MY SITE
Lighting
"A film has got to be ocularly interesting and above all it is the picture which is the thing I try to tell my story so much in pictures that if by any chance the sound apparatus broke down in the cinema, the audience would not fret and get restless because the pictorial action would still hold them!"
-Alfred Hitchcock, July 1936 in Stage as published in Gottlieb, 1995, pg. 297
-Alfred Hitchcock, July 1936 in Stage as published in Gottlieb, 1995, pg. 297
Originating in the 1920s, German Expressionism greatly influenced Hitchcock's works. It is defined as the depiction of reality which is distorted for emotional effect. Expressionists, such as Hitchcock, desired to create compelling compositions that stimulated strong reactions, rather than concerning themselves with trying to please the audience with aesthetics. These films utilized atmospheric lighting to create light focal points by juxtaposing them with dark negative space.
An incredible example of this contrasting light can be seen in Carol Reed's The Third Man when the proclaimed deceased man, Harry Lime, is seen, alive, in an alleyway. This turn of events is shocking to both the audience and the main characters, and the scene is made even more dramatic due to the light in which he is revealed.
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Hitchcock's style was molded by the time he spent at the German studio UFA, a cinema production company that made distinguished and technically complicated films at the time before motion pictures were created with sound. In their day, UFA was the most modern and well equipped film studio in the world.