Alfred Hitchcock Presents

and producer, Sir Alfred Hitchcock was a “Metteur en scene” or an “auteur”, based on two of his films; Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963). In other words, I’ll be evaluating whether he was a unique and outstanding filmmaker or if he was just like any other regular filmmaker. I’ll begin by giving a little background information about Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock was giving birth to in Leytonstone, Essex in England in the year 1899 and passed away in the year 1980. Hitchcock during his…

Tracking shot from The Shining’. How the director creates suspense? The director of “The Shining” Stanley Kubrick creates suspense throughout this scene. He uses many cinematic devices to do this. These devices include sound effects, distance between Danny and the camera and close ups of facial expressions and body language. One of the ways in which the director portrays suspense in the scene is using sound effects created by the contrast between the complete silence when Danny cycles on the…

Michael Curtiz’s movie Casablanca is one of America’s best loved movies. This movie that was created by the Warner Brothers has gotten so many critiques and reviews that almost any other motion picture. People were talking about the film so much when the release came out. The movie’s plot line takes place during World War II, soon after the Germans invade France. The film caught the viewers’ eyes for many reasons. First of all, this film has to be loved by all in my opinion. I think it appeals…

The opening scene of Rear Window (1954), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, acts as a prologue of the film: we are introduced to the space where much of the narrative will take place, to the protagonist, his background, and his neighbors through entirely visual means. Hitchcock created an entire film from the rear window of a Greenwich Village apartment symbolizing a certain “movie-watching” experience. Hitchcock uses mise en scène to show how the film is going to progress, uses camera movement…

Lamb to the Slaughter Film vs. Story Kyomi Newhouse The movie Lamb to the Slaughter directed by Alfred Hitchcock is based on the story of the same title by Roald Dahl. The main plot begins with a pregnant housewife, Mary, waiting with anticipation for her husband Patrick to come home. When he arrives she dotes on him happily, but it’s obvious something’s on his mind and he announces that he’s leaving her. Mary acts as if nothing has happened and goes to prepare dinner by getting a leg of…

Writing for an audience was not my strong suit before coming to UMass. My writing always focused on speaking to whoever stumbled upon it. To me, literature, in any form, was always meant for the masses. I composed my words in a manner anyone could understand. That my ideas were understood was always more important than impressing my audience. Why place your ideas on top of a tower of words built from the depths of your lexicon? People only do it to build the tower so high its onlookers…

In the second phase of Soderbergh’s career, the characters’ personal connection to the director becomes even less visible and the stories becomes more symbolic. Soderbergh films are all personal but they not necessarily about his own life. Soderbergh said that his real tuning point was, “I wasn’t interesting in making film about me anyone, but instead my take on things.” Soderbergh’s films moved away from the characters life and more to the issues of craft. One distinct technique of Soderbergh…

The film that I have selected to examine is The Graduate (Nichols, 1967), with Mike Nichols directing and nominated for several Oscars even winning Best Director. The film has become a Hollywood classic that has stood the test of time. This is because the film had a strong screenplay and careful direction. The ensuing film examination will analyze the structure of the story from a comprehensive perspective like the characters, sequences, scenes and also analyze Nichols’ compositions, symbolisms,…

Every now and then after watching a certain amount of movies you’ll come across one that has an undecipherable meaning, but certain parts of the movie will stick with you for a while. Nicolas Winding Refn’s Valhalla Rising is a good example of that. The story revolves around One-Eye, a silent ruthless Viking warrior who had been enslaved for years by a chieftain He sets out on a quest to regain his own freedom and cleanse his own soul by helping a small group of Christians crusade to Jerusalem.…

Howard Hawks and John ford were both American film directors of the late twentieth century classic Hollywood era. Howard Hawks worked on many film genres from screwball comedy to western. Howard Hawks most notable films each served as an excellent representation of each genre he worked on. Credit for hawks’ success could be due to his freedom as an independent producer, making a number of films in his own manner. Most of Howard Hawks films centered on the themes of friendship, trust, and…