Cup of Tea #4 - Inspired by the techniques and films of Sir Alfred Hitchcock

A few years ago I had a lot of spare time on my hands and asked myself the question "How would a particular director shoot a character making a cup of tea?" I made a shortlist of 10 directors who I felt had particular traits and styles across their oeuvre that I could most easily replicate.

The Shortlist was:
1. Martin Scorsese
2. Quentin Tarantino
3. Francis Ford Coppolla (not made)
4. Alfred Hitchcock
5. Stanley Kubrick
6. Steven Spielberg (not made)
7. Nicolas Roeg (not made - gutted)
8. Sergio Leone (not made)
9. Jean-Pierre Jenuet (not made)
10. Darren Aronofsky

Cup of Tea #4 - Sir Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock was quite a hard director to pick traits from, because he (and cinema) changed so much over the course of his career, from Silent to Talkie, Black and White to Colour. He did so many films in so many genres, but is probably most famous for mastering the use of suspense to engage the audience. So I went down that route for this.
I open with a zooming out of the mug, which is trying to copy the zooming in (in Notorious I think) of a key object in the scene. 0:41 - I swear he's used that side on shot of opening the cupboard somewhere! So, I'm wearing the "oldest" looking clothes I could find and the music is again, another facet that Hitchcock eventually changed, (going for more pop music in his later films) but ultimately, what he is remembered by most for.
At 1:44 we get the "Hitchcock Cameo" he's on the front of that book, (might be too dark to see). Also is a poster of Grand Central Station, a reference to numerous films of his which featured trains, we have an over the top of staircase shot (Psycho) and the music and use of shots from here are all designed to create suspense.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Cup
• of
• Tea
• Alfred
• Hitchcock

[SwissBajee]

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