At the beginning of this scene, people are fleeing from the hoard of birds chasing them, and as you can see, in the background of this wide shot Melanie is running away from them and trying to find shelter. The wide shot establishes the setting, the non diegetic light (minus the flames added in) establishes time of day and the surrounding buildings and motel sign show it is an exterior shot. The (mostly) diegetic sound of people panicking demonstrates a manic and chaotic ambience, the non diegetic sound of the birds adds to them seeming menacing to the audience within the actual picture as they are chasing people.
The camera then moves to a close up of Melanie hiding in a phone box. The audience can tell that it is a place to hide in as her coat is the same colour as the building behind so therefore camouflages her. The look of terror in her face adds to the chaotic ambience. The birds flying around in the foreground of the shot(presumably added in through early CGI) and in the background show that the threat is still imminent.
It then moves to a mid shot of Melanie attempting to close the phone booth, the fire surrounding it again demonstrates that the scene is still chaotic. The fire is also surrounding the phone box, perhaps showing that she is trapped, it could also be interpreted as a subtle omen that Hitchcock decided to include. This is a valid point as Hitchcock is well known for including such visual elements in the foreground of his films for both aesthetic affect and also to leave the audience wondering, creating an air of suspense, vital to any climatic scene.
No comments:
Post a Comment