Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was a famous and possibly argued greatest English film director. He was born on the 13th August 1899 and died on the 29th April 1980. He worked for a short time in engineering before entering the film industry in 1920. He went to Hollywood in 1939 where his first American film, Rebecca won an award. Alfred Hitchcock is the master of suspense. Hitchcock built some of his most suspenseful films around what he called "˜The McGuffin' which was, in effect, nothing. It made you believe thee was a side story and it takes you away from what the real story. Over the years, the McGuffin has come to have a description formalized as: "A device or plot element that catches the viewer's attention or drives the plot. It is generally something that every character is concerned with.' The McGuffin is essentially something that the entire story is built around and yet has no real relevance."

Here is a short video about the man himself:

MacGuffin

MacGuffin

A MacGuffin or McGuffin is a plot device that catches the viewers attention and drives it away from what the actual plot is. They are irrelevant pieces of information offered to the viewers that actually do not have any real meaning and consequences at the end of the film. The MacGuffin technique is common in films, especially Thrillers, usually the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and then becomes less important as the struggles and motivations of characters play out. Alfred Hitchcock is incredibly famous for his great use of the 'MacGuffin'.

The Birds

The Birds

Melanie Daniels is a beautiful young blonde woman who seeks out a man she met at a pet store that played a joke on her. Melanie is determined to get him back but when she arrives at Bodega Bay in search of Mitch Brenner (the man from the pet store) an unexpected war begins: a war between humanity and  birds. As ridiculous as the plot sounds, Hitchcock manages to keep it interesting with side stories;  A family torn apart, a town curious and scared and a teacher who struggles to let go of the man she once loved. These are red herring's: irrelevant side stories that keep the plot going. The film is filled with suspense and terrifying scenes that make this a fantastic thriller, or possibly  a Horror Thriller. The vicious attacks from the birds keep you on the edge of your seats and covering your eyes. Like most Hitchcock films, there are scenes that keep you on the edge of your seat. This particular film is known for its suspense through an unusual ending. It has been criticised as an 'incomplete' ending but really this is purposely done by Hitchcock. He wants the suspense to be ever lasting.

Preliminary Exercise Analysis

Preliminary Exercise Analysis

In our film, we tried as hard as possible to make sure it was better than the previous one. I think we succeeded in doing so, we included various shots and I believe the short film was actually very good. In the film we see Adeseye looking at his watch as he is waiting for the arrival of me. I unfortunately had been delayed and explained to him when he asked. When Adeseye looked at his watch, it is then zoomed into his watch, that sot is called an eye-line match and it is very effective as it shows the viewers what the person is looking at. Although it is obvious that Adeseye is looking at his watch, in some films we actually do not know what the person is looking at. We then see myself walking towards the room where Adeseye is, I am extremely late because of the delay. The first shot of me approaching the door is from behind me, hen the shot is then switched to Adeseye  watch, emphasising how late I was. The next shot is then me still walking towards the room, but this shot is in front of me offering the viewers a bit of variety. We then have me telling Adeseye why I was late and we then leave to our destination.

Preliminary Exercise

Preliminary Activity

Directors: Dapo & Sarah
Starring: Nicholas & Adeseye

For this task, we were asked to make a scene displaying the following factors of Continuity Editing:

• Eye -Line match
• Match-On-Action
• Graphic Match
• The 180 Degree Rule

The scene we created was of Seye waiting for me to arrive as we were supposed to go somewhere. However, I was late and when I arrived I explained why I was late. Initially Seye was frustrated with the lateness but we still went where we had to go. When looking back at our previous camera activities although this one happens to be the shortest, it is arguably the best by it's variety of shots. The eye-line match was a shot that I had not used before and I was incredibly eager to use it having seen it in many films that I have watched. The eye-line match is when Seye looks at his watch then the next shot is the actual watch itself. Overall I believe that this task is where we displayed many techniques and skills that really helped us on then path to making our finished media thriller.

 

Key Conventions of a Thriller

Key Conventions of a Thriller

Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing is very important. It is vital to have things kept in the right place. We must always remember certain rules. We must retain a sense of realistic chronology and generates the feeling that time is moving forward. You can use flashbacks or flash forwards but the narrative will still be seen to be progressing forward in an expected or realistic way,

Eye-Line match

We see a character looking at something offscreen and then we cut to a shot of what they are looking at.

Match-on action

We see a character start an action in one shot and then see them continue it in the next.

Graphic Match

The filmmaker can choose to place shots in a certain order so as to create a smooth visual transfer from one frame to the next. When two consecutive shots are matched in terms of the way they look this is called a Graphic Match.