The Birds By Alfred Hitchcock

 "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock

"The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock was made in 1963. The story of the film was written by Evan Hunter. Htchcock told him to develop new characters and a more elaborate plot keeping du Maurier's title. It stared Rob Taylor, Tippi Hendren and Suzanne Pleshette. It was made in the United States of America and sold $11,403,529 at Box office.

It depicts Bodega Bay, California, which is, suddenly and for unexplained reasons, the subject of a series of widespread and violent bird attacks over the course of a few days.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPC_Mp0Y9WM- " The Birds" Trailer

The trailer is effective because is shows a few interesting parts of the movie without giving away the whole story plot. It also grabs the viewers attention which makes people want to go and watch the film. It contacts the typical aspects of a thriller such as a talk over,and a few clips from the movie. It appeals to its audience by staying within the limits of the rules and working around them where possible. The audience's imagination was a great help to Hitchcock ad he triggered it in the end scene when Mitch goes outside to the garage.

"The Birds"

- The external threat if from nature. Often in Hitchcock there is nowhere to hide e.g. Bodega Bay, the birds attack from everywhere and anywhere. Whether being inside or outside. Hitchcock wanted to express how terrifying it was, to build tension and suspense. 
 Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action and a resourceful hero who must thwart the plans of a villain or threat.

An example of fast pacing in "The Birds" is when the crows one by one start to come on the playground. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydLJtKlVVZw&list=PL46FB178E8BEABAB8&index=5

This scene creates fast pacing as the audience first start off in a calm mood watching Miss Daniels smoking and listening to the children singing. However the fast pacing starts as we get a medium shot of Melanie and then a Master shot of point of view shot of Melanie looking at the birds. The birds start off at 4 and gradually become a greater number one by one. The audience are now in suspense at what is going to happen next, which is where we get a tracking shot of a bird flying in the air by its self, we assume it may be flying over to attack Melanie. However the bird comes to the rest of the birds where we see there are now hundreds and hundreds. The audience are now in awe and are scared at what may happen next. It shows how each round of song that the children are singing, adds another measure symbolizing the multiplying birds.

The Gas Scene- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-HYj5cLfEI 

In this scene the fast pacing starts to build as we witness a man being attacked by a bird,from there the fast pacing starts to build as we are left to wonder if this will start off an attack of hundreds of more birds. The characters start to brace themselves for what will happen next, while some go outside to help. We then get a shot of the gas leaking onto the road and then back at the characters. We then a shot of Melanie and then a POV shot of her watching the gas flow until it reaches a car. We are left in suspense for a few seconds, however the worrying look on Melanie's face and the camera angles suggest the worst to come. A man steps outside of the car and goes to light a cigar, which enlightens e Melanie, she then warns everyone to look at his as he lights his cigar so close to the gas which startles everyone and makes them yell at him to be careful. However the man is unaware of what is going on and drops his cigar which causes a massive explosion. Towards the end of the scene we see the birds fly to the scene one by one. The audience know that they are going to become frantic and result in another attack.


Thriller Conventions

In the Birds the highly powerful villains are The Birds which is unusual as they normally seem to be human. Additionally their are no heroes as the birds are more powerful than the humans and there are hundreds more of them than there is of the humans.


Suspense is used extensively throughout 'The Birds' an example of this is the eyes pecked out scene where Mrs.Brenner goes inside to visit Danny and finds his whole house in a state and him also dead in his own bedroom floor.


Eyes pecked out scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0HjlCowwuM&feature=bf_prev&list=PL46FB178E8BEABAB8

This scene creates fast pacing because we see Mrs.Brenner walk into the house and we get a close up of the cups which are all broken, this creates confusion and the audience become more suspicious and creates fast pacing at what Mrs.Brenner may find. The lack of sound/sound over also creates fast pacing. As Mrs.Brenner walks into the bedroom and finds the windows smashed and in wretch. The audience are now a bit more settled as they think this is all that has happened and that they are going to find.

Another example of suspense in the birds is the ending scene.
The ending scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMwvHLe5m3g&index=11&list=PL46FB178E8BEABAB8

In the starting of this scene Mitch tries to get Melanie to the car to get her to the nearest hospital. As they open the door we see hundreds of birds outside everywhere. The fast tension then beginnings as we scared that the birds might attack again. Cathy then calls for Mitch to ask if she can bring the love birds with her, the audience are then scared and worried that this may startle the birds which can result in another attack.


Hitchcock technique

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.In "TheBirds" scene outside the café- the high camera angle is like the gaze of pitiless God who cannot be bothered to intervene.  


"A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome." 

In "The Birds" the MacGuffin is the sexual tension between Mitch and Melanie at the start and where Melanie pretends to be a shop assistant to get his attention. However in the end no one cares about the starting plot and are focused on why the birds are attacking, when will their next attack be and when they will stop.



Interesting Fact

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- The scene where Tippi Hendren is ravaged by the birds near the end of the movie took a week to film.

- The birds were attached to her clothes by long nylon threads so they could not get away. 

- The film features 370 effect shots. The final shot is a composite of 32 separately filmed elements. 

- Tippi Hendren was actually cut in the face by a bird in one of the shots

- There is no musical score for the film expect for a shot electronic music sequence and the children singing in the school.

In my opinion the lack of non-diegetic sound helps the audience suspend disbelief and become more scared which creates tension and fast pacing.