Examples Of Vertigo And Rear Window

Development of Suspense by Hitchcock in Psycho 'Psycho,' the somewhat infamous film by Alfred Hitchcock was produced in 1961, a time when the American censors, The Hays Office, still dominated the film industry with their strict rules and principles. It earned its notoriety by defying the traditional cinematic convections of that time and pushing the boundaries of what could be shown in mainstream cinema. The rules implemented by The Hays Office were far stricter than they are today, and Hitchcock uses all available means to reach and go slightly beyond the set limit. Using clever and different camera angles, he implies things that are not shown. He proves that innuendoes can portray the

In this essay I have chosen to analyse two key scenes, each from two of Hitchcock’s most critically acclaimed films, ‘The Birds’ (1963) and ‘Psycho’ (1960). Both of these scenes from both films display the female protagonists at their most vulnerable, facing the threat and fear of death.

Suspense is a detail that many horror writer use to catch the attention of many readers and keep them holding on till the end. Just as W.F. Harvey does when creating suspense in his story August Heat. Mr. Harvey used three methods to create his suspense for his story, foreshadowing, withholding information, and reversal. With these three methods he is able to make the reader feel like, “ We may even hold our breath without realizing it as we read on eagerly to find out how the story ends”(Source 1).

Hitchcock uses many techniques throughout the film “Rear Window” to convey suspense. The major theme of the film regards Jefferies voyeurism. His intrigue in the everyday lives of his neighbours is viewed as intrusive and morally wrong on principle. However, without this voyeuristic tendency the crime committed by Thornwald would never have been solved. Thus, the audience is lead through emotional turmoil in questioning whether it is wrong to invade someone’s privacy, or just and heroic to solve a crime. We see the climax of the film when Lisa and Stella venture out of Jefferies apartment to investigate the murder of Mrs Thornwald. This leads to a confrontation between Thornwald and Jefferies. These scenes build suspense through the use of detachment, the use of ‘split-screen’, ‘red-herring’ plot devices, lighting, music and diegetic sound.

Another thing Hitchcock had to deal with when making Vertigo were the different areas when Scotty and Madeleine came close and shown the attraction they had for each other. The code states that adultery must not be explicitly treated, justified, or presented attractively in films. It also discusses scenes of passion and regulates what are in them by saying that excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures, are not to be shown. ("Motion Picture Production Code of 1930") Hitchcock avoids both of these, although they are very critical to the plot of the story. First of all, Hitchcock sets up a plot where adultery is a big part of it. Scotty falls in love with Madeleine and vice versa, even though Madeleine is already supposedly married to the man who hired Scotty. Hitchcock is able to do this by later showing that the woman Scotty fell in love with was a poser, so it wasn't really committing adultery. In the scenes where they embraced each other, Hitchcock kept it simple and used quick embraces between the two. He also threw in an awkward scene between the two when Scotty removed her clothes and hung them up to dry, but he was able to do it in a way to throw implications of what he'd done

Alfred Hitchcock uses many techniques throughout the film “Rear Window” to convey suspense. The major theme of the film regards L. B. “Jeff” Jefferies voyeurism. His intrigue in the everyday lives of his neighbours is viewed as intrusive and morally wrong on principle. However, without this voyeuristic tendency the crime committed by Thornwald would never have been solved. Thus, the audience is lead through emotional turmoil in questioning whether it is wrong to invade someone’s privacy, or just and heroic to solve a crime. We see the climax of the film when Lisa and Stella venture out of Jefferies apartment to investigate the murder of Mrs Thornwald. This leads to a confrontation between Thornwald and Jefferies. These scenes build suspense through the use of detachment, the use of ‘split-screen’, ‘red-herring’ plot devices, lighting, music and diegetic sound.

     Hitchcock uses misery, tragedy, and death to show the emotions of his characters. At no point is this more obvious than the end of the movie. Hitchcock spends the entire movie building up to this point and in the end he makes it extremely clear how tragedy has changed the relationship of everyone. After the nagging husbands murder of his wife has been confessed you see

In the film, Scottie quickly falls with the heroine Madeline, and through a series of unfortunate events sees her jump to her death. However, one day when walking the streets of the city, he spots a woman,Judy, who likes strikingly similar to his past lover. After spotting her he impulsively begins to recreate the reality of Madeline through Judy by forcing her to dye her hair, and wear the same exact clothes Madeleine wore, and Rothman describes Scottie’s “refusal to let his love be lost” as the source of these monstrous actions (Rotham 231). However, it is this inability to let his past go that leads him to recreate a reality and bring forth the truth. Even so, after he recreates his lover Madeleine, it is not until Judy makes the mistake of wearing the same neckless his former lover did that sparks realization for Scottie. After seeing this he is prompted to take Judy to the sight where Madeleine was killed, and confront her about her involvement in the murder of Madeline. After overcoming his vertigo, Scottie find himself at the top of the bell tower with Judy, where she ends up jumping to her death. In doing so, retributive justice is brought to Madeline seeing that her killer dies the same way she did. However, none of this would have not been possible without Scottie’s effort to recreate the reality of his lover Madeleine. It is through this recreation that truth behind Judy’s identity, and the cause of Madeline’s death is

A thriller is a type of film that usually instills excitement and suspense into the audience. A thriller is commonly described as a tense edge of the seat environment. The movie, Vertigo, is one of the most famous thrillers ever made. However, Vertigo does not fit into the stereotypical genre of thriller. Vertigo, often viewed as an experimental film because it was one of the first major thrillers of that time that used many different and innovative camera techniques. These techniques used in this film are different types of lighting, montage, intense music, etc. Vertigo is known to be one of Hitchcock’s best movies because of his unique sense of style and his famous

Both Rear Window and Vertigo engage in some of these Hitchcockian themes, notably, obsession, and the equation of knowledge and danger, where “individuals…face danger…after learning some piece of information”(Sterritt 8). In Rear Window, Jeff becomes consumed by his obsession to understand and solve the crime he believes Mr. Thorwald has committed; this obsession drives the narrative, as Jeff slowly uncovers what has happened. His obsession also exemplifies the theme of knowledge as dangerous, as in executing his ‘investigation’ he places himself in danger, as we see towards the very end of the film, but he also places Lisa in danger when she enters the Thorwalds’ apartment to find evidence. In Vertigo we see Scottie become obsessed with the character Madeleine, through both his short love affair with her, and as well in his makeover of Judy to resemble the Madeleine whom she once acted as. He also becomes, to a certain extent, obsessed with conquering his Vertigo; he tries, with Midge to try and combat it initially, but ultimately reaches his climax with the illness with Judy acting as

Afterward, he became heart broken and fell into a depression for a few months. Soon, after he began to replace Madeleine with other people. One day when he was in downtown San Francisco, he saw a woman who looked like Madeleine. The woman's name was Judy Barden. John approached her and asked her out on a date. As they began to fall in love John began to change her into Madeleine. One night when Judy and John where about to go out to dinner, he noticed that Judy had a necklace that was similar to Corlata's necklace. To create closure in his life, John took Judy to the Spanish monastery and her forced to go into the tower, where he overcame his “Vertigo” where Judy confesses to John that Gavin was using both of them in his plan to murder his wife. During her confession, Judy became frightened and fell to her death.

Alfred Hitchcock is definite about his method for creating suspense. In the excerpt from Hitchcock’s essay, he calls the art of suspense in his movies

Though he is tricked, he believes that due to his vertigo he lets her die which could represent how he was hesitant to commit to her. Moreover, it is Scottie’s fear of heights that makes him lose the women that he loves. Through this theory, along with Freud’s, Hitchcock better shows the fear of commitment in men. This shows a deeper understanding than that of many, during this era as when the movie was filmed (1958) and the nuclear family was evident. Men and women were supposed to be married and not have any feelings for anyone outside their marriage.

The absence of a person, idea, or object in fact creates something. A hole in the room is the absence of the floor, but this absence becomes the main focus of the room. It is no longer a room, it is a hole in the room. This analogy is to express this void in most Hitchcock films that hurts the main characters. In several occasions main characters are hurt by nothing. It seems strange to be hurt by nothing, but the absence or rather the presence of this absence creates psychological torment for these characters. This absence and withholding of knowledge creates the perfect atmosphere for Hitchcock’s suspense. The looming absence controls the scope of the film and is what makes Hitchcock the successful suspense director he is today. The absence is where the anticipation lies and there’s an irony of the absent taking form, the black humor underneath, and the suspense it brings.

In Vertigo, Hitchcock begins with building credibility and composure in Scottie’s character. The film starts off with a chasing scene in