature and
Hitchcock’s failure to relinquish control of his
films), so he made certain to maintain control of
his films at all costs (editing, music, casting,
etc…)

Each scene was meticulously
planned in advance.
Many special effects were
achieved through common
household items
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 Suspense vs. Surprise:
- Surprise = assaulting the viewer with frightening
things
- Suspense = showing the viewer things the characters
do not know, therefore creating tension
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“There’s two people having breakfast and there’s a bomb
under the table. If it explodes, that’s surprise. If it
doesn’t, that’s suspense.”
“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of
it.”
 Audience as Voyeur:
- blurring the moral lines between the innocent and the guilty,
Hitchcock made voyeurs of his audience.
- Voyeur = a Peeping Tom
Watch for this theme as we
view Psycho
 MacGuffin
- a detail which, by inciting curiosity and desire, drives the plot
and motivates the actions of characters within the story, but
whose specific identity and nature is unimportant to the
spectator of the film
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Notorious = Uranium 235
North by Northwest = “government secrets”
Vertigo = the reasons behind Carlotta’s death
 The ordinary person or the wrong
man:
- an innocent bystander
who gets caught up in
extraordinary events
- James Stewart in The Man Who Knew Too Much
-Cary Grant in North by Northwest
 The Charming Psychopath
- villain may appear as charming or urbane
- Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train
-Joseph Cotton in Shadow of a Doubt
STAIRCASES
Psycho; Vertigo
Rear Window;
Frenzy; The
Birds
Blonde women
- Hitchcock felt that audiences
would be suspicious of a brunette
- Blonde women =
“symbolic of the heroine”
- He also felt they photographed
better in black and white
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Reflection (in mirrors, car windows, etc…)
- each person had two sides to their nature
- also to show the similarity between good
and evil
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The perfect murder
Falling from great heights
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“When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss
his character, I say, 'It's in the script.' If he says,
'But what's my motivation?, ' I say, 'Your salary.' “
Notorious for not deviating from the script nor
allowing actors to improvise
“I never said all actors are cattle; what I said was
all actors should be treated like cattle.”
Despite this, many actors clamored to work with
him, with several working him multiple times
throughout their careers: James Stewart, Cary
Grant, and Grace Kelly, to name a few
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To get started, we will begin viewing North
by Northwest tomorrow in class. You are to
take note of any of the themes or motifs
mentioned in the presentation. Upon
finishing we will begin our in-depth study of
Psycho.