Reginald Beauvoir
Mrs. Pellegrini
IM1401
10/14/2012
Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo
While researching film made in the Nineteenth Century I found that the use of technology brought new idea and cause a revelation that effected movie goer worldwide. The following time line shows how each innovation had an effect on the technology that was introduce in that time period. The expectation of movie goers was high as a result the film makers came up with new way of composing motion picture on the big screen. The thought process was open to new possibility. The use of movie projection called magic lantern was introduce in the Seventeenth Century. The use of different filming technique was on the rise. The thought process of movie composer consists of what they were exposed to and to shoot at different perspective. It was well thought out. A movie that was directly influenced by a technological advancement was Alfred Hitchcock, “Vertigo”. To achieve my point, I have organized my paper into four main sections, two of which have sub-sections. In the first section, there is a record of three important events in twentieth century motion picture history: technological changes, the information revolution, a film by Alfred Hitchcock. The techniques he used and how it paved the way for movie director that came after him. It discuss articles a about how the movie Vertigo played an important role and how it impacted the twentieth century film making producer and filming in connecting with his audience. The paper ends with a third section that the film functioned on multiple levels simultaneously and conclude with a fourth section that discusses the importance of technology in motion picture and the role they play in society. Included is a Works Cited page from sources read.
The twentieth century film saw many changes to daily American life with an increase in population, improved methods of transportation, developments in technology, and the rise in the importance of science. These events impacted all aspects of twentieth century American life, most significantly those involved 1927 the first TV transmission by Philo Farnsworth, but a large part of American life was effected, a part that is quite often taken for granted: the life of the art of motion picture.
One of the biggest changes, as seen in twentieth century America’s reports, is the dramatic increase of technologies. It was moving at a fast pace. The 1925 was the beginning of the Silent film error but at the same time technological advancement was on the rise. Census reported that ticket sales rose sharply. Most studios and stars preferred the silent screen but the public were engaged to purchase ticket abundantly which forced the switch to sound. As a result, the public influence the direction of film making.
To heighten the mood of film, they added color. “The improvement in the Technicolor system was unquestionably the most important technical advance of the decade (of the 1930s), but was regarded with almost total indifference by most people in the industry” (Fang 131). It proved that the public did care for romantic stories and Technicolor. An example of the following is the 1939 movie Gone with the Wind. “In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller, Vertigo, the director shows many advances and unique aspects of cinematography that the world had never seen before. Hitchcock became famous for these revolutionary advances, part of the reason he is regarded globally as one of the best directors of all time. For instance, the camera angles and the special effects were used by Hitchcock in Vertigo were ground-breaking” (http://blevesque15.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/vertigo-1958/). With that establishment Alfred Hitchcock knew what was in the public interest. He practically took what he knew and displayed it creatively setting the tone for the next generation. He improved.
One of these improvements was placing the camera at certain angles to create special effect allowed viewer to see cinema captured in an advance technique. This improvement allowed the relations between the audience and character to common ground, resulting in an increase awareness creating a disorienting effect which draws the audience to the film. ”When the camera moves as if a part of the character, the viewer is drawn in, as if they are literally in the character’s shoes”( http://blevesque15.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/vertigo-1958/). What seems like a common ground today was an incredible innovation idea by the director. ” While this technique is epitomized in the aforementioned scene, the movie contains many other examples. Primarily, when Scottie is following Madeleine Elster around San Francisco, the camera does not merely show Ferguson’s car trailing hers. In fact, it shows the scene through the eyes of the driver, looking through the front windshield at the car in front of him.”(http://blevesque15.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/vertigo-1958/). Hitchcock used this technique so effectively that it added suspense and intrigued the viewer. The film itself played a major impact on its’ audience.
The film did function on multiple levels simultaneously. The main character retired police detective Steward is fearful of heights and he falls in love with a mistress brings a since of an emotion that audience can relate to. The way Hitchcock painted that picture; it was off record. The film was ahead of it time. It gave the audience a sense of how to manage attention and drew their mind on an emotional level bringing them closer to the character emotion and view point. They fail to realize that at the time.
The following is a brief summary of the plot in the movie Vertigo. “The film is based upon the novel "D'Entre les Morts" which was written specifically for Hitchcock after the authors heard that he tried to buy the rights to their previous novel ‘Diabolique’”( http://hitchcock.tv/mov/vertigo/vertigo.html). “On a literal level it is a mystery-suspense story of a man hoodwinked into acting as an accomplice in a murder, his discovery of the hoax, and the unraveling of the threads of the murder plot. On a psychological level the film traces the twisted circuitous routes of a psyche burdened down with guilt, desperately searching for an object on which to concentrate its repressed energy. Finally, on an allegorical or figurative level, it is a retelling of the immemorial tale of a man who has lost his love to death and in hope of redeeming her descends into the underworld, the most famous of these stories being that of Orpheus and Eurydice in Greek Mythology”(http://hitchcock.tv/essays/vertigoessay.html). This movie changed all movie directors’ way of thinking. It still plays on the critics mind today.
How Hitchcock’s Vertigo topped the sight and sound. Sight & Sound magazine has announced the results of its latest critics' poll to decide the greatest film of all time. Provided Philip French charts the history of the poll. “Among Lambert's innovations was a worldwide poll of critics to vote each decade on the top 10 films of all time, an immense undertaking that utilizes the resources of the BFI and depends on the authority of Sight & Sound. The results of the seventh and largest poll were announced on Wednesday to a gathering waiting with bated breath at the now rather grand BFI Southbank complex (formerly the National Film Theatre), and they're published in the redesigned September edition of Sight & Sound (in 1952 a quarterly costing 3/6 – 17½p; since 1990 a monthly now priced at £4.50).” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/aug/05/sight-sound-best-film-poll-2012?oo=0). Alfred Hitchcock was the first to master the sight and sound and his work proved its’ point and he was merely a gifted entertainer.
In conclusion, the movie Vertigo did function on multiple levels simultaneously. From the researching finding of Alfred Hitchcock, this movie set the standard for movie techniques. It is the main guide to show sight and sound and the effect emotionally. The film did create a disoriented effect and the use of technology influenced it to move forward to be where it is today. As a result, the Top 10 films of The Sight & Sound 2012 list includes: 10. 8 ½ (Federico Fellini, 1963), 9. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1927), 8. Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929), 7. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956), 6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968), 5. Sunrise (FW Murnau, 1927), 4. La Règle du jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939), 3. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953), 2. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941). Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo is ranked number one on that list.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“How Hitchcock's Vertigo eventually topped the Sight & Sound critics' poll”
”Phillip French The Observer, Saturday 4 August 2012”
< http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/aug/05/sight-sound-best-film-poll-2012?oo=0 >
“Vertigo (1958)”
< http://blevesque15.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/vertigo-1958/ >
“Vertigo US (1959): Thriller”
< http://hitchcock.tv/essays/vertigoessay.html> Irvin Fang, A History of Mass Communication Six information Revolution