Looking to Hitchcock for video goodness.
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under Uncategorized
Some techniques used by Alfred Hitchcock and something we could easily apply to our own work. I found these few especially useful:
Frame for Emotion
Emotion (in the form of fear, laughter, surprise, sadness, anger, boredom, etc.) is the ultimate goal of each scene. The first consideration of where to place the camera should involve knowing what emotion you want the audience to experience at that particular time. Emotion comes directly from the actor’s eyes. You can control the intensity of that emotion by placing the camera close or far away from those eyes. A close-up will fill the screen with emotion, and pulling away to a wide angle shot will dissipate that emotion. A sudden cut from wide to close-up will give the audience a sudden surprise. Sometimes a strange angle above an actor will heighten the dramatic meaning. (Truffaut)
Hitchcock used this theory of proximity to plan out each scene. These varations are a way of controlling when the audience feels intensity, or relaxation. Hitchcock compared this to a composer writing a music score - except instead of playing instruments, he’s playing the audience!
Always use the camera as more than just a camera.
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. In this way you can portray an event by showing various pieces of it and having control over the timing. You can also hide parts of the event so that the mind of the audience is engaged.
Remove all extraneous material and keep it crisp. Each scene should include only those essential ingredients that make things gripping for the audience. (Edit tightly my friend.)
Make all of your characters the exact opposite of what the audience expects in a movie. Turn dumb blondes into smart blondes, give the Cuban guy a French accent, and the criminals must be rich and successful. They should have unexpected personalities, making decisions on a whim rather than what previous buildup would suggest. (Something that applies to all good stories.)
Pull the audience in one direction and then another, trick them, and keep them from knowing what’s really going to happen. You must make the audience think they know whats coming next, and then you pull the rug out from under them. It must never turn out the way they expected. (The surprise we all look for in stories.)
via: kottke
Further Reading:
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