Alfred Hitchcock research:

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock.

Born: 13 August 1899
Died: 29 April 1980

He was a British filmmaker and producer who created many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in the United Kingdom in both silent films and early speaking films, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood.
In 1956 he became an American citizen while retaining his British citizenship.
Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career of over 60 years.

There is a timeline of his most important work and events that I drew up, this will be handed in.

He remains one of the most popular and most recognised filmmakers, and his works are still popular today.

In 2007 Hitchcock was ranked #1 by film critics in The Telegraph's list of 21 greatest British directors, his most famous film is considered to be “Psycho” and the shower scene is a cult classic.

My REVIEW of the shower scene:

The shower scene in which Marion is killed is considered one of the most stunning and horrifying scenes of all time, although you never see the knife puncture the skin. Legions of fans claim that for many years after watching it, they refused to take showers.
Hitchcock decided to shoot the whole film in black and white as he was worried about the goriness of the scene. Fake blood looks Grey in black and white so he used chocolate syrup instead.
I think it is great how camera becomes the knife, as it adds less gore but yet makes the audience cringe as they know what’s happening, it makes the audience feel closer to the film and with these camera shots it doesn’t reveal the murderer.
Filming the shower scene took seven days and more than 70 separate camera angles.



After doing some research here are some conventions used by Alfred Hitchcock:

- He wore suits on film set.
- Lots of shots of a woman's hairstyle, frequently in close-ups.
- Used bathrooms a lot in films, a hiding place or a place where the characters prepare for sexual intercourse.
- He frequently used the letters "BM," which stand for Bowel Movement (this fits in with the bathrooms)
- BIRDS: (THIS IS MY MAIN INSPIRATION) There are countless images of birds in nearly all of his films, such as:
- Psycho - The film begins in Phoenix, Arizona and a Phoenix is also a mythological bird. Marion's last name is Crane (A type of bird). Norman practices taxidermy as a hobby and his favorites are birds. Norman describes Marion's eating behavior as "eats like a bird".
Vertigo - Gavin's last name is Elster, which is German for Mockingbird. (I WILL TRY AND INCLUDE THESE NAMES and some of my own, IN MY MOVIE, I WILL ALSO HAVE A FEW ‘BIRD EYE’ SHOTS)
- Often used mistaken identity theme in his movies such as;
E.G (Saboteur (1942), I Confess (1953), The Wrong Man (1956), North by Northwest (1959), Frenzy (1972)).
- Blonde women such as Anny Ondra, Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Vera Miles.