YEAR 12 PRODUCTION DAY

Introduction

During production day we were given the task to recreate some of Hitchcock's most famous techniques. This included lighting, montage (inspired by the famous montage shower scene in Psycho (1960), and using the camera to "show, don't tell". We also attempted to recreate the unsettling character reveal in Hitchcock's film Frenzy (1972). 

Examples

We were given examples from Hitchcock's films, so we could attempt to recreate the techniques and add them to our skillset, as many modern day films use similar methods.

 

Final results

Our group presented our final footage in the form of videos, explaining our techniques and how we were able to recreate similar sequences to Hitchcock. We also made a montage of all outtakes from the day, showing unused footage and behind the scenes.

 

My classmates and I worked to recreate a scene from the film "Frenzy" (1972), when the camerawork is used to create a dramatic reveal of the killer, followed by a tracking shot following his conversation with his victim. To recreate this we used a shoulder rig, to stabilize the camera. Later, my coursework partner and I decided to use a similar tracking shot in our film, using a gimbal rather than a shoulder mount for further stability.

We also experimented with using silhouettes and different lighting, taking inspiration from Hitchcock's film  "Vertigo" (1958). We used large windows to provide the bright backlighting, and then turned down the exposure to capture the persons outline.

This video captures us using moving camera shots to recreate different Hitchcock shots. This included the axial cut, moving close up and a dolly zoom. These were inspire from examples used in Hitchcock's movies "Rear Window" (1954), "The Birds" (1963) and "Psycho" (1960). This also meant experimenting with the technique Hitchcock called "show, don't tell", as a way to use the camera movement to tell the narrative rather than dialogue.

Instead of using montage in a clip following a narrative, we decided to document our experimentation throughout the day using montage. This shows us working with lights, tracks, lighting flags and other equipment to experiment with different techniques and try recreate some of Hitchcock's famous approaches.

Evaluation

Which shot or sequence are you most proud of and why?

I am very happy with the shots experimenting with lighting, as I haven't had the chance to work with large lights like the kind we were using on production day, and that allowed me to develop a new skill. I was also really proud of our groups moving shots, under the "show don't tell" station.

Which shot or sequence do you think could be improved upon and why?

I think we could have improved on the handheld tracking shot using the shoulder mount, as it was slightly unsteady. We also found it difficult to recreate the reveal from "Frenzy", as we always found the second actress was too far away from the camera to recreate the effect of the character being right behind the first actress.

What ideas did you take from the process that you would like to develop more or take into your own work?

Although we had some trouble with the tracking shot, I really like the idea of using it in my own film as it adds some interest to the shot. One potential idea could be using a gimbal rather than a shoulder mount as it will make the camera more steady.