Directions Unit: Film Director- Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock is one of Britains most famous film directors who made it to Hollywood, just like my director, Alexandre Mackendrick did. Even today his work is well respected by both the public and film buffs. A huge reason for that is because he is perfect the way he builds tension and suspense. He did this in a number of ways, which have inspired me in my own directing. Hitchcock style of directing has been an inspiration for many directors, including myself personally. In order to recreate his style in my own way, its important from to learn about Hitchccks methods and what makes him the 'Master of Suspense'. I realise Hitchcock became the Master because he understood how cinema affects an audience on an intimate, emotional level. Its therefore important for me to understand my audience, and how my direction style will affect them. For example, POV shots will make the audience feel more attached, so in taking them on a tragic journey, they will feel uncomfortable given they can't do anything to change whats happening.

Hitchcock pays close attention to all elements of cinema, and how they affect the audience. Visual storytelling is key. Hitchcock would imply stuff through his visual story telling. He was very clever in putting his audience ahead of his characters. When Marcus arrives I want the audience to know that he is trouble before Mrs. Wilberforce does. I will show this through shot size, camera angle, camera movement, lens, blocking/staging, lighting, costuming, music, sound, editing. Something that will be particularly useful here is the sound. In the film Mrs. Wilberforce hits the pipes and it creates this loud sound a 'clanging' pipes. To accompany this there is the sound of a steam engine train fo Having the inspiration from Point Blank, in the scene when I will have the sound of a ticking clock constantly playing, and may even consider not having any music at all.


Hitchcock believed that the camera should take on human qualities and roam around playfully looking for something suspicious in a room, similarly to a POV. I would like to imitate this in my film by having the camera look at all the men when Louis arrives, almost from his POV (Point Of View) perspective. POV was also important to Hitchcock's directing style. This encourages audience inclusion. They are involved in uncovering the story. Scenes can often begin by panning a room showing close-ups of objects that explain plot elements.
Something else to note about Hitchcock's work is that he usually will use humour to build tension up. This style is actually very similar to the Ealing 'black comedy' style and is present in the original LadyKillers film. Elements like the Parrots which were ear piercingly loud were both tense and funny. The noise they made would make the audience jump if the volume was high enough.

I want to make sure everything in my film is done for my audience. Nothing is more important than how each scene is going to affect the viewer. The camera position can completely change the feel of a scene. I wouldn't like to cut too much if I can help it, so I will include interesting Master Shots whenever I can, but won't use them all the time. I would also ensure everything in my film is done for my audience by using the characters to hook the viewer. Thats why I feel my opening scene is so valuable. I
have no dialogue at this point, so am dependent purely on the cinematography and sound. Hitchcock knew why people are drawn to a darkened theatre; to fully immerse themselves, and be taken away from reality for hours. They do it to have fun, and know they are safe in the theatre. As a director, I could throw anything at my audience and they know that nothing will happen to them. They're confident that they'll be able to walk out the cinema when the films finished and resume their own lives.

Another element of directing Hitchcock liked to enforce is having a frame to show character emotion. Character emotion is so important, and Hitchcock believed it should come across in most scenes. The first consideration of where to place the camera should involve knowing what emotion you want to project to the audience. You can control the intensity of that emotion by placing the camera close or far away from those eyes. In the ladykillers I will include close up shots to show intensity. If I do a clock close up it depicts emotion because the time passing shows intensity. I also want to include
sudden cut from wide shot to close-up to trigger the audience and surprise them.

This idea relates to the times of silence film, an era Hitchcock grew up in. These films were his roots; he began in silent films himself. Without sound, filmmakers had to story tell, relying purely on visual elements. Hitchcock said this trend changed drastically when sound finally came to film in the 1930's.  Suddenly everything went toward dialogue oriented material based on scripts from the stage.  Movies began to rely on actors talking, and visual storytelling was almost forgotten. (Truffaut) Always use the camera as more than just a camera.
Emotion is vital for each scene; it tells us the story and about the characters. Emotion comes directly from the actor's eyes. You can control the intensity of that emotion by placing the camera close or far away from those eyes. Hitchcock also thought the camera was not a camera. In my filming I want to make the suitcase full of money the camera, and have the group of thugs looking down at it in astonishment. This will show their greed, excitement and makes the suitcase the camera.

A sudden cut from wide to close-up will give the audience a sudden surprise. Suprise would also be exaggerated with matching music. Sometimes a strange angle above an actor will heighten the dramatic meaning. This is a similar philosophy to having the camera look up at a character to show power, and have it look down on the character to show weakness/vulnerability. Hitchcock used this theory of proximity to block each scene. Hitchcock compared this theory to a composer writing a music score. Rather than playing instruments, he's playing the audience!

As mentioned earlier Hitchcock was very visual and he therefore felt dialogue to not be so important. Hitchcock wanted his characters to be pre-occupied or distracted during dialogue. Their eyes can then be distracted while the other doesn't notice. This is something I plan on including in The LadyKillers. Mrs Wilberforce talks a lot and a lot of what she has to say is just irrelevant. So when she's talking to Professor Marcus about letting the room, I want him to be looking around at the things in the room, planning it out (where he can put the instruments and record player). Likewise, when they all get back from the robbery and Mrs. Wilberforce is talking, they are distracted by the case of money.