Brainstorms and Influences

Marnie

Having looked at many Alfred Hitchcock's films and his renowned method of producing, directing and editing, one film that particularly stood out and inspired us was Marnie - a 1964 psychological thriller. The film stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery.

The YouTube link below (watch from 02:00 - 02:30) shows a classic and effective opening scene of Marnie part:1 where the camera focuses on her bag whilst tracking her movement gradually and every know and again pausing as Marnie's figure goes further towards the platform. This use of camerawork reveals a character to the audience without actually showing themselves leaving it to the viewers imagination, it effortlessly becomes scary.




Psycho
Another film that inspired me was 'Psycho', 1960 American thriller/horror film directed by Hitchcock. The film features one of the most famous scenes in cinema history, the murder of Janet Leigh's character in the shower.

This scene runs for 3 minutes and has a staggering 50 cuts. Most of the shots are extreme close-ups, except for the medium shots in the shower directly before and directly after the murder. The mixture of shots with the short duration between each cuts makes the scene feel longer, more uncontrolled, erratic and illusory. I believe this clip is one on the most chilling and effective scenes of all time, due to the build up of suspense and compelling eerie music.