Influential Figures Media Coursework 2016

1. INFLUENTIAL FIGURES

2. DIRECTORS- ALFRED HITCHCOCK
• Alfred Hitchcock is also nicknamed as the “Master of Suspense”. Through growing up with a difficult
childhood, the idea of being harshly treated or wrongfully accused reflected in many of his films, for
example, his mother would force him to stand at the foot of her bed for hours, and this made it into a
scene of his film Psycho.
• Some of his films include; Notorious (1946), Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), Rear Window (1954), The
Birds (1963) and Strangers on a Train (1951).
• Hitchcock had a life long fear of watching his own films. "I’m frightened of my own movies. I never go to
see them. I don’t know how people can bear to watch my movies.”
• Hitchcock cared so deeply about his films that he bought the rights to five of his most famous films (The
Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window, Rope, The Trouble with Harry and Vertigo) so that they could
not be shown in theatres after their initial run. Subsequently, they were not seen by a cinema audience
for 30 years.

3. HITCHCOCK CONTINUED…
• Alfred Hitchcock had many trade marks, and therefore it became very easy to recognise his films.
• Blonde actors were a popular choice of his. Hitchcock was known to have loved blonde actresses to play
the victim, some of the famous actresses used in his films are; Ingrid Bergman, Joan Fontaine, Grace
Kelly, Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren. When asked why he prefers blondes, he answered, ”Blondes make
the best victims. They’re like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.”
• A charming villain is commonly found within his films. “The better the villain, the better the film.” There
is always a charismatic villain, from the Cary Grant character in Suspicion to Robert Walker character in
Strangers on a Train, from Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt to the Necktie murderer in Frenzy. Their
charm is one of the best ways to get closer to their victim.
• Murder is deemed as art in Hitchcock movies. The most famous example is the shower scene in Psycho,
his filming technique was excellent as he scared to audience without showing a lot of blood. Another
famous is in film Rope, the two murderers commit the crime as an intellectual exercise: they want to
prove their superiority by committing the “perfect murder”.

4. HITCHCOCK CONTINUED…
• Alfred Hitchcock has influenced us in a few ways. Within his films he includes a lot of suspense to scare
the audience, we want our film to be exciting and intriguing without being too gory.
• The main character of our sequence will be a female, similarly to Hitchcock’s films, she will be playing
the victim.
• Hitchcock includes a lot of psychological elements within his films, dabbling in mental illness, this is one
of the main topics we have explored.
• Murder is one of his trademarks, something we want to include also, however we want to add mystery
as to who caused it.

5. DIRECTORS- ADRIAN LYNE
• Adrian Lyne, born in 1941, is most famous fro directing, Fatal Attraction, 9 ½ Weeks, Flashdance,
Indecent Proposal, Jacob’s Ladder and Unfaithful.
• In 1990, Lyne is said to have pushed the boundaries of psychological terror in “Jacob’s Ladder”, by
exploring the nightmare of reality and unexplainable hallucinations. This film won Best Picture at the
Avoriaz Film Festival.
• Lyne has a couple trade marks that are recognisable in his films, these include; using animals within
scenes (more specifically Labrador retrievers), using natural light to create a silhouette behind the
actors and finally, Lyne likes to incorporate water to make certain points in his films more dramatic.

6. LYNE CONTINUED…
• From looking at his trademarks, he has influenced us in a few ways.
• We want to incorporate as much natural light into our sequence as possible and stray away from high
key lighting as often as we can, this creates a more eerie and sinister nature, especially when
introducing an antagonist.
• It is interesting how Lyne likes to use water to make scenes more dramatic, in our original idea for the
narrative we wanted to include an underwater scene to make the sequence a lot more interesting and
exciting.

7. ACTORS- ROSAMUND PIKE
• Pike is well known for playing the role of Amy Dunne in Gone Girl, a more recent and famous
psychological thriller.
• She has appeared in many films before hand such as ”Jack Reacher”, “Pride and Prejudice” and “Die
Another Day”.
• Gone Girl may be slightly different to what we are trying to achieve, but Pike’s role has influenced us
greatly. In our sequence we want to have the main character to be female. The character Amy Dunne
may be seen as the protagonist but she is also an antagonist. As we are focusing on mental illnesses, we
want the main character to be the protagonist but could also be the antagonist in a sense that her mind
is playing with her thoughts.
• Amy Dunne is an odd character as she is hard to read, no one really knows what’s going on inside her
head, this is why her character is so appealing to the audience.
• When casting our female character, we want to take into consideration the acting techniques that
Rosamund uses as we feel that by having a strong yet mysterious female lead could make our sequence
far more interesting and enticing.