Briarleyvanzylcmp's Blog

Mise en scene

briarleyvanzylcmp — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:23:12 +0000

As the clip begins the backdrop is black and bleak. I think it could represent Scottie ’s obsession, over powering Madeleine. Both characters are in suits. Scottie in black and white and Madeleine in grey. .” Q.What is the reason for their clothing?
They run into the light and Madeleine persuades Scottie to let her go. The lighting is brighter now and for a second we hear bird song before Scottie asks Madeleine “Why”. The brightness, in my opinion in Hitchcock’s way of giving the audience false hope. We are under the impression that Madeleine only wants to go into the church for less sinister reasons untill she starts to make her way there and pauses, looks up and runs. Her pace is our first clue that something is up. There must be a reason for why she feels she has to run. We then see Scottie curiously watch her and mimic her actions. Looking up her sees the church tower looming over him. It’s ominous how the clouds gather over the sky line. Almost a pathetic phallicy. The music reaches a crescendo for a few seconds, then a horn blows to signal the beginning of the end, of Madeleine’s life. Q. How is music used effectively? Frantic music starts as we begin the chase into the church, where the music pauses. Almost in respect for the church and religion. .” Q. is there a reason for this religious respect?
Our point of view changing all the time. We are paused for a moment and we see relics and paintings. Madeleine’s footsteps are heard running up the stairs on the left and Scottie calls Madeleine’s name. His voice is frantic and the music speeds up once again.

The flight of stairs is dark and forbidding. It is as if Scottie is entering a hell of his own, following Madeleine,the devil leading him. We see Scottie running up the stairs and catch glimpses out the windows as he climbs higher. Only once Scottie is too high up does he look over the banister and see what height he is at. His vertigo kicks in and Hitchcock uses a clever camera effect. While pulling the camera out of the shot and zooming in at the same time we are shown what ’ vertigo feels like. Scottie’s footing becomes unstable and he uses the wall to steady himself. The shadows deepening and the music becoming more frantic. The zoom,track shot is repeated again to reiterate Scottie’s fear. He is reacting the end of his strength. The shot changes to a wide-angle view of Scottie still chasing the fast-moving Madeleine. Madeleine escapes through the trap door and we hear it slam shut. Scottie pauses his movement. Madeleine screams and we see a body fall out the window. Scottie’s eyes widen in horror and he shakes with fear as he goes towards the window. We get a view of Maldeline’s mangled body on the roof tiles and the music is a low sounding horn. A final note. Scottie closes his eyes and leans against the window frame for strength. There is sweat upon his brow. He takes a second look, I think this is quite sadistic of him, but it could be him reassuring himself she really is dead. The camera saves us a second view of the dead Madeleine and we see two nuns running up the path towards the scene. The music picks up again and we see Scottie’s mind being made up about this new problem. He doesn’t want to be caught. He covers his mouth and shakes for a moment. As if trying to keep himself together. He slowly climbers down the stairs and the music is now more sinister.

We see the nuns and the priest climb a ladder to get the body down as Scottie escapes out the back of the church. A horn blows as if it is disapproving of Scottie’s actions. Scottie ambles away and there is a cut to fade.

He escapes but this scene leaves the audience wondering, why did he leave the woman he loved without checking on her. It seems suspicious. However, grief does strange things to people. So Hitchcock might have made the scene this way to make us understand the extent of Scottie’s sadness.

Reflective diary

briarleyvanzylcmp — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:36:04 +0000

Lessons learned:
I have learnt it I easier to anwer questions as I make them. So far I have been making questions after reading through my paragraphs but not answering them in the next blog

Major tasks ahead:
Answering each question I have asked but also making them relevant to the clip as well as the movie as a whole.

Feelings about study:
In the beginning I had been concentrating a lot on the movie as a whole and hardly concentrating on my clip. I think that now I have come back on track. I also feel a flow of work, which I was struggling to find before.

Point of view

briarleyvanzylcmp — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:25:02 +0000

Hitchcock uses POV shots to show Madeleine’s desperation and Scotties obsession. We see Scottie looking at Madeleine as she walks towards the church. The music is slow then the Pace quickens Q.How is the music used effectively?

Madeleine looks to the tower then runs. We then see Scottie looks towards the tower after Madeleine does. This makes us see his connection to Madeleine and the tower. His facial expression changes as he realises and he runs after her, calling her name.

The chase to the church is the audience’s POV, watching Madeleine run to the heavy church doors. Then we see Scottie do the same action. This heightens the suspense. We are voyeurs to this tense situation. He runs to the church tower and looks up. Here we get his point of view, seeing Madeleine running up the tower. Then we watch Scottie run up frantically. Is this Madeleine’s point of view or our own?

It changes to Scotties vertigo view. He looks over the side of the banister to see the ground below look like it is receding away from him. The camera now follows Scottie as he clambers towards to top of the staircase and tries to catch up with Madeleine, we are now the audience again, watching Scottie’s desperate attempts. We feel sorry for him as he watches Madeleine fall to her death. The sweat on his brow is prominent and we can tell he is anxious and scared at the same time, of what might follow next.

Montage

briarleyvanzylcmp — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:15:21 +0000

Montage
Hitchcock was inspired by the Russian montage “Montage means the very the assembly of pieces of film which moved in rapid succession before the eye, create an idea” (Paul Merton Looks at Alfred Hitchcock, First broadcast:
Saturday 28th February 2009,bbc2, watched on 4th of 11,09) an example of montage would be a man looking at a woman with a baby then a cut back to him, smiling. We infer his character is kind, empathetic. Then Hitchcock says “now the third way is the assembly of film to create a different idea.” Take the example of the man and replace the woman with a baby with a woman in a bikini. We infer a lecherous old man not an empathetic kindly gentleman.

Hitchcock uses a lot of inferred montage to move the narrative along. Madeleine looks towards the church and walks at a slow pace then she looks up and starts running. That shot makes the audience wonder why she is running. From the shot between Scottie and the tower we understand his train of thought: he knows she will run to the church tower to kill herself. Q. How are POV shots used successfully?

Why San Francisco?

briarleyvanzylcmp — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:56:45 +0000

Having been to San Francisco myself, I can say it is a rather daunting to look up from below, or down its hilly roads. San Francisco is also home to the “windiest road” in the America. “Visually the film is dominated by circles and spirals. Even Madeleine’s hair is caught in a tight little coil at the back of her head and the setting of san Francisco, with its twists and turns, heights and dips, seems indispensable to the drama.” (The films of Alfred Hitchcock. Neil Sinyard. 1986 pg 98) I think the city had a charm that was new and old at the same time. The movie focuses on illusion and reality. San Francisco is a city full of settings which create atmosphere. For example the muir woods is a magical setting that has been around for centuries. During the scene set there Madeleine looks like she disappears, as if she is a ghost. Mission Delores, where the tower scenes were shot is a building steeped with age, a very fitting place for Madeleine’ s spirit “Carlotta” to take her. Mission Dolores: “was founded June 29, 1776, under the direction of Father Junipero Serra and is both the oldest original intact Mission in California and the oldest building in San Francisco.” (http://www.missiondolores.org/) Q. how important is the theme of illusion in the film compaired to the theme of obsession?

During the movie we see Scottie always following Madeleine down the hilly streets. A metaphor for his slow decent into obsession? “The early part of the film follows the detective’s labyrinth pursuit of the mysterious Madeleine from behind the wheel of his car.” (The films of Alfred Hitchcock. Neil Sinyard. 1986 pg 98)

The scene in the church is set tower where we see tracking out, zoom in shot, portraying Scotties vertigo. The image of the church is much the same as Scotties view onto the street below the tall building from Midges apartment and from the building he falls from. “the overhead shot of Scottie descending the dark stairs after madeleine’s death has a sense of a descent into hell, and the subjective shots of his vertigo spasms…convey a terrifying impression of both a fear of falling and yet a yearning for oblivion” .” (The films of Alfred Hitchcock. Neil Sinyard. 1986 pg 98) Q. When does Scotties actual descent into madness begin? Before he finds Judy or after?
Q. When does Scotties actual descent into madness begin? Before he finds Judy or after?

Hitchcock, religion and fear of the law

briarleyvanzylcmp — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:20:36 +0000

“…according to some published accounts Hitchcock father was a strict disciplinaren who could be stern and forbidding. Perhaps Hitchcock’s most famous childhood story is this: William Hitchcock reportedly taught his son lesson at a tender age, sending Alfred off to the local police station with a note that said the boy had been naughty. The policeman locked him in a cell, telling him “this is what we do to naughty boys.” Hitchcock said he always remembered “the clang of the door which was the potent thing- the sound and the solidity of that closing cell door and the bolt” (Alfred Hitchcock, A life in darkness and light. Patrick McGillian, 2003. Pg 8 )

I think this is quite interesting as in Vertigo Scottie plays a policeman who reaches a conclusion and solves the case in the end. Judy couldn’t escape her crime. Patrick Mcgillian also said “Hitchcock always insisted the inciden gave him a liflong fear of arrest,jail and policemen.” (Alfred Hitchcock, A life in darkness and light. Patrick McGillian, 2003. Pg 8 ) Scotties runs away from the scene of the crime in the clip we re given. Some people argue it’s a fault in the story line. “…Hitchcock never bothers to tell uswether or not the murderer gets caught. The objection has frequently been made that the plot hinges on a wild improbability: not so much that a man who has seen the woman he loves fall from a height count on his not doing so.” (Hitchcock’s films revisited by Robin wood.1989. pg 109 )I think it shows how Scottie is scared to be caught at the scene of the crime. Or it could be that he feels he is a failure to himself and to Madeline.

Another interesting idea I found was “The first play Hitchcock recalled seeing, roughly in 1905, had its villain bathed in a “ghostly” green light. The boy was struck by such visual effects, and the and the man, directing films, would also dress and light people in symbolic colors. Think of Judy bathed in Madeleine’s hues in vertigo” (Alfred Hitchcock, A life in darkness and light. Patrick McGillian, 2003. Pg 8 )
Q.Explore the use of lighting and costume

Hitchcock

briarleyvanzylcmp — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:23:25 +0000

Hitchcock

“Born in 1899 in London’s East end, Hitchcock began working for British film studios in 1920 as an artist and set designer, then as a writer , assistant director, and finally a director” (The oxford history of world cinema. The definitive history of cinema worldwide. Edited by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. 1996. p. 310) Hitchcock was from a very humble, irish, working class backgrund. His mother:“Emma Hitchcock the daughter of an illiterate working man and his illiterate wife…” and his father was“….thirty-seven-year-old william Hitchcock, son of a “master gardener( a potato maerchant) who was an immigrant from that emerald isle to England’s west”(Hitchcock style Jean -pierre dufreigne. p.13)

Hitchcock grew into a somewhat unstable child. He“ …kept a courteous indifference toward his brother and sister and remianed scared to death of his father.”(Hitchcock style Jean -pierre dufreigne. p.14) I think the characters in his movies stemmed from his childhood. His father, being as I can only guess, a very stern and masculine man, would have been the inspiration for most of his male roles. Scottie in Vertigo is certainly a stern man who becomes quite scary towards the end of the movie. In ‘The life of Alfred Hitchcock’ by Donald Spoto(1938) the author says “Isolated as a child and as an adolescent, virtually closeted with his mother until his marriage at twenty-seven”
Q. Could his female characters be shaped on his views of women growing up?

Hitchcock worked in both silent and sound cinema from the 20′s to the 70′s. He was inspired by German expressionist films as well as soviet montage in London. He brought inspiration from different cinemas and developed his own style. “Hitchcock’s name quickly became recognized as a marker of professional polish…Hitchcock already combined the diverse traits which together make up his ‘signature’; The pictorial arrangement of light and shadow and complex camera movements reminiscent of German silent cinema;the metaphorical editing of the soviet montage; the tense cross-cutting developed in American cinema.”(The oxford history of world cinema. The definitive history of cinema worldwide. Edited by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. 1996. p. 310)

Q.How is lighting,camera movement and technique shown in Vertigo Is any of it reminiscent of German silent cinema or soviet montage?

Hitchcock was brought up very religious and attended a catholic school: “Hitchcock was born a Catholic and attended Juesuit school, a background that would have far-reaching implications”(‘The rough guide to film’. Richard Armstrong,tom charity, Loyd Huges and Jessica winter. 2007. p 228) What where these implications? In the book The oxford history pf world cinema. The definitive history of cinema worldwide. (Edited by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. 1996. p. 311) It says “ Claude Charbrol and Eric Rohmers book emphasized the relevance of Hitchcock’s Catholicism and the proximity of guilt and innocence in the ‘Wrong man’ theme.” The ‘wrong man’ theme being, explained on pg 310 of the same book, as “a man wrongly accused tries to clear his own name, and a careful control of audience identification through restricted information and point-of-view editing”
Q. How is Vertigo a “wrong man” theme?

Reflective study diary

briarleyvanzylcmp — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:21:21 +0000

My feelings about study done so far

When I began I thought I would look at the themes in the movie. For example;obbssession and death. However, as time went on I started to analyse the characters further and found they were more interesting then the themes. After reading about Hitchcock I found I could link his life to the characters more and the movie started to make more sense.

Main setbacks:

At first I was researching too widely. I wanted themes and those cover a lot of minor details. I think that focusing on the characters and settings might be more realistic.

Major tasks ahead

Finding enough information for 20 entries!

What is Midge’s role and purpose? Why does Judy seem like the stronger female?

briarleyvanzylcmp — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:05:01 +0000

http://www.daleisphere.com/vertigo-1958/ acsessed on the 25/10/09

http://www.daleisphere.com/ver

tigo-1958/ acessed on th 25/10/09

Midge and Madeleine are the two main female roles in the film, but are polar opposites. Midge is a very down to earth, modern woman who has know Scottie for years. There is even talk of their “three week” engagement while back in college. She is a boyish character who obviously wants to have more of a relationship with Scottie. She wants him to see her not as a friend, but a lover. When Scottie talks about their engagement the camera looks at her from a high angle and her eyes dart at him and we see another side to down to earth Midge, a more romantic side. Scottie changes the subject swiftly and we never find out why she broke the engagement off. To make up for the lack of a close relationship she acts very motherly towards him. Scottie even says “oh come now Midge, don’t be so motherly”. At the beginning of the scene she says she doesn’t like it that he left the police service and tries to get him to overcome his vertigo by climbing a step ladder. This ends up with him looking out of the window and down onto the street below, bringing back memories of his accident and he falls back into Midge’s arms. I read an interesting idea in a book by Robin Wood called Hitchcock’s films revisited(1989, p. 112) :“…he looks down from the top of Midge’s steps in the foreground of the shot, we see ornaments and a bowl of flowers that keep the reality of Midge’s room before us; but that reality – Midge’s world, charming, uncomplicated, safe, superficial – is shattered by the vision. Scottie has seen death, and the experience has undermined all possibility of accepting Midge and the life she represents as adequate fulfillment”In contrast Madeleine is a woman of mystery and is very alienated. Scottie seems drawn to her rather then the Midge character, which Hitchcock specifically added to the film for the audience to relate to and like.

This adds to the audience’s questioning of Scottie’s sanity. Madeleine is described in Robin Wood’s book ( Hitchcock’s films revisited,1989. p. 113) as “…surrounded by an aura of mystery. She is always remote from Scottie and from us: we see her only as Scottie sees her…Later, she apparently disappears from a house; she may be herself a ghost. She represents a completely different sexuality from Midge’s…”

Madeleine is a woman of mystery and sexuality. Frances Truffaut says, in his book Hitchcock by Truffaut. The definitive study updated edition (1986), about Kim Novak, who plays Madeleine: “very few American actresses are quite as carnal on the screen.”

The two women represent two different attitudes, as explained by Robin Wood ( Hitchcock’s films revisited,1989. p. 113) “One has only to compare Midge’s demonstrating the latest brassiere “based on the principle of the cantilever bridge” and Madeleine’s hesitant grace of movement and attitude later as she comes to stand in the doorway of Scottie’s sitting room wearing his dressing gown: Madeleine is so much more erotic because of this combination of grace,mysteriousness, and vulnerability.”. She is “of another world , of experience beyond the grasp of the cards-on-the-table reality of Midge”. However, Judy is playing the part of Madeleine. Her grace and mysteriousness are all an act to lure Scottie. However, I think it is ironic that she seems to fall in love with Scottie as she carries out her deception. It is an irony that she is made up to look like Madeleine to trick Scottie and he falls in love, but he cannot fall in love with the real Judy when she reveals herself.

http://www.cinemagraphe.com/vertigo.php acsessed on 25/10/09

In my opinion Midge is the stronger character of the two female roles. Judy is used, first by Elster to look like his wife, second by Scottie to recreate the woman he fell in love with. Although, she seems stronger to the audience at first because of her skillful deception as Madeleine and her manipulation of Scottie. The circumstances that lead to her breakdown at the end of film reveal her weakness. She is desperate for Scottie to love her as Judy but gives in to Scottie’s demands to dress and act like Madeleine. To me she seems like a typical 1950s woman who would do as her husband dictated. Midge on the other hand is modern, holds herself in society and answers to no one. She is morally the stronger female.

My initial questions answered.

briarleyvanzylcmp — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:25:23 +0000

Now I have seen the film I can answer some of my original questions

What is the reason for actress’s strange behavior?
Kim Novak is playing a woman who is pretending to be Elster’s wife. She is being used as a pawn in Elster’s plan to kill his wife. In the book ‘Vertigo’(2002) by Charles Barr he says: “Kim Novak is not simply, as a first viewing suggests, playing for Hitchcock the role of a woman being voyeristically observed; she is playing, for Hitchcock, the part of a woman who is playing, for Elster,the part of a woman being voyeuristically observed.” Q.There are two female roles in the movie. What is Midges role and purpose? Why does Judy seem like the stronger female?

What are the man and woman’s relationship?
Scottie is a ex detective, who left the force after a near fatal job left him with Vertigo. His friend Gavin Elster contacts him to trial his wife, Madeleine. He is worried about her recent strange behavior. This job he is given starts to take over his life and he falls in love with the unstable woman. In the clip we were given we see Scottie about to watch Madeleine run to a bell tower to fall to her death while “possessed” by a dead woman’s spirit. The relationship between the same woman and Scottie develop in the second part of the movie. However, unbeknown to him she is the same person but didn’t die. Until the end of the movie where he recognises a piece of her jewelery she wore when she was playing the part of Madeleine.Q. Which character is the driving force for the film? Scottie or Judy?

Why does the main male role seem so desperate for the female?

Scottie has fallen for Madeleine without knowing it. He has become obsessed with her and seems to forget his job is to look after her. In actual fact he has fallen in love with an illusion of Madeleine. He is drawn to her, in my opinion, because he feels he must protect her. Q.Is Scotties power, freedom and masculinity questioned through his ailment of vertigo?

Why can’t the man follow her up the stairs?

Because of Scotties Vertigo he finds it hard to follow Madeleine up the stairs to save her. Even though he loves her.

What is the significance of the heights?

Personally I think the dizzying heights show how Scottie has left reality and is becoming more and more unstable the more he becomes involved with Madeleine. Her death makes him fall and he ends up in a mental home.

The film is shot in San Francisco. I think this is more than a coincidence as the city is very hilly and many houses overlook very steep roads. I went to San Francisco this summer and can say that the streets can be very daunting to walk up. The trees in the movie are redwood trees, Sequoias, and having seen them myself I can say they have a very other worldly atmosphere to them. Much like Madeleine might have seemed to Scottie. Q. What is the significance of using San Francisco

Is there any significance for the church?

The church is where the real Madeleine is thrown out of the bell tower. We see Scottie try and follow her up the stairs and save her but because he suffers from vertigo he cannot follow her. This is a scene of the crime. The characters return there at the end of the film and we see Scottie reveal to Judy he knows she was Madeleine.

Why she throws herself off the tower?Does she plan to die? What is the reason?

Elster plans to kill his wife so employs Judy, the real persona of Madeleine to dress as her so he can kill his real wife and set the death up as an accident. He sets up his old college friend, an ex cop,Scottie, to trail his dummy wife. In doing this he knows of Scotties fear of heights and can set up a situation where he can kill his wife and have a very trust worthy witness to the case. Judy pretends that she is possessed by a spirit and that spirit wants to kill her. This makes Scottie able to testify her unsound health but unable to tell the unsound story of why.