Vertigo As The Archetypal Mystery

Premeditated cameo appearances. These characteristics depict every Alfred Hitchcock film ever produced. Known for his unique style of psychologically disturbing thrillers, with a tendency to engage his audience in voyeurism, he quickly became a household name after the release of his first sound film in 1929. Hitchcock’s career only gained velocity from there; producing a myriad of successful films in his fifty year span of filmmaking. Arguably the most notable came in 1958, Vertigo; a film chock full of dynamic characters, impressive visual effects, and most importantly, overlooked motifs of self identity, external

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.

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.

How auteur theory can be applied to the study of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest and Vertigo

Through distinctive images composers develop interest, drawing the responder in and thus providing insight into the experiences of others. This is demonstrated in Amanda Lohrey’s novella ‘Vertigo’ as Luke and Anna find themselves in a new and disorientating environment as they attempt to build a new life and in the ‘The Red Tree’ composed by Shaun Tan, through the nameless girl’s journey as she attempts to find herself and her place in the world. Meaning created by distinctive images creates interest thus permitting the responder to gain a greater understanding on how the experiences help shape one’s self.

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.

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899 in London. He worked in engineering for a few years before he entered the film industry 1920. In 1939 he won an Oscar for his first American film, Rebecca, and therefore moved to Hollywood. He’s made over 50 movies, including Psycho, The Birds, and Vertigo. These films were the first to really introduce and combine suspense with sex and violence. This was essentially the reason that he was coined the term “Master of Suspense” because no other director had explored these themes previously (bio.com). Many of his movies allude to moments and scenarios not only from when he was growing up, but also have similarities within each other – most notably Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963).

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

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,

The Alfred Hitchcock film; Vertigo is a narrative film that is a perfect example of a Hollywood Classical Film. I will be examining the following characteristics of the film Vertigo: 1)individual characters who act as casual agents, the main characters in Vertigo, 2)desire to reach to goals, 3)conflicts, 4)appointments, 5)deadlines, 6)James Stewart’s focus shifts and 7)Kim Novak’s characters drives the action in the film. Most of the film is viewed in the 3rd person, except for the reaction shots (point of view shot) which are seen through the eyes of the main character.(1st person) The film has a strong closure and uses continuity editing(180 degree rule). The stylistic (technical) film form of Vertigo makes the film much more

Alfred Hitchcock is arguably the greatest director of all time. Many of his films are considered standards of American cinema and inspired many of today’s directors. Even though Hitchcock is known as timeless director, he had an understanding of philosophy that was beyond his time. Hitchcock had a brilliant perception as to how the mind works and human reaction. Hitchcock’s understanding of philosophy can be seen in his film Vertigo and illustrates how many theories can be debilitating in everyday life.

Throughout cinema, there has always been space in our hearts for the gore and intrigue that come from horror films. Though they come with different plots, there remains “the monster”, the character that brings along disgust, horror, suspense, and even sympathy. In Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), our monster is Norman Bates, the boy next door. This was one of the first times in American cinema that the killer was brought home, paving the way for the future of horror movies. According to Robin Wood in “An Introduction to the America Horror Film” (183-208), Bates follows the formula of the Monster being a human psychotic. This is conveyed through his normal façade portrayed with his introduction, the audience’s ambivalence, the use of

Disney Researchers and mechanical engineering students in Zurich Swiss are trying to working on gravity-defying bot which name is VertiGo. VertiGo is esteemed that it is one of six strangest robot ever made. Because it can climb buildings and the roofs without falling. Furthermore it has special ability that can working through the rough surfaces such as the bricks. The design of it resembles the car. Material of this robot is made of carbon fiber. For the machinery, it has the electronic elements. One of the electronic elements is computer which gets the information from user input. Other is the motor that has the function which drives the robot. Even though the purpose why Disney made VertiGo is not clarify, many researchers still interest

In The Uncanny, Freud discusses the different definitions and claims that various theorists have made regarding the feeling of uncanny. He defines the different factors that provoke the uncanny in humans and demonstrates how these factors elicit that strange and seemingly inexplicable feeling. Similarly, in Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, adopts the various factors that cause the uncanny to alter Scottie’s identity and beliefs. Ultimately, when Scottie is transformed from a rational being to a psychotic obsessive, it serves to indicate the severity of Scottie’s mental instability and his detachment from reality.

Before the Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock made its way into theaters across the world, film was produced in a completely different way. Some of the elements that were in Psycho were things that nobody saw in movies before. According to Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman, when the movie came out, it took place in “an atmosphere of dark and stifling ‘50s conformity” and that the elements of the film “tore through the repressive ‘50s blandness just a potently as Elvis had.” (Hudson). Alfred Hitchcock changed the way that cinema was made by breaking away from the old, “safe” way of creating a movie and decided to throw all of the unwritten rules of film making out the window. The main ways he accomplished this task was by adding graphic violence, sexuality, and different ways to view the film differently than any other movie before its time.