The Films that we take so Far :
North by Northwest
39 steps
Strangers on a Train
Rope
NotoriousThe paragraphs instructions:
Answer:How was your assessment with Hitchcock and his Films changed in last five weeksWhat did you learn from Hitchcock films and what are you curious to learn more aboutMention some topics, themes about Hitchcock.Themes that I choose:
Romance
The murders
The Darkness in his movies
Camera movement_____________________________________________Note: the following are my reviews and discussions that i posted for each film
Please keep the paper close to my simple writingNorth by Northwest
I really enjoyed the film and the story. Also, Im interested in how Roger Thornhill the advertising man become another man George Kaplan and what happens to him when being in a wrong place at a wrong time for mistaken for another person. Also, how that leads him to turn his personality from being nothing to becoming a brave man.
In addition, the sense of romance when he meets Eve Kendall and who the story started and ended, and how Hitchcock use the colors in a rich way during the film.The 39 Steps film
The 39 Steps film stars Robert Donat as Richard Hannay and Madeleine Carroll as Annabella Smith. Hannay finds himself ensnared in Annabellas difficult mission to stop a group of foreign spies from stealing the British militarys top secrets. After the confused fight at Mr. Memorys performance, Annabella convinces Hannay to take her to his flat. The mise-en-scne employed in the next scene reflects the films central theme of secrecy.
The scene is introduced by a long shot of two white curtains fluttering and flapping around the frame of an open window. What or who is outside in the night gentle wind remains a secret, and this mood-setting technique generates anxiety in the audience.
The camera shifts to the living room where Hannay is sleeping only to be awakened by Annabella, who staggers in from the front door. She collapses in front of him in the two-shot that follows, after which the cinematographer shifts to an insert shot with the camera focusing on the kitchen knife stuck in her back. The camera zooms out from the ringing telephone leaving a large lead space for Hannay, who enters the screen from the left frame while still looking at Annabella. When he peers out the window, he notices one of the killer pacing around. Although he is isolated in the frame using a high angle shot, his identity remains a secret due to low-key lighting. An insert shot of a piece of paper in Annabellas clutching grasp, which Hannay takes slowly, implies how significant and sensitive the document is. It turns out to be a map that shows the direction to the man who could have helped Annabella stop the enemy spies. Another insert shot with Annabellas ghostly image superimposed over the map shows a farm named Alt-na-Shellach, and circled as the exact residence of the Scottish man.
Various secrets are show as Hannay struggles to foil the operations of the spy ring and also clear his name after having been mistakenly incriminated in Annabellas killing.
The cinematographers techniques in this scene physically embody the plot of the film. As such, the set design, lighting, composition, and representation of space in this scene visually exemplify secrecy, which is one of the central themes of the movie.Rope
Rope isnt my favorite Hitchcocks film, but it is an interesting one. Usually, murder in films seems scary, but in this film the director make the killer different than the real-life murder. It is surprising that the killers after killing David and putting his body into a heavy wooden chest in their apartment continue their life normally by going into parties, inviting the friends and cousins of the victim instead of hiding themselves. I think theyre trying to be perfect to hide their crime, but they fail in hiding it and in challenging themselves.One of the film strength was the camera movements that duck behind the actors backs which attractive me as an audience and that movement helps represent mood. Another strength of this film is how the director making the movie as one continuous shot without any visible cuts. It almost seems like a game between the audience and director in waiting for these cuts to happen and how they are going to happen.Strangers on a Train
Strangers on a Train is very funny, scary and interesting film.I like the concept that Hitchcock present in this film that we can meet someone stranger in our life then that stranger become a closer person to us and change our lives positively or negatively. This is typically what happen to me when I meet my best friends. They were strangers at the beginning then they become my life-changing-friends. It is interesting that how we make people that used to be nothing turn to be everything in our lives without we realise how that happened. I like the idea that Hitchcock present that our lives could be changed by someone we dont know and in a small period of time. Also, the meeting between the two in this film remind me of the meeting between Roger and Eve in North by Northwest and how the plots take an action in the train seems similar too.