Alfred Hitchcock made himself into the master of suspense and mystery both on television and in film, making a total of fifty-three films over the course of fifty years. He directed film stars that included Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Janet Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, and many others. His subject matter runs the mystery genre gamut – murder, paranoia, insanity, and mistaken identity – and many play with vision and perspective to heighten the effects of suspense.
Voyeurism in Rear Window
Rear Window (1954), starring Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Raymond Burr, is probably one of Hitchcock’s most famous films. It uses a variation on vision and perspective by making voyeurism the driving force behind the film’s action. Photographer L.B. Jeffries watches his courtyard neighbors to pass time while temporarily bound to a wheelchair. Almost the entire film is seen from Jeffries’ apartment window. However, when watching turns to spying, the level of tension increases dramatically.
When Jeffries’ observations leads him to suspect one of his neighbors of murder and tries to gather evidence to prove it, the audience is subject to his roller coaster ride of emotions. Hitchcock makes the audience look with Jeffries through the camera lens, his binoculars, and his own eyes out the back window of his apartment. This perspective helps them to experience the tension Hitchcock to artfully builds right along with the main character.
Dizzying Effects of Perspective in Vertigo
Vertigo (1958) again features Jimmy Stewart in the starring role, this time as a retired detective who suffers from vertigo. After falling in love with a woman he is hired to keep an eye on, Scottie Ferguson is forced to watch as she jumps to her death because his vertigo prevents him from stopping her. Ferguson later becomes obsessed with a woman he meets who bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead girl.
In this film, Hitchcock uses camera angles to make his audience experience the dizzying effects of Ferguson’s vertigo. As in Rear Window, Ferguson’s perspective connects the character to the audience and makes the suspenseful experience one they can share. When Ferguson’s vision disorder is cleared, the film’s climactic ending is also made clear.
Hitchcock, Master of Suspense
Alfred Hitchcock had many directing tools at his disposal. Perspective was one he used to great effect. In order to get his viewing audience to experience the same tension and suspense as the characters in his films, Hitchcock used various camera angles to manipulate their perspective, producing a legacy of thrillers.
Sources:
Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock, The Master of Suspense (accessed June 28, 2010)
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