Alfred Hitchcock was one of the most popular directors of the 20th century.
Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most popular, well-known and well-regarded filmmakers of the 20th century. Hitchcock's films ranged from early horror, such as "Psycho," to psychological thrillers, such as "Vertigo" and "Spellbound." With so many other filmmakers making films in similar genres, Hitchcock's films brought his own unique directorial style as well as a clear focus on suspense and visual elements of film.
Hitchcock's Overall Style
Alfred Hitchcock, who made films through 1925 to 1976, is one of the most celebrated directors of the 20th century. Hitchcock focused on tales of suspense, mystery, murder and shock, but he did so in a highly stylized, intelligent and often humorous way. His films can be broken up into two major time periods: his early, British films from 1925 to 1940, when he made his first American film, "Rebecca," and his post-1940 films. All of his films were made through Hollywood. Hitchcock was a meticulous director who plotted out each scene and did not allow for improvisation on the set. Hitchcock wanted to be realistic, but he also understood that true "realism" in film would be boring, so he embraced melodrama and the more absurd and unfamiliar elements of everyday life, such as crime and intrigue.
Focus on Suspense
Alfred Hitchcock was called "The Master of Suspense," and his ability to keep viewers on the edge of their seats was one of his primary draws as a filmmaker. Hitchcock's way of building suspense, though, were unique. One of Hitchcock's most familiar methods of creating suspense was by having the camera look at suspicious or important objects, such as a possibly poisoned glass of milk in the film "Suspicion" or a gas leak in a car, such as in his film "Family Plot." In Hitchcock films, the viewer often has more information than the characters in the film do, so the suspense comes in seeing the characters act without knowing the whole picture. A specific example of this is in the film "Psycho," in which the viewer knows about Norman Bates' mother, but the detective investigating Bates does not. Hitchcock also created suspense by making many of his characters act out of character rather than familiar stereotypes. In his films, the wealthy and elegant are often criminals and innocent-seeming characters are often surprisingly complicit in unwholesome behavior. This dissonance between audience expectation and character behavior helped create anxiety and suspense in the viewer.
Visual Style
Hitchcock's films are all highly visual, often employing exaggerated use of color, closeups, changes in point of view and camerawork that moves as the eye does. Although Hitchcock's earlier British films used naturalistic settings, he still used these realistic settings to create interesting visuals, such as scenes of characters running through long hallways or public buildings. In later films, Hitchcock focused on interesting use of color, such as in the films "Vertigo," "Rear Window," "Spellbound" and "Marnie," as well as busy visual scenes that involve two things happening at one time, such as a character speaking while another character is looking intently at a completely different object. Another common characteristic of Hitchcock films is the camera that moves around the room, much like the human eye, and focuses on important clues. In addition, Hitchcock was aware of genre conventions in his films. For example, the film "Psycho" made use of many film-noir tropes, such as criminality and focus on procedural investigation, and Hitchcock chose to film "Psycho" in black and white with heavy use of shadow and light to echo the appearance of a film-noir.
Conclusion
Alfred Hitchcock is largely considered one of the greatest film-makers of all time, and his films are still studied in the 21st century for their technical and psychological complexity. Although his story, dialogue, and choice of actors and actresses have all been highly praised, his ability to create suspense and use interesting visual styles are his two most distinctive features as a filmmaker.
