April 29th is Hitchcock's death day.
Had it not been for that visit in 1962, Hitchcock's status in film history might have been greatly compromised. Critics at the time believed that although Hitchcock was an extraordinary achievement, he was ultimately a craftsman and director. The college also didn't recognize him, and repeatedly failed to mention him. But there was a young French man who admired him and went to Los Angeles to interview him from Paris.
This young man is Truffau, the standard bearer of the New Wave movement. After returning to France, Truffaut edited the interview into a book, which caused a sensation, and Hitchcock's artistic evaluation began to reverse. Now, Hitchcock's masterpiece "Victorius" is firmly ranked first in the film history of "Video and Audio".
Tell a good story
Among the many masters, Hitchcock may be the one who pays the most attention to the story. He did not deny that "the first principle of a movie is to entertain the audience." The audience also reciprocated, rushing to the theater to contribute to his box office. Hitchcrew’s movies were the most profitable at the time. Take "The Cry" as an example, the shooting cost is only 800,000 US dollars, and the net profit is more than 16 times the cost. It is actually the number one cash cow in Hollywood.
In order to tell a good story, he and the screenwriter McPhail jointly invented a new concept: "MacGuffin" (MacGuffin). It refers to an opportunity or plot that promotes the development of the drama, and the characters desperately chase it, but it is actually a smoke bomb, not important, and may not even exist.
The $40,000 stolen by the heroine of "The Cry" is a typical McGoffin. At first, it lures the heroine to commit crimes and pushes her to escape. When the plot enters the motel, the audience completely forgets its existence. It doesn’t matter where the 40,000 dollars ended up. What’s important is that the audience’s attention is firmly nailed to the screen and experience unprecedented excitement and horror.
In order to make the plot twists and turns, Hitchcock will deliberately reveal to the audience that danger is coming, that is, set up "suspense." He gave an example of the same story, "Two people walked into the house, sat down and talked, and then the bomb exploded." It sounded normal. If the audience is allowed to see someone install a bomb in advance, then no matter what the two people are talking about, the audience will be frightened when they hear it—because there is a bomb under the chair.
Movies are the art of dreams. The task of the director is to attract the audience to forget everything outside the cinema and enter the immersive experience within a limited two hours. Hitchcock understood this early on, and many directors still don't understand it today.
Two axes, video narrative
When Martin Sikoses talked about Hitchcock, he became eloquent. Every time he rewatches Hitchcrew's movies, there is always a new inspiration. Even if the story and plot are already clear to his chest, he can still discover new ideas from the pictures and editing that he hadn't found before.
Hitchcock is a master of video narration. He said: "Movies should have their own language," and the use of composition and vision to convey information is determined to be a pure film narration. Hitchell believes: "In order to express the same content in a film method, the language of the camera must be used to replace the dialogue."
Because film is not a novel, nor is it a drama, but an independent "seventh art."
The video narrative of "Rear Window" is extremely avant-garde. A paralyzed person lives in a small room and can only observe the lives of the residents in the opposite building through the window. Single point of view and limited space, but Hitchcun discovered three levels from the limited space: the paralyzed person outside the observation window, everything he sees and the reaction he sees all of them, thus making a purely cinematic film. Film. Almost every Hitchcock movie has a "watching" scene.
Stairs are one of the most important images in Hitchcrew movies, with unique design and connotation. The detective of "The Cry" encountered a surprise attack when he went upstairs. In "The Cry" James Stewart was dizzy when he went upstairs. The stairs are one of the dramatic elements, bringing the character into a situation of fear and self-discovery. In the Greek world, the stairs are the intersection of two worlds and two lives.
Hitchell's image style deeply influenced the latecomers. A large number of directors with different styles, such as De Palma, Spielberg, Weiss Anderson, David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino, can find their source in him. Those images that continue to affect future generations are truly immortal.
Three axes, Greek signature
Ordinary movie fans watching Hitchcock's movies, their biggest hobby is to recognize a fat figure wearing a suit among the many group performances. This fat guy is Hitchcock himself. This game has even become a ritual, a way to identify fans.
Hitchcock said: "The director should know how the people on the camera work." So he wanted to stand among the actors and experience the feeling of being watched by the camera. Some people say that Hitchcock appeared in almost every movie he directed.
At first he made a guest appearance in the movie just to fill the screen, then it became a kind of superstition, and in the end he just made fun of it. However, you have to admit that the glimpse of the cameo in the film has become the unique signature of the Heath film. The signer is the director himself.
From the plot point of view, the appearance of Hitchell plays a suggestive role, either the characters change their location, or a key event is about to happen. The appearance of the director in the movie is equivalent to a preview of the audience, and the protagonist is about to usher in a significant turning point.
What is not known is that Hitchcock is a master of marketing. Before the release of "Flock of Birds", he organized a pigeon contest and successfully created a grand momentum for the film. The marketing activities he organized for the film are still outdated.
Hitchcock also set up a propaganda company to create his image as a master of suspense and make his name appear in major newspapers. Since 1927, he has determined his unique visual image: a cello-like figure, pursed lips, puckered cheeks, and fluffy hair, like a boyish film master.
Hitchcock created a unique and unforgettable Greek signature in the form of a cameo. This image hides in the movie and spreads all over the world.
Film is an extremely costly writing. Even as a film genius, Hitchcock has to use various means to win attention. The Greek signature is his brand image for the public. After Hitchcock, many directors also tried to create their own signatures.
Hitchcock’s three-handed axe is calm, simple and invisible. As De Toro, director of The Shape of Water, said: "Hitchcock's genius not only changed the movie, it also changed the way we look at the world."
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