Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, was one of the most influential film directors in the history of cinema. Many of his techniques and guidelines are still implemented in today’s films. Hitchcock was one the very few able to transition from silent film to “talkies.” He retained the important aspects to be learned from the silent era and brought them to motion pictures with sound. This ability made him a powerful force behind the camera.
Hitchcock believed the visual side of cinema was more powerful than dialogue. He made sure his characters were preoccupied while speaking and only used dialogue when completely necessary. He also believed the simpler a story, the more suspenseful it could become. Suspense dies with detail, for what is drama but the dull bits of life cut out?
Hitchcock viewed the camera as the mind of the audience and compared the cinematic experience to the thrill of a roller coaster ride. The camera investigated its surroundings, making the audience the detectives of the story, forcing them to participate. He believed the camera should have human qualities as if it were another character in the story.
Hitchcock placed humor throughout all of his films. He believed “suspense has no value without humor.” He found the more awkward, drawn out and absurd a situation could become, the more suspenseful. But there is a balance between humor and suspense and Hitchcock said it is the “hardest thing in the world.”
Perhaps what he is most known for is his use of “montage” and “point of view.” “Montage” is the intercutting of several frames to create a unified action or sequence. Although montage was used long before Hitchcock, he used it in a very unique way. The famous shower scene in “Psycho” used 78 shot set ups and took seven days to film. Hitchcock could have simply placed a camera in the corner of the bathroom and shot the attack, but instead he “transfer(ed) the menace on screen into the mind of the audience.” He allowed our imagination to fill in the terrifying gaps, and create fear and dread that could never have been seen on a two-dimensional image. “Point of view” is when the camera takes the place of a character in the story. The audience sees what the character sees and must take the characters’ place as he/she moves ever closer to what’s around the corner, up the stairs or behind the door.
Hitchcock was nominated for 66 cinematic awards and received 32. His film “Vertigo” is ranked as the best mystery movie ever, and “Psycho,” “North by Northwest” and “Vertigo” are on the American Film Institute’s Best 100 movies list. He died on April 29, 1980.
Other films that borrow from Hitchcock’s techniques include “Jaws” (Spielberg), “The Conjuring” (Wan) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (Demme).
