Sir Alfred Hitchcock, biography.

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen, whilst remaining a British subject.
Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style.He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon.
Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else."The magazine MovieMaker has described him as the most influential filmmaker of all-timeand he is widely regarded as one of cinema's most significant artists.

this information came from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone in the east end of London in 1899 , his early life is often portrayed as a miserable one ; he was obese as a child and was constantly bullied for it . Hitchcock went to a christian school in south London where he was educated .There have been many people who believe that the way his parents behaved greatly influenced his work. They were a very authoritarian couple who believed in very harsh punishments , The control his mother had over him can be seen in his work for example in his most famous film Psycho the disturbed main character Norman bates is so fearfull of his mother that he obeys her every command and continues to obey her after her death maintaing the relationship with his mothers corpse.
A recurring theme of Hitchcock work is his cameo appearances he has been called the most self publicizing director of cinematic history he often appears as in the fil psyco to have a superior knowledge and flaunts this fact.          
People have also speculated that his perants authortivity and quickness to punish has influenced other common themes such as the ambiguity of innocence and guilt which is portrayed in the 39 steps north by northwest and the man who knew to much.                                              

Sir Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was a British film director and producer who was born on the 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone, London. He was the son of William Hitchcock, an East end greengrocer and his wife Emma. He was raised a strict catholic and went to the Saint Ignatius College, which was run by Jesuits.

His first job out of the family business was working for Henley Telegraph and Cable Company as an estimator in 1915. Within this year, his interest for movies grew, and he frequently visited the cinema and read US trade journals.

As his interest in films were so great, he learnt that Lasky were opening a studio in London, in which he managed to get the job as title designer, where he did this for the next two years.

In 1923, he got his first job as directing when the director of "Always Tell Your Wife", fell ill, so Hitchcock completed the movie. As he did such a fantastic job, and impressed the studio chiefs, they gave him his first directing assignment which was "Number 13", but before he could finish the film, the studio closed its British operation. Because it closed, Hitchcock lost his job, but was soon hired by Michael Balcon, working as an assistant director, but did much more than this; writer, title designer, and art director. Hitchcock was then given the chance to direct a German/British co-production called "The Pleasure Garden", after working on several films in the company. He then directed his first trademark film "The Lodger", in 1926, also marrying his wife Alma Reville, on December 2nd. They had one child, Patricia Hitchcock born 7th July 1928.

He also made success on the films "The Lady Vanishes" in 1938 and "Jamaica Inn" in 1939 in which some were also made famous in the USA. This is when an American producer, David O.Selznick got in contact, wanting to work with him. Hitchcock and his family moved to America and directed an adaption of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca in 1940.

After making the film Saboteur (1942), his films were starting to be called after his by film companies; Alfred Hitchcock' Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot,

On the 7th March 1979, Hitchcock was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award.

He started writing a screenplay called "The Short Night" with Ernest Lehman, but fired him to hire young screenwriter David Freeman, who re-wrote the whole script. This film was never made, as his health was getting worse, so Freeman published the script after his death.

In 1979, Hitchcock was knighted, making him Sir Alfred Hitchcock, but a year later, on the 29th April 1980, he died peacefully in his sleep at 9.17AM due to renal failure in Bel Air, Los Angeles.

The films he has worked on... 

This information is off the website; http://hitchcock.tv/mov/hfilm.html












































(post to be finished)

CEMS terminology

CAMERA:

Establishing shot:
an establishing shot is where the camera looks at a whole place, setting the scene explaining where and when it is taken.

Close-up:
This is where the camera focuses on a person or an object to draw there attention or emphasise on a particular feature.

Two shot:
This is where two characters are in the shot showing a conversation or an action between them both (e.g a fight).

Aerial shot:
a shot which is taken from an extreme high angle, to show a place or situation.

Point of View shot:
This shot is where the audience is made to feel part of the action, as they are put within the characters perspective.

Over the Shoulder shot:
This is where the camera is positioned over the shoulder of a character(s) shoulder so that the audience can see what the character is seeing and feel included.

High angle shot:
This is where the camera is high up looking down at the character creating the character look smaller/less important.

Low angle shot:
This is where the camera is low down looking up, creating the character look more important/taller/








Worms eye view:
This is where the camera is extremely low to the floor, seeming as if the audience were a worm.

Canted angle:
This is where the camera angle is not level, putting the character in a strange position.




___________________________________________________________


EDITING


Shot: A single run of the camera.
Scene: A unit composed of single/several shots usually within the same time period and setting involving the same characters.
Genre: The category in which the television or film programme falls within. e.g, soap opera's(eastenders) 
Series: A set amount of programmes within a period of time.
Cut: A sudden change of shot from one location/viewpoint to another.
Matched cut: A familiar relationship between the cuts, of which will be smooth.
Jumped cut: A cut between to scene of which are not related. Can be used to create a dramatic effect.
Cutting rhythm: The pace of which cuts are made to create tension, if quick.
Fade/Dissolve: Fade is where you gradually appear or disappear an image from the screen. Dissolve, is where you gradually disappear
an image from the screen, whilst gradually appearing a picture at the same time.


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Online Questionnaire from Lyra

PLAN

What we are going to do.

-online questionaire

• we will use the website; www.surveymonkey.com to create our online survey
• we will then linked to facebook, using all group members accounts.
• we will also link both questionaire and facebook link to our blog, as proof.

-interviews

• we will ask friends and family simple short questions and record on our phones, to then upload to our blog.
• we will ask the same questions to everyone, not changing them at all.

 -questions

1. whats your definition of a thriller film?
2. what would make you want to see a thriller film?

• the advertising
• word of mouth
• online reviewsEdit HTML
• the trailer
• the reviews of newpapers/magazines and star ratings on the posters/trailer

    3.  what would you like in a thriller film?

    4.  is thriller your favourite genre of film- yes or no?

    5.  would you like a female, male or both as a lead character?

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

ONLINE RESEARCH

(data found from youtube)

the dark knight- youtube

most popular in the us, uk and india

males between the age of 25-54, so quite a large audience, male because males would have read the batman comics/ like action, the concept of superheroes

the da vinci code trailer- youtube

the video is most popular with female 13-17

male 13-17 and 45-54- more popular with males but quite a large age range

people are viewing it from related videos, especially the da vinci code- official trailer 1 (2006)

silence of the lambs

most popular in the us, uk and australisia

male 45-54

male 35-44

female 13-17- aimed at quite a young female audience compared to an older male audience

viewing it after searching 'thriller movies to watch' showing it is quite popular but is aimed more at males. maybe because of the intense story lines

hard candy- youtube

most popular in north america and canada, australia and the uk

female 13-17, female 18-24, male 25-34

viewing it from related videos ''teeth'' -similar films

lots of views of the trailer from mobile devices- younger audience who use their phones to watch clips on youtube

Online questionnaire

The set up of the online survey...

  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZV5MNQ8

this is a screen print of the questions which were included in the online survey.
to make the online survey, i used 'survey monkey', which is an online survey maker which is quick and easy to use. to make a new question you clicked new question, and wrote and chose what type of answer format you wanted it to be in. 


to 'advertise' the quiz, I put it on my Facebook page, so that many of my friends and family, of whom have different taste and range in age groups could participate.

this is my Facebook homepage, of which is shows the quiz as my status. this is so everyone can see it and do it.

group reshuffle

Under the insructions of our teachers we have been told that the groups have been reshuffled , we have lost rosalia and ollie to the groups lyra and orion but gained paige page from the lyra group, there for our blog has changed as we have lost rosalias and ollies individual posts put gained paiges

Black Swan and Sixth Sense

BLACK SWAN.

SOUND: There is a theme tune which represents a world famous ballet show, which is played as diagetic sound as the dancer can hear it as she is dancing to it. The sound is, even though recognisable, is very creepy making the audience feel uneasy. It also links with the title as it is named after a ballet show.

The title of the film is shown, with some non-diagetic sounds, which are over the top of the theme tune.The scene changes to an underground in which the diagetic sound of the train moving is very harsh and scary, with some non-diagetic fast paced sounds over the top creating suspense.

EDITING: There are credits in which tell the audience who produced and directed it, but not who the main characters are. 

The change of scene of which is the girl in bed is editing. They have changed the time of day and what state of mind it is in; reality or dream, making the audience question whether or not she was dreaming, but that is soon answered by the characther.

The editing of the cuts are fast, speeding up the pace creating tension. 

The costumes tell the audience the film is based on ballet, which also links with the title.

MISE-EN-SCENE: The lighting is very low key and soft, but has a harsh bright spot light on the main actor, which creates shadows making the atmosphere very eerie.

The lighting has changed to natural lighting which, in comparison to the scene before, is more real, as the audience can relate.

There are scratches on the main character back which makes the audience wonder how and why they are there, as they are peculiar and out of place as she is a very delicate woman who is a ballet dancer. The scratches woud have been done by make-up, which is costume and is used as a 'prop' as it triggers a conversation of which makes the audience question.

The lighting is very low, which looks creepy, creating many shadows and siluettes of people on other carriages.

The costumes tell the audience the film is based on ballet, which sets the scene, also linking with the title.

CAMERA: The camera is following the main character, point of view shot. This makes the audience feel as though she is being followed, making them feel uncomfortable as they will have the impression they are the follower. The shot is a head shot. It is extremely close, making it seem as if the follower is very close, which makes it very unnerving.

It uses extreme zoom when the main charcater clicks her toes which makes the audience feel freaked out and zoom's on the main characters expressions. 

_________________________________________________________________


THE SIXTH SENSE.


CAMERA: They use a point of view shot, whilst looking through a wine rack, at the women walking down the stairs and towards the wine rack. This would make the audience feel uncomfortable as it is quite dark in the basement and she is being watched by something, and they seem to be the ones watching her.
They tracking point of view shot is used when the women moves down, making it feel as if the audience are squatting down with her, creating a mirroring effect of the character.
The use of a two shot, shows the audience the main characters within he film, introducing them both to be a couple.


EDITING: When producing the credits, the zoom the writing into focus for audience to see, the fade it our onto the next one. By doing this, and with the creepy sound playing, creates a eerie effect, making the audience feel uncomfortable.
The cuts are matched. This creates a continuity of conversation, and doesn't confuse the audience, as you can still hear the main characters when the cut does change.

SOUND: They use a non-diagetic sound for the credits, which is very eerie, and could make the audience feel uncomfortable.
The use of ambient sound, which is coming from the radio and the sound of doors, make it seem realistic, as the audience can relate to a 'relaxing night in'. But the fact the sound from the radio is quite quiet and is a very mellow, slow tune, makes the atmosphere quite chilling.
Whilst the character is down in the basement she hears a diagetic sound of rustling coming from somewhere. The use of both a low long shot and the diagetic sound creates the atmosphere of terror.

MISE-EN-SCENE: The use of low key lighting which is natural in the basement downstairs, sets the atmosphere to be scary.
The way they turn the prop of the light on very slowly creates an eerie atmosphere which could scare the audience.
The props which are down in the basement are all dusty. This could indicate that they are old and have been there a long time. The fact they are old, could make the audience think of ghosts and haunted creating a terrifying atmosphere.

Thriller Conventions

To answer this question, I used the opening 5 minutes of sin city...

• The name of the production and distributor company are shown at the very beginning before it starts. (credits) 
• A theme tune, which is non-diagetic, usually fast paced so that the audience is feeling the tension.
• A few minutes of the film before it goes into more of the credits, to get the audience intrigued about what is going to happen.
• An unanswered question in which gets the audience thinking of what the answer might be. 
• An introduction of the main character(s).
• Something dramatic to happen which will excite the audience, as they will want to know what happens next e.g a death, kidnap.
• (Sometimes) there is a narrator speaking over the top, usually setting the plot.
• The title of the film, which very bold and dramatic.
• The actors of whom are within the film.
• Who the director/producer is, however in sin city, they have who the executive producer, special guest director, line producer, who wrote/ produced the music and the casting director.

Audience research- focus groups

For our focus groups we decided to ask both boys and girls in seperate groups. We had five girls in one group and five boys in the other.

the first question that we asked was - What do you want from a thriller?
girls answers: *psychological thrillers that mess with your mind and creep you out
*mysterious films that keep you on edge throughout
*something that draws you in, intrigues you

boys answers: *they liked thrillers that were packed with action and fast movement
*films with fast editing and loud sounds
*something that grabs your attention

From these answers we can see that what a boys interpretation of a thriller film is different from what the girls thought.

second question- What is your favourite thriller?
girls answers: *Black Swan because it messes with your mind and makes you think
*Shutter island because there is a major twist at the end which
catches you by surprise
boys answers: *The dark knight because from the very start it is filled with action and
surprise and scary masks.
Thoughts on thrillers
boys answers: *for a thriller to work there must be well known actors and a typical
storyline

girls answers: *they had a completely different view and wanted less known people with
mysterious characters

what goes into the opening 5 minuets of a film ?
The film i have chosen is the cult classic pulp fiction by quentin tarrentio,before any camera shots there is a dictionary definition of the word pulp which goes some way to explain to those not familiar with the litterary genre of pulp fiction.
the first shot is a two shot of a man and a woman in an american diner , this camerea shot establishes the two chararcters and also establishes the location .The man and the woman are drinking cofee and the man is smoking a ciggarete this combined with there expressions and body positions show that they are both relaxed the coffee and cigareetes are used as mis en scene in this way . From the way they converse it becomes apparent that the man and the woman have some sort of romantic connection they flirt and speak affectionatly with each other , the conversation quickly unravvels and it becomes apparent that they rob shops and bars for a living . the two shot lasts aproximatly 4o seconds where it is then replaced by a low angle shot of a waitress and the a quick shot of the woman smiling politly this shows that the couple whilst not robbing places are generally polite ,the waitress leaves and the camera shots change at a far more rapid pace this goes well with the conversation which at the time is gaining in rapididity and the conversation turns more sinister with the inroduction of rapid quick shots ; the conversation moves into the feild of ethnic minority shop holders and the camera shot changes from a two shot to an over the shoulder shot. The camera zooms into a shot of the man and it culminates that he wants to rob the diner they are in ;the man then gets out a gun and puts it onto the table where a point of view shot is used while the dialouge continues , there is then a midshot of the couple kissing and then a two shot of the couple telling each other they love them preceded by the enitiation of the robbery , there is then a last two sentances of speech the mans being calm and the womans being enraged and full ef expletives telling the costemers and staff they are being robbed and then the non diagetic soundtrack starts to play over the top and the camera stops rolling but shows a still frame of the couple with the name of the production company underneath them the screen turns black and the opening credits are shown in yellow over it.

Collecting data

the type of data collection we are planning on using is questionares, we will create a questionare with questions about the potential audiences likes and dislikes and what would make them want to go to watch a film.The second method we will use is creating three focus groups of five people , we will ask them severall questions about there likes and dislikes and their opinions on what makes a good thriller film .
We will also aim to create an online questionare on facebook.

The Dark Knight

This is the opening scene to the film "The Dark Knight." There is a beating drum as the opening credits come on the screen, which creates a mood for the viewer. They then feel like they should be watching the film intensely as they feel that something exciting is going to happen. instead of using loud music, they have diliberatly toned it down to create a more exciting atmosphere.

There is then a birds eye view shot, showing where the scene is going to be set. This is a establishing shot. The camera then zooms into a window, in which you hear a loud blast of sound as something comes crashing through it. This is done to suprise the viewer, and so that they know that something is going to happen.

The next cut that you see if of one of the bank robbers. They have given them plain simple clothes for costumes, and then the very freaky clown masks, which is meant to almost creep out the viewer, and get them interested.

The use a high angle shot (where the camera is high up and looking down) so that you can see the two bank robbers getting all of their stuff prepared for the jump that they are about to make. The camera then cuts to show the back of one of the robbers, and the camera zooms in on the clown mask that he is holding in his hand. This is done for effect, because it is out of the normal and makes the viewer watch intensely. There is music in the background, that stops when a car pulls up so you get the full impact of the tires screeching to a halt.

As the two robbers jump out of the window and are going along the zipwire, the camera is high up looking down on them but also tracking them so that we can see how far they have jumped and the danger of what they are doing. As they drop onto the floor, the camera is at a low angle, close the the ground looking up at them as they come off the zipwire.

Throughout all of this there is quiet non diagetic music in the background, which creates a tense atmosphere.

What goes into the opening sequence of a film?

The opening sequence of a film usually says a a lot about the film as a whole, especially in a thriller film. It should be jam packed with suspense, intense atmospheres and normally are fast paced. The idea of the opening sequence is that is is meant to entice the audience and leave them asking questions even before the main part of the film is yet to come.

The opening five minutes of a film will usually include:
-title of film
-context
-opening credits (which sometimes includes producers and Directors names)
-introductory non diegetic music (in a thriller will be tense music, this could also be the 'theme tune' of the film- creates an atmosphere)
-establishing shot: this shot is used to set the scene, to give the audience a better idea of where the film will be set. ( usually aerial shots, or tracking shots are used to set the scene too of cities or specific places)
- voice overs are sometimes used too which sets the scene or gives details about particular characters they may come across in the film.
- introduction to characters
- Sometimes films that are set in a certain time period then details of this would also be given.

what is a thriller?

A thriller is a novel, play or film with an exciting plot. sub genres of a thriller include:
conspiracy thriller (typically assassination)
crime thriller (typically murder)
legal thriller (typically espionage)
political thriller (typically assassination)
psychological thriller (typically emotional conflict between characters)
paranoid thriller (typically assassination)
super-natural thriller (typically super heros).
It is intended to shock an audience since they are usually fast paced and action packed. This creates tension.
Following the assassination of president kennedy, political and paranoid thrillers became quite popular amongst the genre of thriller.

The aim of a thriller is to stimulate moods of tension, anticipation, excitement, terror, anxiety, uncertainty and suspense.

The Da Vinci Code

After watching a 5 minute clip of the film "the da vinci code" we noticed that:


there is dramatic music at the beginning when it is showing who distributed the film, showing that there is tension and that something exciting is going to happen. The song has religious connotations, to show that the general theme of the film is to do with religion.

there is a scene where a man is running through an art gallery, and they have made a lot of short cuts as he is running to make it more dramatic, and to show that he is running from something dangerous. there is low key lighting throughout to create an effect. there is a scene where the man who is chasing after him reveals his face and there is a single spotlight showing his face to create a mysterious atmosphere. this makes the viewer question who he is and what he is doing there. this then gets them interested in the rest of the film and gets them gripped in the story line.

the costumes that they use are interesting because the man who has the gun and who is chasing the elderly man, is wearing a cloak. this means that we cant see his clothes underneath and it creates yet again another mysterious atmosphere as you wonder why he would be wearing it seeing as it is set in modern times.