Keeping a big secret
- Get your audience involved in a secret very early in a film that only one character knows. If the secret gets out all is lost and the story will end.
- Tease the audience so the secret almost gets out but then doesn't.
- Other characters are hopelessly unaware but just might stumble upon the secret by accident.
How I can incorporate this into my film
- So Libby's big secret is that she suffers from completely psychotic delusions.
- Perhaps the film can open with Libby speaking to a psychologist about her grand delusions and him diagnosing her with delusional disorder.
- Libbys doctor could give her an envelope of information about it and libby could stash it in her bag and leave it on the cafe table when she goes and see's her friends
- Nicole could see it sticking out of her bag while libby is in her apartment and have the bag whisked away at the last second, once Libby is dead Nicole could open the envelope and read it.
Tie your story to trivial objects and keep it simple
- The focus of the narrative should be small and simple and trivial
- Your scene could be about epic lovers fighting but they could be fighting about car keys or the remote
- Tying your epic story to trivial objects allows the camera to do the dramatic work and makes the story more easy to follow
- No one cares about lovers fighting but when a missing USB turns up in a meatloaf, thats visual story telling
How I can incorporate this into the film
- Well Libby is a psychotic character so possibly there could be little things in her house that infer that things are not a ok upstairs.
- E.g Libby has many many posters of Nicole and could even have photos of other leading hollywood stars at the time, maybe black out curtains to keep out the flashes from the imaginary paparazzi, letters from various psychologists opened saying the same thing about Libby's delusional behaviour
- Maybe the camera could pan around the room at the different images of Hollywood women perhaps then to the letters about her psycho behaviour, then to the black out curtains. This tells a visual story through trivial things: Here is Libby, a women who seems to love hollywood celebrity film stars, no she more than loves them, she thinks she is one, she has been psychoanalysed many times, she has even gone to the extent to get black out curtains to block out the imaginary paparazzi.
Eyes hands and feet
- There is lots of simplicity in the eyes hands and feet and Hitchcock likes to focus on all these aspects
- The eyes glance at something
- The feet show confidence in a surrounding or lack of confidence
- The hands show an important object
How I can incorporate this in my film
- My film could incorporate this in many aspects
- From eyes glancing to psychologist letters to fine jewellery
- Hands could catch letters, jewellery, film posters
- feet could show Libby's great confidence as she has a grand delusion that she is a film star.
Stream of conscious
- Stream of conscious is a way to get into a characters mind
- Let the audience hear the characters thoughts in real time while action is happening
How I could use this in the film
- There are many chances in this film for Libby to internalise her thoughts through a stream of conscious
- She could be looking at Nicole's life and talking about how she can't wait to jump into it
- She could be taking Nicole's jewellery thinking it is her own
- Going to her empty window and thinking that there are paparazzi all through it
Dramatic tension
- Long shots are very good at holding tension and Hitchcock is the master of suspense so this is a very important step.
- Allowing the set space to become a tension device is also helpful the way the actors stand and their blocking is important
- Adjusting a camera distance can help manipulate a shot
How I could use this for my film
- The space between Nicole and Libby can be very important. Perhaps Libby could stand far too close to Nicole and make things more tense and far more awkward than it needs to be.
- Maybe close ups of Libby in moments when she is feeling entitled to Nicole's wealth could be dramatic. This is something I will have to explore
Massive credit to no film schools website here is the link
http://nofilmschool.com/2015/10/5-hitchcock-techniques-you-want-be-using-your-films
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