Media Studies AS Film Exercise.

The Birds.

The Birds is another great film by the famous Alfred Hitchcock. A young socialite Melanie Daniels meets Mitch Brenner in a San Fransisco bird shop. Brenner is looking to purchase a pair of lovebirds for his sister's eleventh birthday but the shop has none. When Melanie Daniels finds a pair of love birds she heads down to Bodega Bay to surprise him with them. After arriving in Bodega Bay, Melanie is attacked by a seagull, this is the first scene where there is a viscious attack by a bird. The birds have caught a disease which is causing them to act out visciously, however everyone is unaware of this and cannot understand their strange behaviour. This film is a good example of a thriller because there is a villain, in this case, the birds, and a hero, Mitch Brenner who comes to the rescue every time there is an attack from the birds.

Psycho - shower scene!

Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho is a good example of a thriller. The surroundings give the audience an uneasy feeling which gives them a clue that something is going to happen. This film is a successful thriller as the man is the villain and there are several people who try to step in and be the hero but fail as a result to the villain's actions.

The tension builds up to the shower scene, where the woman is then brutally killed. The man at the Bates Motel gives the audience an uneasy feeling as he asks the woman many questions and watches her as she leaves to go to her room. The shower scene is shot from close up and medium angle but does not include any long shot angles, this makes us feel that we cannot see any of the surrounding outside the shot so are unaware of what might happen. While the woman is taking the shower, mostly digetic sounds can be heard, up until the man appears behind the shower curtain where music is played to emphasise the killing. 

A particular interesting part of this scene is where the eye and plug hole are repeatedly shown. The eye symbolizes the plug hole, this is where the water is drained, in this case it represents the woman's death, her life being taken and drained away. 

In this scene, as the woman dies, it is shot from a high camera angle. This portrays how vulnerable the victim is.

The shower scene also contains a lot of close up shots which change quickly, portraying how quick the killing is happening and how it ends in no time. It also creates more tension. 

Thrillers!

Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains.

Thrillers are a genre of literature, films and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres.

Suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively.

Alfred Hitchcock - "To put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what it's like."