Hitchcock Deserves His Status as an Auteur

Hitchcock Deserves His Status as an Auteur

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born August 13, 1899, Leytonstone,

England, and died in 1980 in Los Angeles, USA, of liver and heart

problems. He went to Ignatius College in London, to the School of

Engineering and Navigation, and then to the University of London. He

started his film career in 1919 illustrating title cards for silent

films at Paramount 's Famous Players-Laskey Studio in London. There he

learned scripting, editing and art direction and rose to assistant

director in 1922. By 1925, he had directed his first finished film, "

The Pleasure Garden" shot in Munich. His breakthrough film, "The

Lodger", came a year later. Alfred Hitchcock directed over 50 films in

total, including "Vertigo" (1958), "Psycho" (1960) and "The Birds"

(1963), and they earned him the title "the master of suspense".

Hitchcock the Auteur

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Hitchcock achieved the title "master of suspense" particularly through

his mastery of the technical means to build and maintain suspense. He

used innovative camerawork (viewpoints and movements), editing

techniques, soundtrack, lighting and mise en scene. Because of this

unique style, Hitchcock is considered to be an auteur. "Auteur" is a

French word meaning "author" and was first used to describe a film

director by Francois Truffaut, a French film theorist. The term refers

to a film director with solid technique, a well-defined vision of the

world and a degree of control over production. It is really a way of

saying that a film has a particular director's signature on it.

Psycho - an overview

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"Psycho" was such a re...

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... first two examples also reflect back guilt. The sense of danger builds

suspense even though none of the examples leads to anything.

There are other ways in which Hitchcock broke with convention. He

shows the leading actress semi-nude in a bedroom after just having had

sex. Later, he shows her in the shower and finally he eliminates her,

one of the main characters, only 47 minutes into the film.

Conclusion

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I think Alfred Hitchcock deserves his status as an auteur because he

introduced a distinctive style to cinema and his unconventional

approach revolutionised horror films. His innovative camerawork

(viewpoints and movements), editing techniques, soundtrack, lighting

and mise en scene are what differentiated Hitchcock's films from those

of earlier directors. Also, his films used intricate plots.