Film techniques of Alfred Hitchcock

Everything is designed in mind of the audience:

• Hitchcock knew that people went to the cinemas to have fin, the more fun they'll have, the quicker they will come back.

Frame for emotion

• Wide shot has less emotion
• Closer image means more emotion
• Emotion is the ultimate goal in each scene, emotion comes directly from the actor's eyes

The camera is not a camera

• Hitchcock's camera moves around just like a person's eyes
• Allows the audience to feel like they are involved in uncovering the story
• This is used more in silent films

Dialogue means nothing

• "People don't always express their inner thoughts to one another, a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person thinks or needs" Alfred Hitchcock

Point of view editing

• Start with a close up of the actor
• Cut to a shot of what they're seeing
• Cut back to the actor to see their reaction
• Repeat as desired

Montage gives you control

• The famous shower scene from 'Psycho' uses montage to hide the violence. You never see the knife hitting Janet Leigh.

How this will help me to create my thriller opening:

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most famous directors of all time and helped to shape the thriller genre. This means that from this research I know what worked well all those years ago and is still being used in thrillers today. I know have a better idea of what conventions and techniques will work in my horror-thriller.