Alfred Hitchcock

1
Alfred Hitchcock Auteur Filmmaker

• 1899 - 1980

2

• British film maker considered pioneer of
  suspense and psychological thriller genres.
• Born London, England- son of a green grocer.
• Lonely and sheltered as a child. Had few friends
  due to his obesity.
• Father would send him to the local police
  station for 10 minutes lock-up for bad behavior.
• Harsh punishment or being wrongly accused is a
  common theme in Hitchcock's films.
• - At 14, father dies.
• Started out in engineering which led him to
  photography and ultimately to film.

3
EARLY CAREER 1920s

• 1920sHitchcock's first job - title designer for
  silent films.
• 1924 Begins collaborating with German filmmaker
  Graham Cutts.
• -Works in art direction and set design.
• 1926 Returns to London, marries Alma Reville,
  who becomes closest collaborator and confident.
• 1929 Makes first sound picture, one of the first
  in the United Kingdom.

4
Auteurism

• Huge success after British releases such as The
  Lady Vanishes (1938) and Jamaica Inn (1939) also
  make him famous in the USA.
• David O. Selznick, an American producer,
  convinces him to move to the USA to direct an
  adaptation of du Maurier's Rebecca (1940).
• After the release of Saboteur (1942), his films
  are named after him, too, and referred to as
  Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock's
  Rear Window, etc.

5
SIGNATURE STYLE

• Hitchcock put cameos in every film he made.
• - Used "wrong man" or "mistaken identity" motif,
  often.
• Wore a formal suit while working.
• Suspense used cross-cutting frequently to
  extend and suspend time.
• Driving sequence shots cut between the drivers
  point of view and close-ups of the passengers,
  from the opposite direction. This technique kept
  the viewer 'inside' the car and intensified
  danger.
• Used dark humour and dry wit, especially
  regarding murder.
• Preferred studio shooting, not location shooting,
  in order to have full control of lighting, etc.
• In many films he created shadows on the walls
  to enhance suspense and tension