Introducing Alfred Hitchcock - Pure Cinema

 Introduction

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 - 1980) was an English film director, producer and screenwriter and is one of the most famous and influential filmmakers in cinema history. He was known as the 'Master of Suspense' and directed over 50 feature films over his 6 decade career. His films gathered 6 Academy Awards and he is most famous for films such as 'Psycho' (1960), 'Vertigo' (1958) and 'The Birds' (1963). It was around 1920 that Hitchcock started his influence and involvement in the film industry.

Pure cinema documentary analysis

When watching the documentary, I was tasked with noting down every time someone explained what 'pure cinema' is, a phrase Hitchcock would use often when describing his films. These were also clear aspects of Hitchcock's films that he would use and were quintessential characteristics of his style of filmmaking.

Pure cinema documentary:

Overall, I think what I like the most and am in inspired by from Hitchcock's films is the way he adeptly tells a story without the use of words and being explicit in what is happening in the narrative. This idea of 'Pure Cinema' is so incredibly genius because it is exactly how film should be presented, as a visual story that audiences see and experience. Hitchcock was amazing at telling exactly what a character is thinking from only a simple close up shot of their expression that cuts to another shot of the experience they are going through - and therefore the audience is too.