The movie Shadow of a Doubt is an American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1943, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing and Original Story by Thornton Wilder and Sally Benson. The movie notes the outstanding and remarkable film-making style of Hitchcock. It contains a lot of scenes in which people can empathise with the characters and perceive the feelings and messages from the director. One of the scenes that must be mentioned is when Emmy’s guests are toasting to Uncle Charlie, which is considered as one of the most important scenes as it helps to put an end to the long-term drama of the Uncle. This analysis will provide insightful ideas about the movements and the framings of camera and its uses in conveying the messages, the thoughts of characters as well as the director and making the audiences live in the film’s atmosphere.

The movie is about a young girl named Charlie (ACTOR)who always feels bored and not quite happy about life. One day, Uncle Charlie (ACTOR) (who is her mother’s brother and who she is named after) comes all the long way from Santa Rosa, California to visit. Behind his elegant, gentle cover is a killer who has taken lives and assets of three rich widows. Out of the blue, the young niece who loves her uncle so much discovers the truth, but hesitates to disclose it since she is afraid that her mother would not be able to bear the news. The drama hits its peak when the Uncle is hell-bent on killing his beloved niece to conceal his sins.

The scene begins with the close-up image of Uncle Charlie passing glasses of wine to Herbert and from Herbert to two other people. Simultaneously he throws his glance to Mrs. Potter who is already looking at him with admiration. This shot reminds the audiences of Uncle Charlie’s past with a lot of affairs with rich widows and he is a serial killer, the drinks will be consumed just like he has consumed all the money from those poor widows. This scene continues with Young Charlie is coming downstairs with the ring that the uncle gave her. The camera is panning with each steps of Young Charlie, embodying the slow descent towards justice. The camera takes his point of view when he sees her wearing the ring and suddenly tracks and zooms to an extremely close-up ofat the ring which not only makes Uncle Charlie but also the audiences realise that this is time for the showdown, for the truth. The emerald ring is not like other emeralds, it is very dark which totally contrasts the image of pure, young, naïve and in-white Charlie. This contrast is lifted higher when that ring is worn on the ring-finger which is sacred and spiritual. The ring connotes the idea of darkness, evil, and the sins. The camera keeps the close-up on the ring when sliding down the bannister apparently wants to tell us that the evil in the room is going down, is going to be destroyed. The whole shot gives us the impression that this is not merely a small party, it is a fight between good and bad, justice and guilty –you mean there is a subtext here – or a sub-plot. This shot is constantly switched with the close-up at Uncle Charlie face which expresses clearly worries and fear. He bows down and pours the wine and raise the toast, the conciliatory toast like the bad is yielding to the good. The scene is cuts to Emmy running from nowhere to Charlie with the shocked look, as she begsging him to stay. Softly and naturally, Emmy enters the invisible fight between two Charlie. At this scene, camera keeps cutting from Emmy to Uncle Charlie, from Uncle Charlie to Young Charlie and from Young Charlie to her mother, all of these shots areis close-up which helps the watchers viewers see and feel the character’s’ facial expressions in the clearest way and separates all the other characters out. Emmy cries looking at the Uncle with the fear that he is never coming back, the Uncle is looking at Young Charlie with the fear of being blackmailed and Young Charlie sits plunk in the chair like she just slipped her chance to expose the Uncle’s real face. She is crying looking at her mother. Her crying seems for her mother who loves Uncle Charlie so much but having no ideas about what he has done. The camera once more tracking in and zooming in Young Charlie’s face is trying to describe the chaotic feelings of the innocentbaby Charlie, once she don’t want her mother to get hurt when knowing the truth, once she don’t want to let such a murderer like that get away with his heinous crime. All of these thoughts makes her crazy and push her into the vicious circle and the circle that two Charlie and Emmy is creating right now. When the camera takes a close-up at Emmy when she is talking in regrets about her brother’s intention to go, suddenly, the camera cuts to a medium shot at four women sitting and a men standing with the sad faces when they are hearing Emmy. This shot strikes audiences about the three victims of the Uncle and the other woman who is separated from those three women by a man standing between is going to be his next, especially when she says she is catching an early train next morning to California too. These alternation of shots contribute to arouse an image of poor Emmy who is so devastated about her brother’s going but without any ideas of his evil sins, concurrently, make the audiences partly have some common feelings with Young Charlie when she stands between justice and the fear of breaking her mother’s heart.

The sequence ends as the close up onwhen Young Charlie’s face is fadesing to black and tells us that there is something bad going to descend upon her in next sequence. This is really a success keeping the audiences hold their breath for something unexpected, unpredictable is bound to happen.

This is a really good start and demonstrates your keen ability to perform textual analysis and, I hope a real passion for film, well done. You pick up on the key points here and for the most part, describe them with clarity and succinctness. I feel that some of your points could do with a little redrafting and more description to support your argument – but you show a sensitivity and skill for the subject.

Try to look through my notes and develop a wider vocabulary in filmic terms that will help your expressions, and also remember to include a substantial conclusion. Also with a film analysis – try to keep it tight and to the point – in the opening paragraph you include information about the film history that doesn’t add to the work.

Well done though !

Mark: 57