Slideshow presenation

1. 78:45.
The beginning of the scene I chose is set inside a typical bar from the
60s, with alcohol bottles, flowers and a telephone as mise-en-scène;
Melanie Daniels as the dominant image, and an old middle-class lady
with a British sense of style as the subsidiary contrast positioned on
the right. The barman gives a contrast of colors with his white outfit;
he is positioned in the middle of the scene as a mid-ground plane. It
is shot as a medium shot at eye-level, focusing on the discussion the
two women are having about the birds attack on the school and their
different opinions about it.
83:03
The end of the scene I chose is set inside the same bar but with different
characters; Mitch Brenner and the policeman are the subsidiary contrasts
of the scene both at each side of the closed frame; and a businessman in
a tight-fitted gray suit typical in America during the 60s is the dominant
image, starting the conversation with an exaggerated facial expression.
As the background plane there is a homeless man wearing a leather
jacket drinking. The scene is shot as a medium shot at eye-level with
three different planes, the policeman and Mitch Brenner occupying the
foreground, the businessman the mid-ground, and the alcoholic man the
background and they are all discussing about the birds’ attacks of the last
few days.There is a gray tone set in the scene.
The Birds (1963)
Alfred Hitchcock

2. Why did I choose this scene?
I chose this scene because I believe it’s a revelation moment, a moment when the
character notices the importance of the situation. It is the Plot Point Two or Reversal of
Act Two in the Three Act Structure, when things shift and everything becomes uncertain.
Uncertainty, distrust and fear are the main themes of the scene and I thought it was
really important to the course of the movie because on the Hero’s Journey it reveals
which are Melanie’s tests, allies and enemies. She discovers who will actually help her
and who will run away from the main problem, the birds. This scene is the preparation for
the resurrection, for the final attack and it reveals the characters’ attitudes towards it. It
also shows a contrast between them in terms of costumes, characterisation and
importance. It gives socio-cultural context of the different types of people during the 60s
and I believe it shows the importance of staging, acting and the composition of a scene
to create meaning, to create a tone of uncertainty, fear and distrust.

3. Mise-en-scène
The scene is located on a typical bar from the 1960s in Bodega Bay. The two ladies are the dominant image at the beginning
of the scene and later on the three man. The negative space is filled with alcohol bottles as the background of the scene and
at the end of the scene it will be an open window where we can see that there are no birds, showing it to the audience and
giving valid points to both arguments during the discussion. Through the window we can see there is low lighting outside,
which means there is no sun and it looks like a cloudy day; so even if there are no birds now, the audience can foreshadow
that they will come. During the course of the scene it is always noticeable three planes; the two main characters of the scene
each on each side of the camera as the foreground plane, the third character in the middle of them as the midground plane
and the alcohol bottles that set the tone for the bar or the window with the homeless as the background. The main
characters do not move from its place during the course of the scene, so the camera doesn’t move either from the bar
counter. There are other characters from the town in the scene and when they participate the director uses a tracking shot to
follow these characters to the main point of the scene, where they are included on the most common framing of this scene.
The framing of the scene is made with a medium shot most of the time, focusing on the characters facial expressions and
the dialogue, the camera never leaves the scene. At the beginning of the scene there is a telephone as part of the setting
foreshadowing that the men will come soon. This scene is shot with a soft light to give the impression of a regular bar in the
middle of the day and to not give unnatural light or importance to any character. Finally, on the setting of this scene there are
really different characters that match their costumes; a policeman, a women from the city, an old wise middle-class lady, a
rich man, a businessman, a mother and her kids, a waitress, a barman, a homeless man and a fisherman, all dressed
according to their social class and job.

4. Women Costumes
Fashion in the 60s was centered in the British sense of style which can be appreciated through our main character. Melanie
has an early 60s sense of style; with a long light green suit divided in two pieces, a skirt and a jacket, in a basic style
wearing a lighter green than usually during the early 60s. This green coat was chosen because it set Melanie apart from the
other people of Bodega Bay, it gave a different tone and an importance to her, everyone in Bodega Bay wore brownish
colors while she wore light green, symbolizing that she came from the city, a different world for the people from Bodega
Bay. We could also argue the way Hitchcock uses green as a theme; in Vertigo (1958), Hitchcock used a green light to
reveal the theme of ambiguity, and relating it to this scene and Melanie’s costume; we can assume that his intentions were
not to give a clear meaning about Melanie’s thoughts and intentions in relation to the other people around her. The use of
the green suit gives Melanie the attention she wants to get; it makes her look like a rich women from the city different from
everyone else; the color plays an important role in it. The green suit is representing Melanie’s will to get what she wants;
Mitch. Choosing green will help her to achieve it.
In contrast to Melanie we can find the old Lady with a long, less formal brown coat, showing the humility of Bodega Bay and
its citizens. She is wearing a beret hat matching her outfit which symbolizes the war from the years before, this hat was
borrowed from the military dress, and could symbolize high or low class, depending on how a woman wore it and its color.
As we said, the darker browns chosen by the director show her middle-class status as a town citizen. Hitchcock explored
the difference between city and town people with color contrasts in their costumes; using darker and less expensive
costumes for town people and more lighter and expensive costumes for Melanie and Mitch to show the economic and
sociocultural differences between these two types of people back in the 60s. This difference could also be shown
nowadays.

5. Composition
The proximity of the camera to the characters creates importance, it gives more significance to what the characters are
saying and not that much to who is saying it. The scene is set with not much negative space, everything being full and
crowd, giving the audience the feeling that a lot of things are happening and all are important. At the beginning of the scene,
the telephone in the middle of the bar gives importance to the problem, it gives suspense, it foreshadows that the people
who she called (Mitch) are going to have information about the subject and it sets the scene for them to enter a few seconds
later.
The open window shown only at the end of the scene with its curtains half closed lets the audience see how now there are
no birds so what they are all saying could be false, but it also shows how the day is getting darker every time and something
bad is going to come, which will come in the next scene.
The Rule of Thirds is followed every time there is a medium shot, giving more importance to the two characters having the
discussion and information relevant for the course of the scene, before the Third Act starts. In this scene the camera gives
importance to more than one character so different voices can speak in the same scene, giving as said before, more
importance to what they are saying than to who is saying it. It is used to be able to see the scenario as a whole.
To conclude, the balance created by the right staging and arrangement of characters gives stability to the scene, used by
the director to show the importance of the characters as a group instead of individually.

6. Staging
I chose to talk about the staging when the main characters are in the in front of the bar, it is shot as a medium shot. In this
scene the main actors occupy the right and left part of the frame, while the secondary actors always occupy the center of
the frame. This was chosen to direct the viewer’s attention to those first two characters, making the audience know that they
are the one’s with the information needed. This type of staging can also reveal the contradictory and opposite opinions
between our character on the left and our character on the right; since they have different opinions it gives balance to the
scene. It can help us discover the psychology of a character and their opinions on the matter; on the first part of the scene
Melanie is placed on the left of the frame while the old lady, an ornithologist, on the right, already telling the audience that
they are not on the same side of the debate, that their opinions will clash, that is the reason why they are positioned in
opposite ways. The character in the middle, always in a mid-ground plane, is between both opinions, showing this invisible
increasing line of belief between the three characters. Staging in this scene can also explain the nature of relationships. The
barman is the only character behind the bar showing its distance relationship with the other characters and explaining to the
audience that he is at work more than into the discussion. There is also a long distance between the homeless man and the
rest of the scene, showing his little importance to the scene and to the conflict in general but he was still chosen to be part
of the scene to show the different perspectives that started arising because of the birds.

7. Staging (II)
When we watch the scene as a whole we can see a middle-aged woman with her children sitting on a table. When this
woman stands up the distance between her and the rest of the characters is a considerable long distance to express the
fear she has of the birds, of everything they are talking, of them for talking about it. Hitchcock used this distance to show
how the people that stay far away from the problem and are the most scared and will be the first ones to run away and save
their lives while the ones that stay arguing about the problem instead of fearing it will be the first ones to get caught by the
birds.
Finally, the characters in this scene are all looking to each other, showing the conflict that are creating between them and
trying to impose their opinion on the other people. At the beginning of the scene the fight arises between Melanie and the
ornithologist; when they look to each other they have a threatening look, it creates tension and a feeling of not knowing who
to trust because they both look so confident on their opinion; while at the end of the scene they all look at each other in a
different way, trying to find comfort and valid information that will calm their fears. We can also appreciate at the beginning
of the scene how the whole bar is looking at their discussion giving it even more importance and a feeling of fearing the
unknown. With these looks at the end of the scene we can assume that the resurrection in the Heroe’s Journey or the final
battle is about to come.

8. Camera Angle
Most of the scene is shot at eye-level to experience more personally how they are feeling the situation. It is an
effective shot to make the audience put themselves in the characters’ shoes and experience the situation more
intensely. Hitchcock chose to shoot at eye-level to get more personal with the characters and their opinions, to
make the audience feel the situation and their fears, to make the audience part of it in a more personal way. The
eye-level shot is a neutral shot that sets both parts of the discussion at the same level, giving the same
importance to both arguments so that the audience can “choose” which one do they believe, it brings the
audience to the discussion. There is also one part of the scene shot at a high angle, focusing on the table the
woman and her kids are sitting, doing a reverse shot at low angle from the woman towards the other characters.
The meaning behind these angles is that the woman symbolizes “fear” while the characters at the bar counter
symbolize “answers”, ways to solve the problem. That is why fear is shot as a high angle; to make it look smaller,
to show that that is not the right answer; it also makes the audience know that what the main characters are doing
is more important than the fear that is spreading around Bodega Bay, which will not help them to succeed.

9. Type of shot
There are two important type of shots used in this scene; shot reverse shot and a medium shot. At the
beginning of the scene when Melanie and the ornithologist are starting the discussion there is a shot
reverse shot used to let the audience listen to both points of view and perspective before taking part in the
discussion.The shot reverse shot creates a continuity in the course of the discussion and it creates tension
between the two characters; it also helps to set the scene at the beginning without breaking the 180º
degree rule. The tension created by seeing both characters more personally is followed by numerous
medium shots which allow the audience to see each character and to listen to each argument with detail,
taking part of the discussion and the scene. This shot lets the character express their emotions and their
intense feelings; it really focuses on their facial expressions and what they are feeling or thinking about. It
works really well to deliver important information and to see different reactions to the information in this
case given first by Melanie and then by Mitch. It is a really emotional shot which sets the tone for the
nervousness that all the characters are starting to feel.

10. Editing
The scene is edited with first an establishing shot of the two women, the barman and the bar as a whole
followed by straight cuts from one character to the other one, giving continuity and flow to the scene. The
rhythm established by the dialogue is seen in the editing of the scene when the two women are
discussing, since the takes are every time shorter. The accelerating velocity and unevenness given to the
cuts brings tension and a feeling of threat to the scene and between the two women. The relationships
between shots is smooth showing a continuity in the conversation, allowing the same scene to be seen
from multiples angles without changing the nature of it. The way the dialogue always runs smoothly no
matter who the camera is focusing on, coming first from off-screen until the camera focuses on who is
talking gives continuity to the scene and greater importance to what is being said than to who is saying it.
This type of editing shows the nature of a regular bar conversation, without giving much importance to the
topic they are talking about at the beginning, expressed with long takes of each character, and when the
takes are getting shorter and the shots closer it is shown that the significance of the conversation
increases and starts to get the importance required. During this scene the 180º degree rule is not broken
after the establishing shot is given, keeping the characters on one side of the axis of action, which would
be close to the bar counter. This also helps to give continuity and flow to the course of the scene.

11. Dialogue
The dialogue in this scene is a discussion between theory and practice, between logic and reality. It contrasts the
knowledge of the ornithologist to the reality seen by Melanie, starting an argument about first hand knowledge
against second hand knowledge. This discussion creates tension, fear, distrust and it arises the question in the
audience’s mind of what is actually going to happen in the final fight. The strength in the ornithologist’s voice
threatens Melanie’s eyes which creates a bigger tension between them and scares the people who are listening
to them in the bar. This conversation is necessary to understand both points of view between these two different
types of people and to predict what is about to happen; the conversation sets the scene for the beginning of Act
Three.
The dialogue in this scene also shows the personality of each character. The old lady considers herself an
amateur ornithologist who believes more in the theory learned than in reality and completely refuses to believe a
young lady with no experience in the topic. The tone in her voice and her gestures add up to what she is saying to
let the audience know how stubborn and distrustful she is, which it might be used as a stereotype for older
people. Because of the dialogue delivered by the mother of the children and the tone of her voice the audience
can feel the fear she is feeling and how she wants to run away; fear is one of the main themes explored in this
scene.

12. Acting and Characterisation
In this scene Melanie is characterised as the hero who is going to save the town and Mitch as her mentor.
The ornithologist is characterised as the “knowledge” who is not always right when applied and the woman
with kids as the “town”. This scene shows different types of people and personalities such as the scared
woman that symbolizes the town; her acting is exaggerated with multiple fast facial gestures, expressing
apprehension and nervousness through her eyes and voice tone, showing the fear the town feels not
knowing the unknown. The old lady is characterised as a wise woman who does not fear what it can not
logically be true. Her acting is threatening, solid and determined; she expresses her strength and security
through the firmness of her mouth and the wiseness of her eyes. The cigarette used gives her security
and serenity. Finally, Mitch hands gestures, the way he crosses his arms and his disappointed and
threatening looks to the policeman makes the audience know how convinced he is that this is a real
problem and how he wants to solve it. He is characterised as a man with a determined will to save his
town and his people, he is seen as humble and strong. The acting in this scene reveals the different
personalities and how each character is going to face the final attack.