Analysis Of Francois Truffaut And Alfred Hitchcock's Film Auteur

Hitchcock makes use of a number of techniques in Vertigo and brings them together to make a film that is considered to be one of his greatest masterpieces. Through the use of colour, lighting, camera movement, dialogue and characterisation, Hitchcock produces a film that fascinates and intrigues us.

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980), the “Master of Suspense”, was a English film director, who was well known for his use of suspense and psychological elements to shock and surprise his audience. Hitchcock was known for his use of recurring themes, motifs and plot devices, such as the use of birds, hand motifs, the audience as a voyeur, mothers, blonde women, and sexuality. He was also very technical in his editing, using filming techniques such as deep focus, point of view, close up and wide, tracking shots. Montage was also a technique he used frequently in his films. He believed that by using visuals, he could convey thoughts and emotions just as well as dialogue could.

This technique momentarily suspends the omniscient gaze of the camera, and evokes the spectator’s—as well as Hitchcock’s—desire to “capture” the female protagonist as she escapes off-screen. In this context, the seemingly objective tracking shot may in fact reveal itself as a violent, subjective

Another scene that’s important to dissect is the infamous shower scene where Marion is murdered by Norman’s “mother.” This scene is important because it again shows how Hitchcock is able to manipulate his audience. This one short scene has over 30 cuts that move in rapid succession from various angles. These tricks

To see what they see, and compare our own thoughts with the evolution of the characters and the story. The dexterity of the images, and the impact that each scene has in portraying this theme, guide the viewer throughout the film with little use of dialogue and action. Our central character “Jeff,” is struggling with his casted imprisonment, his need for adventure is apparent as he watches outside his window. Conflicted with his girlfriend and conflicted with his theories, his character becomes more palpable, we begin to realize what is going on not only on the outside of him, but the inside of him as well. The aspects of the outside courtyard and the visual isolation of each apartment, help depict the humanity of each individual and sympathy for even the darkest characters. Hitchcock uses his camera, just as our protagonist does, to focus with him. The camera angles are depicted in a way to which we react with the character, rather than at the character, and eventually expose the minor elements of the story that bring to fruition the suspense of the movie and the thrills of discovery.

In the film industry, there are directors who merely take someone else’s vision and express it in their own way on film, then there are those who take their own visions and use any means necessary to express their visions on film. The latter of these two types of directors are called auteurs. Not only do auteurs write the scripts from elements that they know and love in life, but they direct, produce, and sometimes act in their films as well. Three prime examples of these auteurs are: Kevin Smith, Spike Lee and Alfred Hitchcock.

For instance, in the intro of Edward Scissorhands when Kim was telling her granddaughter the story of Edward, they were in a room filled with warm light from the fireplace. This technique gave the audience the effect to become suspicious and watch more. Just like in The Big Fish when his Edward was telling the story of how he “caught” his wife with the fish swimming in the water. The lighting of the water made the viewer wonder if something good or bad is going to happen. Some of the viewers may not have noticed it but the camera framing plays a big role in establishing the mood.

Hitchcock is known for the “meticulousness of his preproduction, shooting, and editing strategies” (Sterritt 9). An example of this is the filming technique Hitchcock used to illustrate Scottie’s Vertigo; to represent the sensation, the camera would physically move away from the subject while simultaneously zooming in on the subjects. Thus this specific shot was used whenever Scottie went through that experience, creating a specific motif for his reaction. Another strategy of Hitchcock is “his celebrated use of point-of-view shots”, which he employed to unite “physical and psychological identification between spectator and character” (Sterritt 11). This is exemplified in Rear Window, which is seen from almost entirely Jeff’s perspective, thus uniting audiences more with Jeff, and therefore the subjective narrative. This increases solidarity with Jeff, and makes it easier for the audience to adopt Jeff’s discoveries as the truth. Additionally point-of-view shots allow viewers to understand characters more, as seen through Judy’s point of view on her walk in the park with Scottie. Another camera angle favoured is the extreme high-angle shot, which in some cases marks a significant point in the plot; this shot is used to show Madeleine’s fall to her death in Vertigo, the point in the movie that serves as a climax that triggers the narrative

Francois Truffaut, when referring to Hitchcock said that “he exercises such complete control over all the elements of his films and imprints his personal concepts at each step of the way, Hitchcock has a distinctive style of his own. He is undoubtedly one of the few film-makers on the horizon today whose screen signature can be identified as soon as the picture begins.” Many people have used Hitchcock as the ultimate example of an auteur as there are many common themes and techniques found amongst his films. Even between the two films “Shadow of a Doubt” and “Vertigo,” many commonalities occur.

This hugely increased the despair and shock, the feeling of loss even when a character is brutally murdered. Straight away Hitchcock begins to build our sympathies for Marion Crane. He uses several cinematic techniques to create a mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is everything a viewer can see within a certain frame and consists of many aspects. For instance, Hitchcock uses a high-angle, mid range establishing shot to put Marion in her context, and highlight her vulnerability.

drives from the city to her lover and, on the way, stops at the Bates

Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller ‘Rear Window’ (Hitchcock, 1954) begins with the immediate use of mise-en-scène in order to establish a sense of atmosphere, equilibrium and the mundane, soon to be disrupted as the events of the film unfold and are observed through the eyes of the voyeuristic protagonist, Jeff. Setting, cinematography and various other expressive mise-en-scène techniques work together to influence the overall appearance of the film. Though, by taking a closer look, these techniques reveal the significance of the narrative and characters. In the opening sequence, Hitchcock’s original visual style provides signposts for the audience to recognize what will be significant in the future: instead of establishing what is only happening in the moment in time; mise-en-scène is used to suggest what is to come. This arrangement of the “Classical Hollywood” narrative - starting with the setting and characters in a state equilibrium - acts as a seemingly all-purpose, archetypal opening by establishing location and introducing character. Simultaneously we can see that this sequence is vastly different from the rest of the film: it is leading the viewer into a false sense of security – the calm before the storm – as Jeff soon happens to piece together information leading to the possibility that one of his neighbors murdered their wife. This sequence is one of the only moments in the film we see things the protagonist does not, thus this carefully constructed opening is preparing

The dictionary defines an Auteur as a filmmaker whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production give a film its personal and unique stamp. The auteur theory states, the director that overseas all the audio and visuals elements of a film is considered it’s author. Even though the definition of an auteur has been highly debated since the 1940’s, the director is the one that brings a film to life and uses it as an opportunity to express their views on the matter in discussion. The auteur I choose to study was Martin Scorsese, a highly acclaimed director behind some of the most iconic films ever made. After he left his job as a teacher at NYU, Scorsese released his first feature film Who’s that knocking at my door?.

Truffaut is assisted by cinematographer Henri Decae, whose experience working in documentaries gave his work a sense of realism that is well suited to the tone of this film. Decae’s camera work, is mostly handheld and shot in long takes, showing that Paris that can appear both romantic and gritty depending on the perspective. The cinematography is enhanced to greatly by Jean Constantin’s musical score. One of my nit-picks with a lot of old and new films is the overuse of a loud, overbearing score that despite the intention, actually takes away from the emotion that is supposed to be taking place on screen. There's a certain amount of elegance to the way that the music is used in Antoine's story. It never takes away from the proceedings. It

There are many directors these days in the film industry. The one that has caught my attention and is still doing so will have to be Tim Burton. With his famous odd looking glasses and multicolored lenses, Timothy Walter Burton better know as Tim Burton is a well known, and very much successful American film director, producer, artist, writer and animator. He has a certain kind of consistency in his films, the kind that keeps up with his theme so to say. He is well known for his dark, gothic and quirky fantasies which are often portrayed in his movies. His movies are usually very twisted and unexpected which makes it all the more interesting.