Seminole Cinema: SEHS Film



IB Film: Year Two, W37.1Alfred Hitchcock in AmericaComing to AmericaBy the start of the 1930's,?Alfred Hitchcock?had made a dozen movies and was well established as a talented British film Director.He had a string of successful movies in the 1930's, including some of the best of what would become known as his 'early period' with films like?The Man Who Knew Too Much?(1934) and?The 39 Steps?(1935).?His credentials were good, but the money available in England was not. So, like many European Directors before him, Hitchcock made his way to the United States.Hitchcock came to the United States in 1939 after he signed a deal with producer?David O. Selznick. Selznick was an old-school Producer?who had worked for MGM, Paramount, and RKO before setting up his own company, Selznick International.Selznick and Hitchcock kicked off their professional relationship with a film called?Rebecca?(1940).?Rebecca?was, perhaps, a fitting choice as it is a Gothic melodrama set in Cornwall, England and starred English actor?Laurence Olivier.Despite being allowed to reproduce Cornwall in California, it was not smooth sailing for Hitchcock.He was, by this time, accustomed to being the controlling, creative influence on his films ( Hitchcock is one of the Directors most often referred to as an Auteur ) and did not appreciate Selznick's interference.Sub-plotSelznick was a talented Producer.?He was finishing?Gone with the Wind?(1939) when he hired Hitchcock.?The success of that film ( eight Oscars ) would make his reputation.?He once said Hitchcock was the only Director he would 'trust'?with a film, which says a lot about Selznick's opinion of Directors in general and of Hitchcock in particular.Hitchcock managed to win a few battles and?Rebecca?would go on to win the Best Picture Oscar for 1940.The film was nominated for 11 Oscars in total, the most for any Hitchcock film ever.Hitchcock was nominated for Best Director, but did not win; in fact he would go his entire, remarkable career without ever winning the Best Director Oscar.Rebecca?is not a Thriller, the Genre with which Hitchcock has become synonymous, but it does have moments of psychological terror. The Director demonstrated he could comfortably mix dramatic tension and romance.Even more importantly, the movie showed Selznick, and other American producers, that this British Director could work comfortably in big-budget Hollywood.Hitchcock liked some things about the Hollywood studio system, the aforementioned big budgets and well-organized structure but, as Hitchcock found out on?Rebecca, the American Producers liked to have a say.So, Hitchcock found himself looking for ways to maintain his independence while still benefiting from the Hollywood 'machine'.Creative ControlOne way Hitchcock maintained control was to 'cut in the camera'.?In other words, filming only what he absolutely needed.That way, instead of sitting in an Edit Suite?with a Producer over his shoulder making suggestions, Hitchcock made many of his creative choices during?pre-production?and?production. So, he was better able to control his film in?post-production.After working with Selznick for a time, Hitchcock tried a couple of independent projects including an innovative film called?Rope?(1948).?Rope?was unique for its super long-shots?( some lasting as long as 10 minutes ) as well as?minimal editing.The film was a technical showpiece, but did not make much at the box office. Hitchcock continued to work for the major studios including Warner Brothers and Paramount.Watch this?scene from?Rope.?If you have not seen the film it will give you an idea how Hitchcock arranged the camera and actors' movements to create a smooth flow and variety of framings.Review -?scene from?RopeHitchcock's first few years in Hollywood established him as a disciplined Director who was willing to fight for authorship of his films.He was able to develop a fair bit of independence because of the commercial success of his films.His brilliant use of Montage?and technically complex camera shots in films like?Rear Window?(1954) and?Vertigo?(1958), perhaps appreciated more on a subconscious level by his audiences, left a lasting impression on his peers and on generations of Directors that followed.?Martin Scorsese,?Steven Spielberg,?Francois Truffaut, and?Quentin Tarantino, among many others, have paid tribute to Hitchcock as a visionary Director and stylistic influence.Jump CutHitchcock used a technique called a Dolly Zoom (sometimes called a Hitchcock zoom) to great effect.?It has since been utilized in many popular films.?In a Dolly Zoom, the camera tracks in, while the lens is zoomed out - or vice versa.?The effect is disturbing, as the background appears to move while the person or object in the foreground remains static.?Here are 2 examples -Review -?Scene from Hitchcock's?Vertigo?Review -?Scene from Spielberg's?Jaws ................
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