SlideShare ist ein Scribd-Unternehmen logo
1 von 9
Top Experts Film Making Secrets




              By

         Kirby Dillard
       Movietraining.net
Introduction

Filmmaking is one of the most competitive fields on the planet. In
order to have any chance in heck of making it, you need more than
just talent (though that certainly helps).

You need an inside track and some expert advice.

This report that you are now reading, is going to give you just that. In
it, you will be getting some of the best tips from some of the greatest
filmmakers of all time including…

   •   Steven Spielberg
   •   Quentin Tarantino
   •   Sam Raimi
   •   Alfred Hitchcock
   •   David Hoffman

The information here is priceless. I hope you will use it and take the
advice in it to heart. These are people who obviously know what
they’re talking about.

So without further delay, let’s get to our experts…
Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock is a legend…plain and simple. I had to hunt long and
hard for some of his top tips. Here they are.

You might as well learn from the greatest master of all.

STEP 1: It's the Mind of the Audience

Hitchcock says that nothing is more important than getting into the
mind of the audience. You have to sit down and think how each scene
is going to affect the person watching. Will it make them happy, sad,
angry, what? This has to be thought out for each scene. You want to
make sure that what you write hooks them. There should be no
moments where they want to leave the theatre to get a snack. Make
them want more with each passing minute.

Hitchcock understood that people went to movies to have fun and that
no matter what happened, nothing would actually happen to them. So
you could have people falling from planes, cliffs or whatever, and it
would be okay. In other words, take them on the wildest roller coaster
ride they’ve ever been on.

STEP 2: Frame for Emotion

Emotion, whether it is fear, laughter, surprise, sadness, anger,
boredom, or whatever, is the ultimate goal of each scene. When
placing the camera, you want to first decide what emotion you want to
invoke as each camera angle will invoke a different one. The closer
you are to the character’s eyes, the greater the emotion. The farther
away, the less the emotion. By changing from a far shot to a close up
gives the audience a sudden surprise.

This is how Hitchcock mapped out every scene. if you watch his
movies you will see him use changing camera angles within a scene
quite often. He says it’s the same as composing music. He mixes up
the angles he way a composer mixes up his chords and melodies.

STEP 3: Camera is Not a Camera


The way Hitchcock played with the camera was pure genius. He said
that the camera should not act like a camera, such as being in one
place. It should follow the actors around the room and be like another
actor. This makes the audience feel like they are more involved in
what’s going on.

Hitchcock got this technique from his days in silent movies. Without
actors speaking words, he had to rely on camera movement to tell his
story. This works just as well with today’s movies and it’s a technique
many movie makers have copied.

STEP 4: Dialogue Means Nothing

What Hitchcock did is while the actor was saying his lines, he had the
actor move his eyes around the room as if distracted. This pulled the
audience into the character’s secret little world.

Hitchcock believed that people, in real life, didn’t really express their
deepest thoughts to the person they are talking to. And he took this
theory to his movie making. Watch his films and you can feel the
deception of the character by his eye movements.

Hitchcock never had the focus of the scene be on what the character
was saying but more on what he was doing. This gave away his true
feelings, if not to the other character in the room, to the audience.

In his own words.

"In other words we don’t have pages to fill, or pages from a typewriter
to fill, we have a rectangular screen in a movie house.”

STEP 5: Point of View Editing

The character in your movie can look at one person and smile and
then look at another person and give the same exact smile and yet
those two smiles had two completely different meanings.

Hitchcock was a master at this.

Point of view editing is, simply point, putting an idea in the mind of the
character without explaining it with the actual dialogue. His formula for
doing this is simple.
•   Start with a close-up of the actor
  •   Cut to a shot of what they're seeing
  •   Cut back to the actor to see his reaction
  •   Repeat as desired

You can do this as many times as you want in order to build tension.

This is what Hitchcock refers to as “pure cinema”.

STEP 6: Montage Gives You Control

What this means is you divide the action of the movie into a series of
close-ups shown one after another. What you want to do is tie close-
ups together to tell a story.

For example, you might have a scene where one man shoots another.
The first close up is the look on the man’s face who is shot. The next
could be his hand clutching his chest. The next could be his knees
buckling…and so on.

Hitchcock was the master at this.

Watch the shower scene from Psycho and you’ll see a perfect example
of this.

Hitchcock’s basic rule was simple. Any time something really important
was going to happen…show it with a close-up.

STEP 7: Keep the Story Simple!

Hitchcock believed that is your story was confusing or required the
audience to remember a lot of things, you’re not going to be creating a
suspenseful piece of cinema.

Hitchcock believed that simple, linear stories with simple plots were
best. Think about his movies. Most of the plots were extremely simple.
Hitchcock removed anything from the movie that made it more
complicated than it had to be.
STEP 8: Characters Must Break Cliché

Hitchcock believed that you should make your characters the opposite
of what the audience expected. In other words, the guy who you’d
expect to be evil, turn him into the hero. You want to keep the
audience guessing.

STEP 9: Use Humor to Add Tension

What Hitchcock did, if you watch really closely, is that he gave his
characters the most ironic things to have to deal with. In other words,
Hitchcock used Murphy’s Law in his movies.

If it could go wrong…make it go wrong.

He was the expert in doing this.

So think about ways to give your characters ironic things to have to
deal with.

Watch “The Birds”. There is plenty of irony and humor in that movie if
you look for it, especially the scene where Tipi is trying to steal the
money and the maid is in the next room. We’re almost hoping she gets
away with it.

STEP 10: Two Things Happening at Once

Another thing that Hitchcock did was have two things going on in a
scene at the same time. Usually, these two things would have almost
nothing in common but yet would still tie into the story.

Hitchcock would alternate between the two events in the scene mixing
it up and keeping the audience wondering what was going to happen
next or how these two events would eventually tie together.

An example of this would be in the movie “Man Who Knew Too Much”
from 1956. In one scene, James Stewart and Doris Day were having
an intense phone call and in the middle of the scene we see guests
arriving which served as a dramatic counterpoint to the main focus of
the scene.

Again, Hitchcock was a master at this.
STEP 11: Suspense is Information

Hitchcock thought it was crucial to a scene to show the audience
something that the characters didn’t see. This his how you build
suspense by giving the audience this info.

An example of this is in the movie Family Plot from 1976. In one
scene, we see brake fluid leaking out of the car long before the
characters in the car knew what was happening.

In his own words…

“The essential fact is to get real suspense you must let the audience
have information."

Hitchcock nailed this in spades.

STEP 12: Surprise and Twist

This may be the hardest thing to do of all his tactics but it is critical if
you’re going to have a truly successful flim. You want the audience to
totally be surprised by how the movie turns out. You want twists and
turns. You never want to let them get comfortable thinking that they
know how it will end.

A perfect example of this is in the movie Saboteur. In the final scene,
Normal Lloyd is trapped at the top of the Statue of Liberty by Robert
Cummings who is holding a gun on Lloyd.

Just as we think that Cummings is going to shoot Lloyd, instead, he
speaks, Lloyd gets startled and falls off the statue.

This took everybody by surprise.

Nobody could do this like the master.

STEP 13: Warning: May Cause MacGuffin

Hitchcock had this down to a science.

If you look up the word MacGuffin in the dictionary, you will find the
following definition.
A plot element or other device used to catch the audience's attention
and maintain suspense, but whose exact nature has fairly little
influence over the storyline

The best way to explain what a MacGuffin is, is with an example.

A man is trapped in a bedroom being held at gunpoint by another
man. Somehow, he manages to make it out of the room and to the top
of the stairs only to find that at the bottom of the stairs is a wolf
blocking his way.

We really don’t care about the wolf and it has absolutely nothing to do
with the main story except that it is a device to keep the one man
from escaping from the other man.

Think about how many movies have used devices like this and how
many of them were Hitchcock movies.

You might be saying to yourself, a lot of movies today use this stuff.

Who do you think these guys learned it from?

Hitchcock…he’s the master.
Some Final Words

Naturally, the film makers mentioned in this report are the best of the
best. But they didn’t get there overnight. Nobody, not even Hitchcock,
was born with these smarts. They had to develop them just like
everybody else.

Below, you will find a great resource that, while it might not make you
the next Hitchcock overnight, will certainly give you the kind of
foundation you need to develop into a truly great film maker someday.

Here is the site so you can check it out.

NO BUDGET FILM MAKING

Making films is one of the most enjoyable things you can do with your
life. With the right training, some elbow grease and a little inspiration,
you could be the next Spielberg, Tarantino, or even Hitchcock.

Hey…anything is possible if you believe.

To YOUR Success,




Kirby Dillard
Movietraining.net

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Call Girls In Warangal Escorts ☎️7427069034 🔝 💃 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service En...
Call Girls In Warangal Escorts ☎️7427069034  🔝 💃 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service En...Call Girls In Warangal Escorts ☎️7427069034  🔝 💃 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service En...
Call Girls In Warangal Escorts ☎️7427069034 🔝 💃 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service En...
HyderabadDolls
 
CHEAP Call Girls in Malviya Nagar, (-DELHI )🔝 9953056974🔝(=)/CALL GIRLS SERVICE
CHEAP Call Girls in  Malviya Nagar, (-DELHI )🔝 9953056974🔝(=)/CALL GIRLS SERVICECHEAP Call Girls in  Malviya Nagar, (-DELHI )🔝 9953056974🔝(=)/CALL GIRLS SERVICE
CHEAP Call Girls in Malviya Nagar, (-DELHI )🔝 9953056974🔝(=)/CALL GIRLS SERVICE
9953056974 Low Rate Call Girls In Saket, Delhi NCR
 

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

Kanpur call girls 📞 8617697112 At Low Cost Cash Payment Booking
Kanpur call girls 📞 8617697112 At Low Cost Cash Payment BookingKanpur call girls 📞 8617697112 At Low Cost Cash Payment Booking
Kanpur call girls 📞 8617697112 At Low Cost Cash Payment Booking
 
Science City Kolkata ( Call Girls ) Kolkata ✔ 6297143586 ✔ Hot Model With Sex...
Science City Kolkata ( Call Girls ) Kolkata ✔ 6297143586 ✔ Hot Model With Sex...Science City Kolkata ( Call Girls ) Kolkata ✔ 6297143586 ✔ Hot Model With Sex...
Science City Kolkata ( Call Girls ) Kolkata ✔ 6297143586 ✔ Hot Model With Sex...
 
Hire 💕 8617697112 North Sikkim Call Girls Service Call Girls Agency
Hire 💕 8617697112 North Sikkim Call Girls Service Call Girls AgencyHire 💕 8617697112 North Sikkim Call Girls Service Call Girls Agency
Hire 💕 8617697112 North Sikkim Call Girls Service Call Girls Agency
 
❤Personal Whatsapp Number Keylong Call Girls 8617697112 💦✅.
❤Personal Whatsapp Number Keylong Call Girls 8617697112 💦✅.❤Personal Whatsapp Number Keylong Call Girls 8617697112 💦✅.
❤Personal Whatsapp Number Keylong Call Girls 8617697112 💦✅.
 
Call Girls In Warangal Escorts ☎️7427069034 🔝 💃 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service En...
Call Girls In Warangal Escorts ☎️7427069034  🔝 💃 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service En...Call Girls In Warangal Escorts ☎️7427069034  🔝 💃 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service En...
Call Girls In Warangal Escorts ☎️7427069034 🔝 💃 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service En...
 
Model VVIP Call Girls In Porur 👉 Chennai 🍬 7427069034 Escort Service & Hotel ...
Model VVIP Call Girls In Porur 👉 Chennai 🍬 7427069034 Escort Service & Hotel ...Model VVIP Call Girls In Porur 👉 Chennai 🍬 7427069034 Escort Service & Hotel ...
Model VVIP Call Girls In Porur 👉 Chennai 🍬 7427069034 Escort Service & Hotel ...
 
(TOP CLASS) Call Girls In Chengalpattu Phone 7427069034 Call Girls Model With...
(TOP CLASS) Call Girls In Chengalpattu Phone 7427069034 Call Girls Model With...(TOP CLASS) Call Girls In Chengalpattu Phone 7427069034 Call Girls Model With...
(TOP CLASS) Call Girls In Chengalpattu Phone 7427069034 Call Girls Model With...
 
VIP ( Goa Call Girls ) Margao Beach👉 8617370543 Escort Service Enjoy Your Dre...
VIP ( Goa Call Girls ) Margao Beach👉 8617370543 Escort Service Enjoy Your Dre...VIP ( Goa Call Girls ) Margao Beach👉 8617370543 Escort Service Enjoy Your Dre...
VIP ( Goa Call Girls ) Margao Beach👉 8617370543 Escort Service Enjoy Your Dre...
 
Verified Trusted Call Girls Tambaram Chennai ✔✔7427069034 Independent Chenna...
Verified Trusted Call Girls Tambaram Chennai ✔✔7427069034  Independent Chenna...Verified Trusted Call Girls Tambaram Chennai ✔✔7427069034  Independent Chenna...
Verified Trusted Call Girls Tambaram Chennai ✔✔7427069034 Independent Chenna...
 
Dum Dum ( Call Girls ) Kolkata ✔ 6297143586 ✔ Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready...
Dum Dum ( Call Girls ) Kolkata ✔ 6297143586 ✔ Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready...Dum Dum ( Call Girls ) Kolkata ✔ 6297143586 ✔ Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready...
Dum Dum ( Call Girls ) Kolkata ✔ 6297143586 ✔ Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready...
 
𓀤Call On 6297143586 𓀤 Park Street Call Girls In All Kolkata 24/7 Provide Call...
𓀤Call On 6297143586 𓀤 Park Street Call Girls In All Kolkata 24/7 Provide Call...𓀤Call On 6297143586 𓀤 Park Street Call Girls In All Kolkata 24/7 Provide Call...
𓀤Call On 6297143586 𓀤 Park Street Call Girls In All Kolkata 24/7 Provide Call...
 
VIP Model Call Girls Koregaon Park ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From ...
VIP Model Call Girls Koregaon Park ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From ...VIP Model Call Girls Koregaon Park ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From ...
VIP Model Call Girls Koregaon Park ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From ...
 
VIP Model Call Girls Vijayawada ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K ...
VIP Model Call Girls Vijayawada ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K ...VIP Model Call Girls Vijayawada ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K ...
VIP Model Call Girls Vijayawada ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K ...
 
(TOP CLASS) Call Girls In Nungambakkam Phone 7427069034 Call Girls Model With...
(TOP CLASS) Call Girls In Nungambakkam Phone 7427069034 Call Girls Model With...(TOP CLASS) Call Girls In Nungambakkam Phone 7427069034 Call Girls Model With...
(TOP CLASS) Call Girls In Nungambakkam Phone 7427069034 Call Girls Model With...
 
Borum Call Girls Service ☎ ️93326-06886 ❤️‍🔥 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service
Borum Call Girls Service ☎ ️93326-06886 ❤️‍🔥 Enjoy 24/7 Escort ServiceBorum Call Girls Service ☎ ️93326-06886 ❤️‍🔥 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service
Borum Call Girls Service ☎ ️93326-06886 ❤️‍🔥 Enjoy 24/7 Escort Service
 
CHEAP Call Girls in Malviya Nagar, (-DELHI )🔝 9953056974🔝(=)/CALL GIRLS SERVICE
CHEAP Call Girls in  Malviya Nagar, (-DELHI )🔝 9953056974🔝(=)/CALL GIRLS SERVICECHEAP Call Girls in  Malviya Nagar, (-DELHI )🔝 9953056974🔝(=)/CALL GIRLS SERVICE
CHEAP Call Girls in Malviya Nagar, (-DELHI )🔝 9953056974🔝(=)/CALL GIRLS SERVICE
 
Model Call Girls In Velappanchavadi WhatsApp Booking 7427069034 call girl ser...
Model Call Girls In Velappanchavadi WhatsApp Booking 7427069034 call girl ser...Model Call Girls In Velappanchavadi WhatsApp Booking 7427069034 call girl ser...
Model Call Girls In Velappanchavadi WhatsApp Booking 7427069034 call girl ser...
 
📞 Contact Number 8617370543VIP Rajsamand Call Girls
📞 Contact Number 8617370543VIP Rajsamand Call Girls📞 Contact Number 8617370543VIP Rajsamand Call Girls
📞 Contact Number 8617370543VIP Rajsamand Call Girls
 
Mira Road | Call Girls Service Mumbai | ₹,9500 Pay Cash 9833325238 Free Home ...
Mira Road | Call Girls Service Mumbai | ₹,9500 Pay Cash 9833325238 Free Home ...Mira Road | Call Girls Service Mumbai | ₹,9500 Pay Cash 9833325238 Free Home ...
Mira Road | Call Girls Service Mumbai | ₹,9500 Pay Cash 9833325238 Free Home ...
 
Kolkata Call Girls Service ❤️ at @30% discount Everyday
Kolkata Call Girls Service ❤️ at @30% discount EverydayKolkata Call Girls Service ❤️ at @30% discount Everyday
Kolkata Call Girls Service ❤️ at @30% discount Everyday
 

Empfohlen

Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsSocial Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Kurio // The Social Media Age(ncy)
 

Empfohlen (20)

PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
 
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
 
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
 
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsSocial Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
 
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
 
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
 
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
 
Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next
 
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search IntentGoogle's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
 
How to have difficult conversations
How to have difficult conversations How to have difficult conversations
How to have difficult conversations
 
Introduction to Data Science
Introduction to Data ScienceIntroduction to Data Science
Introduction to Data Science
 
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity -  Best PracticesTime Management & Productivity -  Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
 
The six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project managementThe six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project management
 
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
 
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
 
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
 
ChatGPT webinar slides
ChatGPT webinar slidesChatGPT webinar slides
ChatGPT webinar slides
 
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike RoutesMore than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
 
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
 
Barbie - Brand Strategy Presentation
Barbie - Brand Strategy PresentationBarbie - Brand Strategy Presentation
Barbie - Brand Strategy Presentation
 

Film Making & Movie Training Secrets - Alfred Hitchcock

  • 1. Top Experts Film Making Secrets By Kirby Dillard Movietraining.net
  • 2. Introduction Filmmaking is one of the most competitive fields on the planet. In order to have any chance in heck of making it, you need more than just talent (though that certainly helps). You need an inside track and some expert advice. This report that you are now reading, is going to give you just that. In it, you will be getting some of the best tips from some of the greatest filmmakers of all time including… • Steven Spielberg • Quentin Tarantino • Sam Raimi • Alfred Hitchcock • David Hoffman The information here is priceless. I hope you will use it and take the advice in it to heart. These are people who obviously know what they’re talking about. So without further delay, let’s get to our experts…
  • 3. Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock is a legend…plain and simple. I had to hunt long and hard for some of his top tips. Here they are. You might as well learn from the greatest master of all. STEP 1: It's the Mind of the Audience Hitchcock says that nothing is more important than getting into the mind of the audience. You have to sit down and think how each scene is going to affect the person watching. Will it make them happy, sad, angry, what? This has to be thought out for each scene. You want to make sure that what you write hooks them. There should be no moments where they want to leave the theatre to get a snack. Make them want more with each passing minute. Hitchcock understood that people went to movies to have fun and that no matter what happened, nothing would actually happen to them. So you could have people falling from planes, cliffs or whatever, and it would be okay. In other words, take them on the wildest roller coaster ride they’ve ever been on. STEP 2: Frame for Emotion Emotion, whether it is fear, laughter, surprise, sadness, anger, boredom, or whatever, is the ultimate goal of each scene. When placing the camera, you want to first decide what emotion you want to invoke as each camera angle will invoke a different one. The closer you are to the character’s eyes, the greater the emotion. The farther away, the less the emotion. By changing from a far shot to a close up gives the audience a sudden surprise. This is how Hitchcock mapped out every scene. if you watch his movies you will see him use changing camera angles within a scene quite often. He says it’s the same as composing music. He mixes up the angles he way a composer mixes up his chords and melodies. STEP 3: Camera is Not a Camera The way Hitchcock played with the camera was pure genius. He said that the camera should not act like a camera, such as being in one
  • 4. place. It should follow the actors around the room and be like another actor. This makes the audience feel like they are more involved in what’s going on. Hitchcock got this technique from his days in silent movies. Without actors speaking words, he had to rely on camera movement to tell his story. This works just as well with today’s movies and it’s a technique many movie makers have copied. STEP 4: Dialogue Means Nothing What Hitchcock did is while the actor was saying his lines, he had the actor move his eyes around the room as if distracted. This pulled the audience into the character’s secret little world. Hitchcock believed that people, in real life, didn’t really express their deepest thoughts to the person they are talking to. And he took this theory to his movie making. Watch his films and you can feel the deception of the character by his eye movements. Hitchcock never had the focus of the scene be on what the character was saying but more on what he was doing. This gave away his true feelings, if not to the other character in the room, to the audience. In his own words. "In other words we don’t have pages to fill, or pages from a typewriter to fill, we have a rectangular screen in a movie house.” STEP 5: Point of View Editing The character in your movie can look at one person and smile and then look at another person and give the same exact smile and yet those two smiles had two completely different meanings. Hitchcock was a master at this. Point of view editing is, simply point, putting an idea in the mind of the character without explaining it with the actual dialogue. His formula for doing this is simple.
  • 5. Start with a close-up of the actor • Cut to a shot of what they're seeing • Cut back to the actor to see his reaction • Repeat as desired You can do this as many times as you want in order to build tension. This is what Hitchcock refers to as “pure cinema”. STEP 6: Montage Gives You Control What this means is you divide the action of the movie into a series of close-ups shown one after another. What you want to do is tie close- ups together to tell a story. For example, you might have a scene where one man shoots another. The first close up is the look on the man’s face who is shot. The next could be his hand clutching his chest. The next could be his knees buckling…and so on. Hitchcock was the master at this. Watch the shower scene from Psycho and you’ll see a perfect example of this. Hitchcock’s basic rule was simple. Any time something really important was going to happen…show it with a close-up. STEP 7: Keep the Story Simple! Hitchcock believed that is your story was confusing or required the audience to remember a lot of things, you’re not going to be creating a suspenseful piece of cinema. Hitchcock believed that simple, linear stories with simple plots were best. Think about his movies. Most of the plots were extremely simple. Hitchcock removed anything from the movie that made it more complicated than it had to be.
  • 6. STEP 8: Characters Must Break Cliché Hitchcock believed that you should make your characters the opposite of what the audience expected. In other words, the guy who you’d expect to be evil, turn him into the hero. You want to keep the audience guessing. STEP 9: Use Humor to Add Tension What Hitchcock did, if you watch really closely, is that he gave his characters the most ironic things to have to deal with. In other words, Hitchcock used Murphy’s Law in his movies. If it could go wrong…make it go wrong. He was the expert in doing this. So think about ways to give your characters ironic things to have to deal with. Watch “The Birds”. There is plenty of irony and humor in that movie if you look for it, especially the scene where Tipi is trying to steal the money and the maid is in the next room. We’re almost hoping she gets away with it. STEP 10: Two Things Happening at Once Another thing that Hitchcock did was have two things going on in a scene at the same time. Usually, these two things would have almost nothing in common but yet would still tie into the story. Hitchcock would alternate between the two events in the scene mixing it up and keeping the audience wondering what was going to happen next or how these two events would eventually tie together. An example of this would be in the movie “Man Who Knew Too Much” from 1956. In one scene, James Stewart and Doris Day were having an intense phone call and in the middle of the scene we see guests arriving which served as a dramatic counterpoint to the main focus of the scene. Again, Hitchcock was a master at this.
  • 7. STEP 11: Suspense is Information Hitchcock thought it was crucial to a scene to show the audience something that the characters didn’t see. This his how you build suspense by giving the audience this info. An example of this is in the movie Family Plot from 1976. In one scene, we see brake fluid leaking out of the car long before the characters in the car knew what was happening. In his own words… “The essential fact is to get real suspense you must let the audience have information." Hitchcock nailed this in spades. STEP 12: Surprise and Twist This may be the hardest thing to do of all his tactics but it is critical if you’re going to have a truly successful flim. You want the audience to totally be surprised by how the movie turns out. You want twists and turns. You never want to let them get comfortable thinking that they know how it will end. A perfect example of this is in the movie Saboteur. In the final scene, Normal Lloyd is trapped at the top of the Statue of Liberty by Robert Cummings who is holding a gun on Lloyd. Just as we think that Cummings is going to shoot Lloyd, instead, he speaks, Lloyd gets startled and falls off the statue. This took everybody by surprise. Nobody could do this like the master. STEP 13: Warning: May Cause MacGuffin Hitchcock had this down to a science. If you look up the word MacGuffin in the dictionary, you will find the following definition.
  • 8. A plot element or other device used to catch the audience's attention and maintain suspense, but whose exact nature has fairly little influence over the storyline The best way to explain what a MacGuffin is, is with an example. A man is trapped in a bedroom being held at gunpoint by another man. Somehow, he manages to make it out of the room and to the top of the stairs only to find that at the bottom of the stairs is a wolf blocking his way. We really don’t care about the wolf and it has absolutely nothing to do with the main story except that it is a device to keep the one man from escaping from the other man. Think about how many movies have used devices like this and how many of them were Hitchcock movies. You might be saying to yourself, a lot of movies today use this stuff. Who do you think these guys learned it from? Hitchcock…he’s the master.
  • 9. Some Final Words Naturally, the film makers mentioned in this report are the best of the best. But they didn’t get there overnight. Nobody, not even Hitchcock, was born with these smarts. They had to develop them just like everybody else. Below, you will find a great resource that, while it might not make you the next Hitchcock overnight, will certainly give you the kind of foundation you need to develop into a truly great film maker someday. Here is the site so you can check it out. NO BUDGET FILM MAKING Making films is one of the most enjoyable things you can do with your life. With the right training, some elbow grease and a little inspiration, you could be the next Spielberg, Tarantino, or even Hitchcock. Hey…anything is possible if you believe. To YOUR Success, Kirby Dillard Movietraining.net