Friday 24 February 2012

Trombone Music Research

Pirates Of The Caribbean Mulan - Ill Make A Man Out Of You Journey - Dont Stop Believing

Review of Vertigo


 Figure One - Poster


Vertigo is a 1958 psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, It is the story of a retired police detective suffering from acrophobia who is hired as a private investigator to follow the wife of an acquaintance to uncover the mystery of her peculiar behaviour.

·          Release: 1954
·         Director: Alfred Hitchcock
·        Genre: Thriller 

Vertigo starts off with a close up shot females face, which show obsession with the female, then the camera pans to her lips which maybe stand for lust and then to the eyes for love, which are all the emotions Scottie has for Madeleine.  

After the scene with the females close up shoot,  Vertigo hits the ground running, with two police men chasing a guy on the roof tops, then Scottie doesn’t clear the jump and his partner ends up falling off after this scene the film’s pace slows down, what keeps the film interesting is how Scottie deals with his Vertigo. 

 Figure Two - Jeff 

One of the most interesting things in Vertigo is James Stewarts character slowly transform from a good retired police officer to this bad obsessive man who doesn’t care about Judy feelings at all because all he wants is the woman he fell in love with. Which makes one think, did the obsession with Madeleine was so much he couldn’t even tell it was her even though all what had change in her appearance was her colour. 

“You watch this guy going slowly over the brink and realize, good grief, this is Jimmy Stewart.” (Clark 2000)

Going back to obsession, Lust and love are strong themes throughout the film, Scottie falls in love with Madeleine, and after she jumps from the church, the love for her dies away but then he bumps into Judy and the lust begins for her due to her appearance reminding him of Madeleine, then the obsession kicks in, he starts making her change her appearance, till the audience find out that she is in fact the woman he fell in love with.  

“A haunting meditation on sexual politics, romantic love, and obsession, Vertigo is one of the greatest surreal movies ever made.” (Levy 2011)

 Figure Three - Wax Model

The look of is generally artificial, weather it was the performance from Kim Novak or when she was playing as Madeleine, there was a moment in the film where she paused and she looked a wax figure. 

“Justifying Vertigo's poor initial performance, it is a film that requires distance, as well as the completion of Hitchcock's career. It is a moment of acknowledgment in the final, retrospective establishment of the director's frequent theme.” (Taylor 2003)

Illustrations 

Bibliography

Review Of Rear Window


Figure One - Poster

Rear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"
  • ·         Release: 1954
  • ·         Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
  • ·         Produced by: Alfred Hitchcock
  • ·         Screenplay by: John Michael Hayes
  • ·         Story by: Cornell Woolrich

Telling the story through a camera movement is what Rear window does best, first off with the opening scene, letting the viewers see what the film is going to be about early on by showing the rear window of the protagonist Jeff looking onto the neighbours. 

Then the camera moves slowly around a broken camera and images of dangerous perspective images, from this, the audience find out how Jeff broke his leg. 

“The viewer is made to take the POV of a character who likes to watch things he's not supposed to see. While suspenseful, the plotline is necessarily low on action (unlike other Hitchcock masterworks like North By Northwest and The Birds), but a pet dog is killed offscreen. You might tell kids this was the direct inspiration for the 2007 teen-bait thriller Disturbia.”  (Cassady 2010)

Figure Two - Mr.Thorwald

The Suspense is built up through number shots, mainly Mr. Thorwald, leaving his home late at night carrying a large case each time, cleaning a knife, tying up a large case with rope, this helps build up the suspense but also let the audience know Jeff simply seeing things, like his friend suggest he is.

“Rear Window lovingly invests in suspense all through the film, banking it in our memory, so that when the final payoff arrives, the whole film has been the thriller equivalent of foreplay.” (Ebert 2000)

By making the audience perspective as Jeff’s perspective when he’s watching his neighbour it makes the audience feel helpless along with Jeff, especially when Lisa is confronted by Mr. Thorwald and Jeff is powerless to do any think to save her, After the build up of her being caught, the suspense is returned by Lisa pointing to her finger with the ring on and Mr. Thorwald seeing her and then looks at Jeff’s direction. 

Figure Three - The Ring

Although it's an intensely intimate film, there's something special about taking your seat in the theatre as though you're pulling up right next to L.B. Jefferies (James Stewart). (Wietzman 2000)


Illustrations 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear_Window
http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/2005_alfred_hitchcock_collection_005.html
 http://simplybek.tumblr.com/post/4031461750/grace-kelly-in-hitchcocks-rear-window-1954

Bibliography