The Birds

Within this post I am going to be speaking about a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock named "The Birds"

The film "The Birds" is a thriller that has also been notified as a horror. The film its self is up to 119 minuets long(1 hour and 59 minuets). The writers of the film are 'Daphne Du Maurier' who wrote the story and 'Evan Hunter' who wrote the screenplay. Also, those who stared in the play are 'Rod Taylor', 'Tippi Hedren' and 'Suzanne Pleshette'. However, within the trailer there are certain aspects that are used to show that it is a thriller. One of the aspects are the change of mise-en-scene. At the beginning of the trailer it starts of with light and bright colourful colours and then towards the end the colours turn dark. This shows that the film is unknown to all due to the fact that isn't many hints that this film is going to be a horror or a thriller. Take a second to think why would your average every day crow and seagull want to attack humans that have done absolutely nothing to them. Could it be the fact that the birds feel there are being invaded by humans or could it be a curse?  

Firstly, the film 'The Birds' is about an external threat from nature. Often in Hitchcock's films there is nowhere to hide for example: In this film the setting is in a town called 'Bodega Bay'. This shows that Hitchcock represents the town 'Bodega Bay' as a dead end(No where to hide). Furthermore, the thriller conventions that are used within this are a mysterious use of cinematography for example: when the birds are chasing the children the speed of the editing is increased. As well as, when the people are inside the café hiding away the speed of the editing is decreased due to the fact that the people are very scared and upset that "The Birds" are killing people. Moreover, Hitchcock stated "resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains". The question is 'Is this true of the birds'. Truly speaking this quote is very true due to the fact that the people couldn't come up with a correctly plan as to solving the mystery of the killer birds. During the film another thriller convention that is used is 'suspense'. This film has used one of the most successful suspense scene's of its time and possibly of all time. This film is full of dramatic and tense moments for example: sound is very quite and then a minuet later you h ear a bird and then all of the birds at the same time attack the building. This causes an effect on non-diegetic sound as the sound refers to the birds attacking. Nonetheless, it also refers to the tension of the music when it is being played to make the scene seen more dramatic.

Secondly, there are more specific techniques that are used that show the thriller conventions. Another one of the techniques are 'Dramatic Irony'. This is used when the audience know that "The Birds" are going to attack the people and the people don't know that "The Birds" are going to attack them. Also, another example of when 'Dramatic Irony' is being used is in the schoolyard scene when Tippi Hendren does not know "The Birds" have been gathering around the schoolyard. However, the audience knows. This suggests that we have knowledge denied to the character. Additionally, in the schoolyard scene the underlying score of the innocent child's song is in contrast to the evil in nature. Tippi Hendren's character is only guilty of taking nature for granted. Similarly, in the scene outside the café the high camera angle is like the glaze of a pitiless god who cannot be bothered to intervene.

Thirdly, the famous quote stated by Alfred Hitchcock "A thriller is a villain driven plot. Obstacles are presented that the hero must overcome". This indicates that "The Birds" are the villains and the people are the hero's. Nevertheless, are there any hero's? Due to the fact that the mystery is unsolved as to why the birds had plot the attack on the humans. The thriller technique that is presented by this is the 'MacGuffin' as it turns out there is a 'catch 22' you may have noticed that wherever Tippi Hedren goes the birds go. This could mean two things! This could mean that its Tippi Hedren's fault that the people where killed by "The Birds" because she is an attraction to them or it could mean that Tippi Hedren is the villain and "The Birds" are the hero's. But weather or not that is the case the mystery is still unsolved.

Additionally, did you know that the scene where Tippi Hedren is savaged by birds near the end of the movie took a week to film. This is because the film was shot realistically as they needed to collect all of the birds and get them in one spot. Equally, "The Birds" were attached to her cloths by long nylon threads the so that they couldn't get away. The film features 370 effects shots. The final shot is a composite of 32 separately filmed elements. Within the film there are a very wide range of shots that are used for example: there is a close up on Tippi Hedren's face when she is bleeding due to the attack of the birds. This gives a dramatic effect as it focuses on the damage which the birds have done to her. Also, there is a lot of high angle shots. One of the main high angle shots is the one when all the people in the town are by the café and the petrol leak gets set on fire and there is a mighty explosion. There are plenty of other shots that where taken but they where two of the main ones. In addition, a number of endings were being considered for this film. One that was considered would have showed the Golden Gate Bridge completely covered with 'Birds'. However, the film doesn't finish with the usual "The End" title because Alfred Hitchcock wanted to give the impression of unending terror.

Finally, Alfred Hitchcock uses a famous quote and saying that he invented being 'Dip your toe into the lake of fear'. Nevertheless, when the audiences left the UK premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees out of peoples way to scare them further. During the making of this film Tippi Hedren was actually cut in the face by a bird in one of the shots. Also, there is no musical score for the film except for a short electronic music sequence and the children singing in the school. Also, Alfred Hitchcock's thoughts of this film where that mankind has abused birds throughout history. We are shown 'Deliberate irony' in the café scene with the elderly 'bird loving' lady. She interrupted by an order for three southern fried chickens. In addition, one of the other characters initial reaction is to shoot "The Birds" and kill them. Hitchcock said that in the film "The Birds" the usual 'safety nets' such as (Science/religion) are denied to us. This indicates that we are on our own.