Summary: Catholic Imagination In Hitchcockian Filmography

When Jeffrey Dahmer was caught he was automatically remorseful and really sorry, saying things like, “I should have gone to college,” or, “Yes, I do have remorse, but I’m not even sure myself whether it is as profound as it should be. I’ve always wondered myself why I don’t feel more remorse.”

Throughout Jeffs time at this so called “prison,” he is constantly being stripped of all of his freedom, as well as his feelings. Although he is a convict, many of the experiments taking place on him are inhumane; it becomes increasingly clear in the dialog between Jeff, and the head scientist at this prison, Abnesti. Towards the end of the story, when Jeff is reluctant to give Heather the “Darkenfloxxed,” Abnesti is quoted saying, “Do I remember birthdays around here? When a certain individual got athlete’s foot on his groin on a Sunday, did a certain other individual drive over to Rexall and pick up a prescription, paying for it with his own personal money?” Abnesti is using his minuscule good deeds in the past to prove that he is still on Jeff's side; indicating that Abnesti is an unstable human being, who does not feel how wildly this experiment has gotten out of hand. Also, he is

Film Noir was extremely trendy during the 1940’s. People were captivated by the way it expresses a mood of disillusionment and indistinctness between good and evil. Film Noir have key elements; crime, mystery, an anti-hero, femme fatale, and chiaroscuro lighting and camera angles. The Maltese Falcon is an example of film noir because of the usage of camera angles, lighting and ominous settings, as well as sinister characters as Samuel Spade, the anti-hero on a quest for meaning, who encounters the death of his partner but does not show any signs of remorse but instead for his greed for riches.

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.

Mike Waters, Director, Treasury and Investments at Dartmouth Hitchcock provided a presentation and overview of the D-H Master Investment Program of Pooled Investment Accounts (D-H MIP) to the Committee.

Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane is a revolutionary film. Although it might not look like much to the modern viewer, many aspects of the film were the first of their kind to appear and are still used today.

Anyone who is even vaguely aware with film usually has a favorite director. Why? What distinguishes one director from another? A director is “the person who determines and realizes on the screen an artistic vision of the screenplay; casts the actors and directs their performances; works closely with production design in creating the look of the film…and in most cases, supervises all postproduction activity, especially editing” (Barsam and Monahan 496). Clearly, the director of a film is lead visionary in how the film is made. But what makes some directors truly memorable and instantly recognizable? Those directors take advantage of all different kinds creative possibilities and signatures to become the true “author” of the film, also known

[He] won’t. By God [he] won’t’” (Watson 143). Wes’s role in the justice system suddenly strikes him as he recognizes that burying the truth only encourages falsehood to build. This awareness provokes forceful emotions to course through Wes’s mind as he expresses frustration with a violent “fist.” At first, Wes criticizes himself for “thinking” he could offer mercy to a convict. It becomes apparent to him that lawbreakers invariably deserve some form of punishment for their wrongdoings. He shakes his head at the bias of the the corrupt “jury” which would “cut [Frank] loose” simply because of his infallible reputation. Nonetheless, Wes swears to “God” that he will penalize his brother despite the county’s majority point of view. Obeying and prosecuting the rules should be prioritized over one’s image. The fact that the criminal is his own brother fails to persuade his mindset. A lawbreaker will be a lawbreaker regardless of his or her assumed character. Wes is prepared to take the first initiative and perhaps stir up trouble in the community in order to do what is morally right. Both pieces of literature strongly convey the message that one must defend the law. David voluntarily exposes Ted to the FBI knowing he is jeopardizing his brother’s life while Wes concludes that Frank is not entitled to mercy and should serve time in jail. These men are in similar scenarios, for they are conflicted by the choice between family or justice. Nonetheless, they feel the

Alfred Hitchcock’s film Shadow of a Doubt is a true masterpiece. Hitchcock brings the perfect mix of horror, suspense, and drama to a small American town. One of the scenes that exemplifies his masterful style takes place in a bar between the two main characters, Charlie Newton and her uncle Charlie. Hitchcock was quoted as saying that Shadow of a Doubt, “brought murder and violence back in the home, where it rightly belongs.” This quote, although humorous, reaffirms the main theme of the film: we find evil in the places we least expect it. Through careful analysis of the bar scene, we see how Hitchcock underlies and reinforces this theme through the setting, camera angles,

Graham McNamee’s Edgar Award winning novel, Acceleration, teaches us the importance of finding closure in guilt, allowing us to find redemption in guilt when as well as to be nevermore distressed by guilt. However, the importance of finding redemption in our guilt is further evident than just this novel.

The aspect of the Citizen Kane’s mise-en-scene that stood out to me the most were the sets. The first scene showing the once amazing and repugnant Xanadu now in disrepair helps to portray the psychological disrepair Kane experiences over the film. The giant oversized office of Mr. Thatcher portrays the cold decrepit old men who are in it. The huge interiors of Xanadu show the isolationism of his relationship towards Susan and his own loneliness in the world. Each of the sets in the film help to show the progression of the character. The sets along with the other aspects of mise-en-scene create the effect of reality by its change. The mise-en-scene of the film is a reflection of the character progression throughout the movie. The scene where

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

The film is about a group of 5 people fighting to find and keep the

Mise-en-scene is the principle by which a piece of film will derive its meaning wholly from what happens in the single shot and not from the relationship between two shots. For example the director might include shots with various composition, angle, depth, movement, and lighting.

Alfred Hitchcock’s attention to detail in his films is one of the many things that makes him one of the most recognized film auteurs of all time. He was very particular what about he wanted seen on screen and how he wanted to get those shots. From camera movements to the things found in the mise-en-scène, Hitchcock was very precise about every little thing that is seen in his on screen worlds. He would strategically place objects throughout the mise-en-scène and have characters wear certain clothing. By doing this, Hitchcock is able to let the audience know things about the characters and the plot without it having to be said on camera. Hitchcock once said that “If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on” (Tiffin). That’s why there’s no surprise that when Hitchcock finally made his first color film, he began to use color as another way of communicating with his audience.