Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock has changed the way film will be made for the rest of time. As a director and producer he took the ideas of thrillers to the next level developing the ideas of the psycological thriller and the tools of suspence. In his life time he directed over fifty films in a career that lasted for 60 years. He saw the end of the silent movie era into the introduction and development of sound and well into the use of colour. He had seen the potential of what film could be.

He strongly believed in the ideas of story boarding in detail. This was probably the reason his films have a great attention to detail. in a wide range shot in North by North west it is said that the camera angle is set to the same angle in the title. This hard working ethos helped him to become the most highly regarded director of his time.

Born in london in 1899 his early career started in Britain first as someone more behind the scenes but he worked his way up to direct films like Blackmail (one of britains first talkies although poorly dubd) which can be seen at the BFI. The film follows the story of a woman who is forced to kill a date she was on in self defence. Someone witnesses her and the man together and comes forth to blackmail her and her police man boyfriend.

He then went on to america and was under contract to the producer Selznick. He hated this. Hitchcock was the sort of director that liked having complete controle over his work and he didnt always feel likehe did. His first american film Rebecca 1940 ( set and written in england) about a young woman who moves into an big english home in the country. She has problems with a distant husband and the memory of his now dead wife Rebecca. The film won a few academy awards but not the best director.

Hitchcock was a director not to stick to the usual. He was known for his experimentational approach to film making. In films like Spell bound and Rope where new ideas for POV shots and extended one take shots were made, un heard of at the time.

Through his peak years ( 50 - 60's) he made films like North be North west, Psycho and The Birds, all three are hailed as some of the greatest thriller films ever made. He is a great influence and a man who has helped make the thriller genre and film what it is today.