Alfred Hitchcock Blackmail Essay

Alfred Hitchcock Blackmail Essay

Early forms of creative filmmaking such as German Expressionism and Soviet montage theory are considered to have a rich definitive film history. These films are remembered as having distinguishable techniques, emphasis on images, rhythmic montage, heavy editing, shadows and mise–en–scene. By examining film history, complications with film archiving, theoretical perspectives and Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail. This essay will determine whether the most frequently viewed mode of filmmaking, Hollywood cinema, can be considered as having a definitive film history. Although there is a trend in films produced in 1917–1960, Blackmail being one example of a film with classic Hollywood Cinema elements. I disagree that Hollywood Cinema has a definitive ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...In 1929, Hitchcock released Blackmail, the first 'all–talkie' film from Great Britain. Although the film was not produced in Hollywood, it is still considered as Hollywood cinema as it exhibits the stylistic traits identified in The Classical Hollywood Cinema. These devices include linear timelines, unstable equilibriums, psychologically motivated characters, shot/reverse shot, continuity editing and three–point lighting. Furthermore, this supports the perspective that there is a definitive history of Hollywood cinema. Blackmail fits within the time period of Hollywood cinema, whilst also displaying the forms narrative and cinematography techniques. However, Blackmail also mimics prominent features associated with German Expressionism and Soviet Montage, such as mise–en–scene, dramatic lighting and shadows. In one scene in Blackmail, Hitchcock manipulates the use of shadows when an Artist, sexually assaults a young woman called Alice. He stands in his room after being refused a kiss, coated in the shadows of the set looming over his face. The prominent use of shadows, create a visually uneasy atmosphere and convey a narrative without dialogue. Hitchcock's use of shadow manipulation is comparable to the importance of shadows in many famous German Expressionist films, Nosferatu (1922) and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920). Hitchcock himself stated that he had "acquired a strong German influence by working at the UFA studios in Berlin". Therefore, it can be argued that Hollywood cinema does not have a definitive history. The examples Bordwell and Thompson use in Film History: An Introduction supports the perspective within one form of history, Hollywood cinema. However, it is evident that some films which fit perfectly within the Hollywood cinema definition, include traits of German Expressionism. The film history is blurred and not definitive or exclusive to one

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