750 WORD EDITING BLOG TASK

THE BIRDS (1963) ALFRED HITCHCOCK 

At the outset of the clip, the camera is zoomed into the flock of birds flying past the screen. Perhaps this is foreshadowing that they play a vital role in the film which could also be inferred from the title "the birds". Hitchcock utilises camera narration throughout The Birds to illustrate how birds impact what is being said, as well as how it is being said. Birds control the actions of the characters from the very beginning. There is then a long shot of a woman driving and pulling up at a school. This creates an enigma code. Match on action was used as the woman gets out of her car and goes up the stairs. We can also hear children singing which is diegetic sound as it is happening in the film sequence. This creates an eerie element to the film and makes the audience feel unsettled. Match on action is also used when she opens the door to the school. As the woman comes back outside of the school, the car disappears. This creates an enigma code and dramatic irony as the audience saw her drive the car there. This makes us question the reliability of the film as everything we see may not be real. This scene also increases the tension and suspense as the woman is oblivious to her car not being there. She does not show any emotion in her face. There is a tracking shot used as she walks over to the bench by the playground. As the lady takes out a cigarette, the first bird appears. Perhaps it is foreshadowing that something bad is about to happen. As the woman smokes, the number of birds increase, highlighting her unawareness of her surroundings. The dramatic irony makes the audience feel anxious and on edge. The sound bridge adds to the tension created. The jump cuts from the woman to the birds emphasise just how rapidly the birds are coming. The fact that the woman is smoking which subverts  social norms for women at the time shows that she does not conform the the status quo. The camera then zooms into the woman face (close up) which further emphasises just how clueless she is. Then, the woman repeatedly glares into the distance and sighs suggesting a sense of disappointment or hopelessness The woman notices a bird flying around and so she decides to follow it. This is an example of a POV shot. This is because we see the bird flying through the eyes of the woman instead of from a different angle. Once the woman realises the birds behind her, her face drops immediately. She is overcome with shock. The woman then slowly stands up, all while the music is playing in the background. This makes the choir seem warped and perverted. Perhaps even contrapuntal as crows, in folklore are seen to be emblematic of death and the children singing are innocent and pure, the complete antithesis. There is a POV and a tracking shot as the woman is walking away from the crows. She begins to pick up the pace which shows just how terrified she truly is. The music also begins to get higher. Perhaps this could be hypnosis as she strange things have been happening to her with the music in the background.  There is a shot reverse shot between the woman and the crows. The surroundings could be seen to mirror the woman's feelings of emptiness and loneliness as she is on her own only surrounded by nature and the murder of crows. This sequence has been edited in a way to make the audience misinterpret the location of the scene. This is shown through the fact that the woman walked through the same door she entered at the start and yet her car was missing and the name of the school was cut out making us think that she was in a different location. Perhaps this highlights that she is disoriented and in a state of confusion. This creates even more of an enigma code for the audience as they are perplexed.