Hitchcock and Spielberg: A Tale of Two Directors Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

Alfred Hitchcock was a master of suspense, timing and irony. Spielberg is a master story teller with an eye for the dramatic and an understanding of cinematography. Hitchcock mastered image while Spielberg mastered scene. Hitchcock worked out perfect timing while Spielberg created lyrical transitions. Hitchcock investigated the underside of man while Spielberg looked inside. These two directors show equal talent separated mostly by time, technology and genre.

Alfred Hitchcock stuck mostly to one genre: suspense or horror, often called thrillers, because that is what they do to the audience. Over the many years of his career, Alfred Hitchcock carried on a dialogue with his audience about human nature, crime and justice. No other director has ever been so intimately connected with his or her audience. Hitchcock always appeared in his films, if not as director or story teller, as a cameo somewhere in the film. Timing was everything. Hitchcock never had to show up close blood and gore in any real manner. He was a master of suggestion. In Psycho, we never actually see the bloody body of the victim in the shower. We only see the knife come through the shower curtain and blood run down the drain. He often showed the results of violence, but seldom actually showed it in progress. He just staged extremely disturbing suggestive tableaus (Ken Mogg, 2008). Spielberg had much more technology at his disposal, so special effects were how he conveyed the very same type of information. In Jurassic park, we never actually see up close blood and gore either, but we are somewhat distracted by the huge animals and we see things like the rear half of the jeep after Rex munches on the fat guy.

One wonders what special effects Hitchcock might have used if he had them. He was always pushing the envelope. He used electronic sounds tracks in The Birds and the screeching strings in Psycho was totally new to film. He also used classical music to set the mood as did Spielberg. Jaws was probably the closest thing to Hitchcock that Spielberg ever did. He gave the shark a signature in the sound track that warned the audience and set up what Hitchcock called that anticipation which was better than the actual act. One particular scene in Jaws reminds us of Hitchcock by its subtlety. At the beginning when the first victim is killed, we never see anything. We only hear her as she is eaten by the shark, and the musical sound track is morose but powerful. It is a chilling scene.

Often Alfred Hitchcock tackled very difficult settings, such as The Lifeboat, which was shot entirely inside a small boat or Rear Window which shows only what the actor, Carey Grant, could see from his window. He used inventive camera techniques, even inventing a spinning zoom that is named after him. Both these directors could tell a story and involve the audience with subtle cues. One memorable scene in The Birds was simply some birds sitting on a wire, looking knowingly at the camera with rather evil looks. Spielberg shows us the gradual loss of control as the main character of Close Encounters of the Third Kind builds the replica of the mountain in his living room. Spielberg achieve one of his most memorable moments in the “feel-good” ET as we watch the silhouette of the ET and the boy on the bicycle against the full moon and the music grow to heroic proportions.

Conclusion

While these two directors were widely separated in time and by technology and genres they chose to explore, that had in common a vision which enabled them to tell the story with much fewer words, because they used visual and sound effects to lead the audience to the proper or desired conclusions. I wonder what it would be like if they could have collaborated. Hitchcock created masterful tableaus that communicated as instantly as a slap and as deeply as a poem. Spielberg created powerful panoramas of action, sound and visual effects that took use soaring into the worlds he created. It seems that all of Alfred Hitchcock’s films were rather dark while most of Steven Spielberg’s are uplifting. So I guess if the made ET together the little guy would grow sharp teeth and eat the family before he left.

References

  1. IMDb on line, 2008, Spielberg, Steven, Filmography.
  2. Mogg, Ken, 2008, Alfred Hitchcock – Master of Paradox, b. 1899, London, England
  3. d. 1980, Los Angeles, USA.
  4. ImDb on line, 2008, , Alfred, Media of Hitchcock. Web.
More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2021, October 19). Hitchcock and Spielberg: A Tale of Two Directors. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hitchcock-and-spielberg-a-tale-of-two-directors/

Work Cited

"Hitchcock and Spielberg: A Tale of Two Directors." IvyPanda, 19 Oct. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/hitchcock-and-spielberg-a-tale-of-two-directors/.

References

IvyPanda. (2021) 'Hitchcock and Spielberg: A Tale of Two Directors'. 19 October.

References

IvyPanda. 2021. "Hitchcock and Spielberg: A Tale of Two Directors." October 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hitchcock-and-spielberg-a-tale-of-two-directors/.

1. IvyPanda. "Hitchcock and Spielberg: A Tale of Two Directors." October 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hitchcock-and-spielberg-a-tale-of-two-directors/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Hitchcock and Spielberg: A Tale of Two Directors." October 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hitchcock-and-spielberg-a-tale-of-two-directors/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1