Motif in Film and How to Use It

We've covered the ideas of the theme in writing, but I wanted to talk about something that commonly gets confused with the theme; the idea of a motif in film. Motif covers all genres. It's that little something special that adds to the depth and meaning in your film. It's the thing that film scholars will talk about for ages. And it can set your work apart from the crowd. Today we're going to go over motif in film history, look at a few examples of motifs and leitmotifs, and talk about some...

Alfred Hitchcock – ‘The Birds’

Alfred Hitchcock - 'The Birds' Alfred Hitchcock had released almost all of his most revered movies by the time The Birds arrived in 1963; with this natural horror, he achieves a unique sense of discernible dread, where the threat is purely inhumane. Based on the 1952 short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, originally featured in The Apple Tree collection, the plot follows Tippi Hedren’s Melanie Daniels as she follows her love interest, Mitch, to Bodega Bay, Calif...

My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock - Jennie Kermode - 18197

"This is very much a film about filmmaking – not the production, not the actors and associated gossip, but the experience of constructing a film on storyboard and set, building it up shot by shot until it becomes more than it first appeared to be on the page." | Photo: courtesy of Glasgow Film Festival Alongside his filmmaking career, Alfred Hitchcock enjoyed considerable success as a presenter of other people’s work, his distinctive voice and dry sense of h...

Hidden Hitchcock: 10 Underrated Movies From The Master of Suspense

HomeMovieHidden Hitchcock: 10 Underrated Movies From The Master of Suspense Hidden Hitchcock: 10 Underrated Movies From The Master of Suspense By Jeremy Urquhart Published 23 hours ago       Lesser-known but still essential films from the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock is a name that most viewers would be familiar with. Even if you're a casual film buff, or don't find yourself watching many older films, chances are you've either heard of som...

The Bob Dylan connection in ‘The Big Lebowski’

As the City of Angels rises out of the desert and pans into view during the opening sequence of the Coen brothers’ masterpiece The Big Lebowski, we hear a conversational ode of sorts to ‘The Dude’. Within that opening stanza, in tones incongruous with the gaudy glow of the desert metropolis, Sam Elliot’s timeless timbre drawls out the following: "Sometimes there’s a man, well, he’s the man for his time and place, he fits right in there."  Throughout their career the oddball brothers of ...

Review: The Voyeurs Is an Audaciously Trashy Spin on Rear Window

Michael Mohan’s The Voyeurs pushes back hard on the trend of sex disappearing from movie screens by showing ridiculously attractive people in various states of undress and copulation. The film begins with an upwardly mobile twentysomething couple, optometrist Pippa (Sydney Sweeney) and musician Thomas (Justice Smith), moving into their swanky new downtown Montreal loft. When they see the couple in the apartment across the way having passionate sex, Thomas says, "They must know," in response t...

From Denis Villeneuve to Alfred Hitchcock: The 10 greatest movie plot twists

The enigmatic spontaneity of a movie plot twist is an experience like no other and remains one of the oldest cinematic tools to shock, surprise and captivate the audience. Just like the hidden dips and curves of a high-speed rollercoaster ride, you never quite know when, or indeed ‘if’, a twist will happen at all, making the narrative device one that harks back to the fleeting joys of cinema as a mere carnival attraction.  Filmmakers such as M. Night Shyamalan and Christopher Nolan have ...

The reason why Ingmar Bergman hated Jean-Luc Godard films

(Credit: Joost Evers / Anefo / Gary Stevens) The reason why Ingmar Bergman hated Jean-Luc Godard films Both Ingmar Bergman and Jean-Luc Godard belong to the elite stratum of filmmakers who facilitated the evolution of cinema. They have made some of the definitive cinematic masterpieces of the 20th century, including the likes of Persona and Pierrot le Fou. Inevitably, their works were always in discourse with each other due to th...

Rebecca imitates Life

Through the Looking Glass: Reflexivity, Reciprocality, and Defenestration in Hitchcock's "Rear Window" on JSTOR

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Donald Barthelme - Rebecca

Rebecca by Donald Barthelme Rebecca Lizard was trying to change her ugly, reptilian, thoroughly unacceptable last name. "Lizard," said the judge. "Lizard, Lizard, Lizard, Lizard. There's nothing wrong with it if you say it enough times. You can't clutter up the court's calendar with trivial little minor irritations. And there have been far too many people changing their names lately. Changing your name countervails the best interest of the telephone comany, the electri...

Vertiginous Hauntings: The Ghosts of Vertigo

Vertiginous Hauntings: The Ghosts of Vertigo. Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli & Martine Beugnet - 2019 - Film-Philosophy 23 (3):227-246. While the initial reception of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo was unspectacular, it made its presence felt in a host of other films – from Chris Marker's Sans Soleil, to Brian De Palma's Obsession, and David Lynch's Mulholland Dr.. What seemed to have eluded the critics at the time is that Vertigo is a film about being haunted: by illusive images, turbulent emotions, mot...

Floyd Maltese falcon

Floyd - The Maltese Falcon http://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/b225f99b-7f9a-449d-ab24-1cb7dd218f3b