Conversation between the man and Alfred Hitchcock on shooting location
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based on forty years of experience as a director, Alfred Hitchcock proposed a set of cinematic guidelines, describing the art of filmmaking in general as well as his own method in particular. The article is a successful attempt to pin down the key narrative elements of film art, ranging from the development of the screenplay to the use of music and colour. At the same time, it is Hitchcock's artistic credo. In the following pages, I will summarize some of the main points in Hitchcock's article, as a prelude to an analysis of Psycho.
The screenplay
First of all, Hitchcock believes in the importance of a thoroughly detailed screenplay, which should be prepared by the writer in collaboration with the director. The screenplay "sets out the dialogue, describes the movements and reactions of the actors, and at the same time gives the breakdown of the individual scenes, with some indication of the role, in each scene, of the camera and the sound" (Gottlieb, p. 211).
The writer must be able to "anticipate, visually and in detail, the finished film". He must secure "a steady development of a plot and the creation of gripping situations arising out of the plot". Everything should be presented by visual means, avoiding the use of "interminable dialogue, which must inevitably send a cinema audience to sleep". Here Hitchcock proposes one of his many definitions of the mechanics of suspense, one of his most celebrated trademarks as a narrator:
"The most powerful means of gripping attention is suspense. It can be either the suspense inherent in a situation or the suspense that has the audience asking, "What wil happen next?". It is indeed vital that they should ask themselves this question" (Gottlieb, p. 212).
The emotions of the audience are the crucial point in Hitchcock's narrative universe; these emotions are evoked by "gripping situations", which in turn stem from the basic structure of the motion picture, wherein dialogue plays a minor part. In general, Hitchcock does not rely on dialogue, but takes it on a short lead, writing the screenplay in collaboration with his screenwriters. In building up a character, a number of visual resources are available to the screenwriter:
[...] in particular the use of things. This is one of the ingredients of true cinema. To put things together visually; to tell the story visually; to embody the action in the juxtaposition of images that have their own specific language and emotional impact - that is cinema. [...] Things, then, are as important as actors to the writer. They can richly illustrate character (Gottlieb, p. 214).Besides the all-important screenplay, Hitchcock also believes in direction as a central part of filmmaking. But again, the screenplay takes precedence over the direction, telling the director what to do as a director: "Half the work of direction should be accomplished in the script [...]" (Gottlieb, p. 215). The main task of the director is to "show what people are doing and thinking and, secondarily, what they are saying". The director, at the same time, must be searching for "the greatest economy" in his film style.
The cinema audience is the object of the director's efforts. Each shot is a statement made with the camera, for the purpose of creating a "state of mind, of emotion, in the audience. That is to say, the impact of the image is directly on emotions". Sometimes the director just wants to please the eye through the pictorial presentation, sometimes he wants to make a strong impact on the audience. In doing so, through his handling of all these narrative possibilities, the director reveals his style. And style is the crux of the matter. That is what it is all about:
"[...] perhaps the most significant and individually important thing about a director is his style. This style is evidenced by both his choice of subject and his manner of directing it. Important directors are known for their style" (Gottlieb, p. 216).
And Hitchcock is certainly known for his highly personal style, as described by François Truffaut in the introduction to his famous conversation with Hitchcock: "Because he exercises such complete control over all the elements of his films and imprints his personal concepts at each step of the way, Hitchcock has a distinctive style of his own. He is undoubtedly one of the few filmmakers on the horizon today whose screen signature can be identified as soon as the picture begins" (Truffaut, p. 18).
According to Hitchcock, some directors are more interested in refining their style and the treatment of the content than with seeking out new themes. They are mainly interested in the manner in which they tell their tales - a statement which applies perfectly to Hitchcock's own cinematic method. He is a storytelling director, interested in telling the story in his own manner.