Who Was Alfred Hitchcock?

On August 13th 1899 Alfred Hitchcock was born. His career lasted over 80 years after he died April 1980. Hitchcock was heavily involved with the television industry from a young age, he started visting the cinema when he was just 16 and then in his early twenties he became a title designer, he worked on around eight films before in 1922 he became an arts designer in which he worked on ten more films. After this in 1925 Hitchock directed and published his very own film "The Pleasure Garden". It was a a German and British Production and gauged many positive reviews. This was to be the first of many Hitchcock 'classics', in total he was involved in the production of 67 films during his career, his last being 'Family Plot' in 1976. 

So what was it that made Hitchcock so successful? Many say he revolutionised the film industry. Throughout his career Hitchcock was able perfect a variety of techniques within his films such as suspense and was well known for making psychological thriller genres as well. He had a very successful British career, filming both silent films and the early talk ones, he then moved to Hollywood to further his career and stature. His career lasted over half a century and his film style was very unique, nothing like anyone had seen before. It was recognisable through his use of the camera as it forced viewers to be involved via form of voyeurism, not only this but through the way that he framed his shots and the use of innovative film editing within his productions. The story-lines within his films as well were very unique as a genre as they usually featured criminals on the run, female characters which was unusual for the that particular period of time, having unexpected endings as well as his gripping plots that involved crime, murder and violence. Many call him 'The master of suspense'. 

There are a variety of key themes that are presented within Hitchocks films, this include: 

Audience as voyeur - Further blurring the moral distinction between the innocent and the guilty, occasionally making this inescapably clear to viewers one and all, Hitchcock also makes voyeurs of his "audience". In Rear Window (1954), after L. B. Jeffries has been starring across the courtyard at him for most of the film, Thorwold confronts Jeffries by saying "What do you want of me?" Burr might as well have been addressing the audience. In fact, shortly before asking this, Thorwold turns to face the camera directly for the first time - at this point audiences often gasp. 

Mothers  - Mothers are frequently depicted as intrusive and domineering, or at the very least, batty, as seen in Rope, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest, Psycho and The Birds.

MacGuffin - On of Hitchcocks favourite devices for driving the plots of his stories and creating suspense was what he called the "MacGuffin". Many of his suspense films revolve around this device: a detail which, by inciting curiosity and desire, drives the plot and motivates the actions of characters within the story, but whole specific identity and nature is unimportant to the spectator of the film. In Psycho, what might have be mistaken for a red herring at the beginning of the film (a package containing $40,000 in stolen money) is actually a MacGuffin. 

Silent Scenes - As a former silent film director, Hitchcock strongly preferred to convey narrative with images rather than dialogue. Hitchcock viewed film as primarily visual medium in which director's assemblage of images must be convey the narrative.