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Vertigo
(Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1958)
into a series of graphic spirals inducing
Component 1: Varieties of dizziness before the first sequence. It sets
Film and Film-Making (AL) up Scottie’s desire to let go, to fall.
Component 1: American Film (AS) • The “vertigo” shot, a camera technique
developed by Irmin Roberts. This is
Core Study Areas: achieved by moving the camera in the
Key Elements of Film Form opposite direction of the camera’s zoom.
Meaning & Response • Subjective tracking shots follow Madeleine
in San Francisco from Scottie’s point of
The Contexts of Film view. Dreamlike sequences in soft focus
in the cemetery and the hotel bedroom,
Specialist Study Area: ghostly images of Madeleine.
Auteur (AL ) • Prevalence of shots from Scottie’s point
of view to establish his obsession, the
Rationale for study male gaze and the power of the look.
• Vertigo, although not a critical or box-office • Use of close ups to highlight significant
success on its first release is now considered aspects of Mise-en-Scène e.g. necklace
by many to be Alfred Hitchcock’s most on the painting of Carlotta.
compelling and beautiful film, rated as the best Mise-en-Scène
film ever made in the 2016 Sight and Sound • Use of symbolic colour throughout.
poll, calling it “Hitchcock’s masterpiece to date Art direction by Hal Perreira, Henry
and one of the four or five most profound and Bumstead. Ernie’s restaurant: red walls,
beautiful films the cinema has yet given us.” Madeleine in green, mirrors, doubles.
An overwhelmingly romantic psychological • Madeleine’s clothes, designed by Edith
study of sexual obsession, masculine Head: the grey suit is all important.
insecurity, voyeurism and manipulation it
• The location of the film was moved to San
is a film that rewards multiple viewings,
Francisco, the city of vertiginous streets, the
growing more disturbing with each one.
phallic Coit Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge,
the scene of Madeleine’s attempted “suicide”.
STARTING POINTS - Useful • Vertiginous setting of San Francisco contributes
Sequences and timings/links to the sense of falling from the opening shots
that include the famous bridge to Scottie driving
• Opening titles and sequence 0:00:20 – 0:04:11 downhill in the sequence where he follows
• Scottie discovers Judy Barton, spectator ‘Madeleine’ thereby falling into Elster’s trap.
identification is split 1:33:21 – 1:46:43 • Use of green as a colour motif. The key
examples include ‘Madeleine’s dress at
Ernie’s, her car and Scottie’s sweater at
CORE STUDY AREAS 1 - STARTING the point when he really starts to believe
POINTS - Key Elements of Film that Carlotta is possessing ‘Madeleine’.
Form (Micro Features)
Editing
Cinematography • At Ernie’s restaurant cut from Scottie
• Disorientation from the beginning. The watching to Madeleine in the background,
title comes out of a woman’s eye, then
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A Level Film Studies - Focus Film Factsheet
then, as she passes him, cut to her profile. Cinema (1975) examined the representation of
• Opening sequence cuts between a sexual difference as active male/passive female,
police man reaching out, to Scottie with women displayed as erotic objects for the
dangling, to the ‘vertigo shot’. characters within the film and the spectator.
• Long slow passages containing medium close Mulvey suggested that the use of subjective
ups of Scottie watching, cut to what he sees. camera from the male protagonist’s point of view
• Use of long takes in the scenes of Scottie results in the spectator identifying with the male.
following ‘Madeleine’ around San • Scottie is undermined by his weakness and
Francisco to allow the spectator time to fascination with the mystery of Madeleine.
engage with how he may be feeling. Madeleine’s confession places the spectator
• Position of flashback in the narrative in a position of knowledge, spectator
encouraging the spectator to sympathise changes identification because of this.
with Judy and perceive events from • Women as passive – consider Midge as a
her perspective for the first time. challenge to this and explore how she fares
• Prevalence of eye line match cuts aligning the in the narrative as a result of her active
spectator with Scottie throughout the film until nature. How does the alternate ending of the
the flashback sequence in Judy’s room. After film change this? https://goo.gl/YF05fZ
that, there are some shots from her point of view. Aesthetics (i.e. the ‘look and feel’
Sound of the film including visual style,
influences, auteur, motifs)
• Bernard Herrmann’s music inspired by
Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, perhaps the • Title sequence’s innovative use of avant-
most important micro feature of the film. It garde film ideas in a mainstream narrative.
appears endless, chords that are never resolved, Designed by Saul Bass accompanied by
repeatedly broken. Herrmann’s love theme Bernard Herrmann’s score a combination of
used when ‘Madeleine’ is on screen to indicate emotional dream imagery and abstraction
Scottie’s growing obsession/love for her. by abstract film-maker John Whitney.
• Numerous, lengthy passages He used a special pendulum that forms
without dialogue, only music. “modern art in motion” geometric oval
shaped spirals called Lissajous waves.
• Judy’s voiceover as she reveals her story
splits the narrative and changes the film. • This is a film about watching. In the opening
credits the woman’s face is only partially
• Cyclical nature of the score - Martin
seen, she is looking, she and the location are
Scorcese said, ‘the music is also built around
unidentified. This woman does not feature
spirals and circles, fulfilment and despair’.
in the film, she never appears again.
The repetition could allude to obsessive
recurring thoughts and poor mental health. • The motif of the spiral structures the
film: in the titles, Madeleine’s hair, the
• Classical Music (Bach and Mozart) in scenes
steps in the tower, the repetition.
with Midge, lighter and more frivolous than
Herrmann’s score reflecting the lighter tone of • Hitchcock’s recurring use of mirrors,
her interactions with Scottie. Their relationship, as in Psycho, to imply dual identities.
although complex, appears more conventional The clearest examples are the sequence
when compared to Scottie and ‘Madeleine’s. at Ernie’s, Scottie’s first visit to Judy’s
room and the Ransohoff’s scene.
• Lengthy fluid camera movements contribute
CORE STUDY AREAS 2 - STARTING to the film appearing dreamlike at times.
POINTS – Meaning & Response • Ground breaking, inventive camera work.
The clearest example is the ‘Vertigo effect’,
Representations
the dolly zoom used to convey Scottie’s
• The representation of male sexuality with a man
acrophobia. Though invented earlier
confronting his impotence and his repressed
this technique was first used in this film
desires can be read as a comment on pre-
by camera operator Irmin Roberts.
feminist gender politics in the late 1950s.
• Laura Mulvey‘s Visual Pleasure and Narrative
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A Level Film Studies - Focus Film Factsheet