Alfred Hitchcock s Marnie ( 1964 ) - 1367 Words

Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964) depicts the psychological development of a young woman as she navigates a life of crime and familial melodrama, ultimately unlocking the suppressed memories that offer answers to her childhood traumas. The director utilizes evocative mise-en-scene, subjective point-of-view shots, and expressive lighting schemes in order to project the title character’s internal state onto the physical world of the film. In doing so, Hitchcock crafts a diegetic universe that reflects the unique capabilities of film—one that, through subjectivity and expressive editing, reveals a deeper truth than objective representation. The film introduces Marnie through character testimonies rather than offering immediate identification with the protagonist. In its opening scene, a woman clutches a yellow handbag under her arm and she walks steadily along a train platform. A tracking shot follows the faceless figure, locked in close-up on the yellow handbag, until suddenly freezing. As the shot turns static, the character begins to mediate the distance between her body and the camera. The original close-up gradually transforms to a medium shot, and finally a long shot. This technique momentarily suspends the omniscient gaze of the camera, and evokes the spectator’s—as well as Hitchcock’s—desire to â€Å"capture† the female protagonist as she escapes off-screen. In this context, the seemingly objective tracking shot may in fact reveal itself as a violent, subjectiveShow MoreRelatedThe Influences Of Alfred Hitchcock On Wes Craven2961 Words   |  12 PagesNicholas Storm Kimberly Neuendorf COM 320 History of Film October 15, 2015 The Influences of Alfred Hitchcock on Wes Craven By Nicholas Storm The Horror Genre?s contemporaries today include Eli Roth, John Carpenter, George Romero and Clive Barker to name a few but the most notable above them all, with more contributions out of any other director was Wes Craven. With a plethora of films he has created, Craven is most known for 3 in particular for helping redefine the horror genreRead MoreClassical Hollywood1981 Words   |  8 Pagesvarious important directors of this era is also to be found and my opinions on their work. Classical narrative cinema refers to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production from the 1930’s to the 1960’s but which also pervaded mainstream western cinema. This tradition is still present in mainstream or dominant cinema in some or all of its parts. Classical narrative is what Tom Wallis (Film: a critical introduction, Tom Wallis, 1) calls ‘excessively