Life itself is a great mystery, and I think that human beings should be trapped by mysteries and want to explore the unknown truth, that is, the mystery. —Hitchcock
As one of the layers of early film theory, Hitchcock's name has long been firmly engraved in the time monument of film history, shining with the light of this master of film art in the change of times. For many people, Hitchcock has never lacked a distinct label, "Freud of the film industry", "master of film suspense", "master of horror"; for the film art itself, Hitchcock is more like the Beethoven of the music world, the Hugo of the literary world, and the Aristotle of philosophy.
Hitchcock
Hitchcock's works are classic, unique style, he often uses clever film lens language to express people's psychological level, people's inner is often mysterious and obscure, but Hitchcock with the inner keen perception and insight of people will be carefully displayed on the screen, whether ugly or bright, whether fear or joy, Hitchcock can always grasp the deepest psychological state of people, with superb film techniques, to create a scene of classic shots with great dramatic tension.
Take "Horror", for example, the "bathroom murder" scene in the film has long become one of the most terrifying and shocking scenes in the history of film. In this part of the scene, there are no flesh-and-blood violent shots, but through the meticulous and precise lens language, the despair and struggle between life and death are expressed in the environment, and the strong sense of psychological oppression makes the audience immersed in the scene, and it is difficult to get rid of the fear of pressing step by step.
In addition, Hitchcock's film plot is meticulous and logical, accompanied by the direction of the story and the dramatic conflict of the characters, showing a very rhythmic sense.
Poster of Birds
Also as Hitchcock's classic work, "Birds" interprets Hitchcock's unique understanding of horror films from another perspective.
Released in 1963, the film focuses on the bird attack on the town where the heroine Miranee and the male protagonist Mitch live.
Unlike Hitchcock's previous films that focused only on human society, "Birds" treats everything other than humans as the source of terror, trying to give people such a terrible psychological hint that even those ordinary, inconspicuous flocks of birds will suddenly go crazy "abnormally" and become a nightmare that we cannot get rid of.
At the beginning of the film, the heroine Milani appears, and from her point of view, a picture of the city being occupied by hovering birds is displayed in front of us, and then linked to the name of the film, it is obvious that this is a psychological presupposition made by the director for us, such a technique is often seen in his previous films, such as "Stranger on the Train", Hitchcock in the first few minutes of the film through the dialogue between the two lead actors on the train, leading to an unresolved theme, burying the suspense of the film in people's hearts, While the audience may know what will happen next, the film never makes it clear, which fulfills Hitchcock's purpose — to make the audience shudder and fear in the unknown.
In the film "Flock of Birds", most of the plot of the first part is to tell the love process of Mitch and Milanie, the bland plot is ancient, it seems to be just showing a very normal love story between men and women, in fact, the director's intention is indeed the same, and does not focus too much on the characters, just when the audience thinks that the movie is "but so", there is no point to watch, the "abnormal" side of the movie is gradually revealed.
If a harmless seagull attacking the heroine may be just an unexplained case, then the widespread seagull attacking people at Mitch's sister's birthday party is shocking enough.
Not only that, but in the film, the birds will break into the homes of the townspeople and attack people, and the crazy birds will make people panic, but people obviously underestimate these seemingly unassailable birds.
Mitch's family was also attacked by flocks of birds, but the next day Mitch's mother, Lydia, saw a shocking scene when she visited her neighbor, who was killed by the flock of birds and even pecked away from both eyes.
Such an "abnormal" setting is in strong conflict with the "ordinary" plot created by the director at the beginning, and the audience naturally wonders why the flock of birds that should coexist peacefully with humans suddenly attack people. Hitchcock did not intend to explain such anomalies in the film, he simply left the unknown suspense to the audience, allowing the audience to fall deeper and deeper into the story of the film in the speculation.
And this technique Hitchcock has long used skillfully, and is his most distinctive style, using people's innate fear of the "unknown" but curious psychology, to introduce the audience into one "scary" story after another, and finally found that all the sense of fear is Hitchcock as the initiator in the guide.
On the other hand, in "Flock of Birds", there is also no shortage of Hitchcock's wonderful expression of the language of the camera, such as a scene in which Milanie is attacked by birds at home, it is obvious that the director's precise control of the character's psychology through skillful film techniques can be seen:
At first, Milani heard a strange noise upstairs and moved, she slowly approached the stairs, which at this time filled the darkness, looming under the illumination of Milani's flashlight, driven by curiosity, the stairs in the shadows were full of fatal temptations, what was ahead of the unknown? It seems that the audience also feels the psychological state of the characters at this time. And When Milani went upstairs, she encountered a flock of birds hidden in the room, and the panicked Milanie was gradually overwhelmed by the flock of birds in the struggle, Hitchcock constantly exchanged the perspective of Milanie and the flock of birds through a series of rapid editing shots, the characters looked so small and helpless under the attack of the birds, and the light source of the flickering flashlight in Milanie's hand became a symbol of the character's inner uneasiness and struggle.
In a more in-depth analysis, in the opposition between "abnormal" and "ordinary" established by Hitchcock, such shots all give people an unrealistic sense of "absurdity", and at the same time, this is the main theme of "Flock of Birds": the most ordinary and ordinary things in life will also break through people's cognition, become a threat to people, and even endanger people's lives.
Just like the flock of birds in the movie, in people's subconscious, they are just ordinary birds, far from the "murderer", but Hitchcock did the opposite, making it a nightmare that people in the film could not get rid of, making the audience outside the film shudder.
As mentioned above, unlike Hitchcock's previous thriller suspense films, "Birds" is obviously an attempt at another style, in most of Hitchcock's previous films, there is often no shortage of crime, violence, murder and other scenes, but in "Birds", these elements are completely missing, replaced by a bizarre, absurd plot, which transfers the source of terrifying terror beyond human society, and shows one classic scene after another through clever lens language. So that the audience feels a deep fear in the environment established by the director.