Alfred Hitchcock The Birds Essay

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The film The Birds (1963), by Alfred Hitchcock, is a brilliant illustration of a horror film. The strategy of a horror film is to ensure that the audience will experience some type of suspense or terror. The use of the horror genre would be an appropriate method to present The Birds. True to the horror genre, the use of cinematography and sound were put to effective use for design of fear. Hitchcock uses a varied selection of camerawork to capture the fear and suspense which unfolds the subsequent horror provoked by the sight of a mere bird. The birds' behavior is used to create suspense and visual thrills (Soles, 528). The expansive shots used to demonstrate the sheer number of birds involved in the attacks on people most definitely insight fear. Additionally, close-up shots of people as they are attacked by birds includes rather graphic elements of blood and gore. …show more content…

Melanie is introduced in the film as she flirts with a lawyer, Mitch, in a pet store. Melanie is shown as a well-dressed socialite who is of upper social standing, however she is also a bit of a trouble maker who likes to play pranks on people. She garners enough information from this contact with Mitch to entice her to purchase two Love Birds and travel, uninvited, to Mitch’s home in Bodega Bay to drop these birds for his young sister Cathy’s birthday. This is a rather impulsive move showing yet another trait of Melanie’s character. Her task is completed when she breaks into Mitch home, which further shares Melanie’s brazen and daring character, and leaves the birds and a note. Melanie is convinced by Mitch to visit with him on the bay and at this critical point Melanie is attacked by a seagull. This attack on Melanie appears to be the commencement of the bird attacks on the people of Bodega Bay. Melanie is involved in many of these attack scenes, to the point where people start to question her role in the

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