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Film Techniques of Alfred Hitchcock - suspense, camera angles...

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Saved by 38 people (-10 private), first by anonymouse user on 2006-07-25


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on 2007-01-09 by fredocs

Como transformar o seu filme em um sucesso "Hitchcockiano".

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How to turn your boring movie into a Hitchcock thriller...

Borgus.com - We've put together a list of the most significant film techniques that were used by Alfred Hitchcock.  This information comes out of many books and interviews from the man himself and his been simplified for your consideration.

This page is mostly for filmmakers who are sad and depressed because their movie is so average that nobody will watch it.  Stop crying and pay attention.  What is written here will save your career (at least until tomorrow morning.)  However there is no cure for a bad producer - there may be no help for you!

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Make sure the content engages them and reels them in.

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theater audiences know they are safe.

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You can control the intensity of that emotion by placing the camera close or far away from those eyes.

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The camera should take on human qualities and roam around playfully looking for something suspicious in a room.

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Movies began to rely on actors talking, and visual storytelling was almost forgotten. (Truffaut)  Always use the camera as more than just a camera.

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One of your characters must be pre-occupied with something during a dialogue scene.  Their eyes can then be distracted while the other person doesn't notice.  This is a good way to pull the audience into a character's secretive world.

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Putting an idea into the mind of the character without explaining it in dialogue is done by using a point-of-view shot sequence.

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Divide action into a series of close-ups shown in succession.  Don't avoid this basic technique.

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Instead, carfully chose a close-up of a hand, an arm, a face, a gun falling to the floor - tie them all together to tell a story.

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Humor is essential to Hitchcock storytelling. Pretend you are playing a practical joke on the main character of your movie. 

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"Information" is essential to Hitchcock suspense; showing the audience what the characters don’t see.

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In Family Plot (1976) Hitchcock shows the audience that brake fluid is leaking out of a car well before the characters find out about it.

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When scenes are built around dramatic tension, it doesn’t really matter what the story is about. 

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