Alfred Hitchcock

'The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.'

After watching Psycho I decided to do some research into the film's director Alfred Hitchcock.
- He established many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres.
- He directed over fifty feature films.
- His career lasted close to 60 years, from the silent movie era, through sound films, to colour films.
Signature:
- His signature was cameos by himself in his films, whether it was boarding a bus, crossing the front of a building or appearing in a photograph.
- And as a recurring theme he would carry a musical instrument, the most memorable being him trying to get onto a train with a large double bass case.
- At first he would be a relatively unseen extra, for example standing in a crowd. But slowly he became more prominent in his cameos.
- Hitchcock experimented in his films:
o For example, setting the film in one place, as seen in ‘Lifeboat’ (1944), in which all the action takes place in a small boat. (He even managed a cameo in this, by appearing on the front cover of a magazine)
o In ‘Rope’ (1948), he made it seem as if the shot was done in a single take. However, it was actually taken in 10 takes with some of the transitions in between being concealed by having a large dark object fill the whole screen.
o In ‘Vertigo’ (1958) Hitchcock used a camera technique that has been imitated and reused by many filmmakers, it has become known as the ‘Hitchcock zoom’ or the ‘Dolly zoom’.
o He tried to include the number 13 into scenes for its superstitious effect. This was seen in ‘Psycho’ (1960), Marion Crane’s cars license plate adds up to 13. Also, Norman Bates first chooses cabin 3 then 1 for Marion.