The film starts with a mid-shot of the birds the basic black and white mise en scene allows the viewer to concentrate on the non-diegetic music. This creates a uneasy effect and suggests danger which heightens tension for the viewer.
The scene continues with the birds flying in a very disorganised fashion.
Barthes narrative theory states that a message is encoded by the producer or broadcaster and thus decoded by the consumer. The encoded message of the montage is that montage is being used to transfer the menace from the screen into the mind of the audience. It is part of the code and conventions of the thriller genre to allow the viewer to ponder what exactly is happening and the director is supposed to (through technical aspects). make the viewer feel different emotions.
In this case a point-view mid shot is used, through this you feel as though you are experiencing what the protagonist is. If there had been use of the camera cutting between the barbarism of the birds and a character ,the audience would be able to feel as they know that it is someone else that is first hand receiving this fright not them. However because such camera techniques were not used, they feel as though they are the ones being trussed into this menace and so the feelings of tension is heighten to the maximum. The tracking of a female character suggests normality This is typical of Hitchcock.
Women during this era tended to be represented in the media as sexual objects from a voyeuristic perspective. We see this through the medium- shot which allows us to see her code of dress. It consists of a black suit and black patent high heels, this connotes sophistication and class. Through the change from the scene of the character looking at the birds to this one allows the viewer to forget about the barbarism of the birds, as the juxtaposition is so vast that the evil or disruptive birds trivialised because of the elite construction of the female character. Also the fact that in the previous scene we do not see what she is looking at shows the insignificance of the birds. The camera angle used is a medium shot emphasising her significance.In this first scene when the female character recognises the screeching of the birds is typical of a Hitchcock thriller. Hitchcock does a various amount of things to evoke tension and suspense. For example point of view editing (or shot reverse) when the female character exchanges dialogue with the shopkeeper character. Through point of view editing you are making the camera subjective or putting ideas into the consumers head. When the camera is focused on the shopkeeper already the viewer can make the assumption that she is a trivial character, her high pitched tone of voice and the fact that she is of old age strengthens the assumption in the viewers mind that she is a trivial character. The shot reverse emphasises this feeling.
Overall Hitchcock uses information to create suspense, he does this by opening the film with the montage of the birds this is something that the audience see and the character do not. The barbarism of this birds is something that could potentially harm the characters. By continuing the rest of the scene and having constant reminders of the looming danger builds suspense in the mind of the audience not the characters. This enables the viewer to connect with the characters as the normality continues they become more and more fearful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgiD0ZVEoeQ
In this video at o:16 seconds you can see clearly through the wide shot the voyuersitic characteristics the camera has taken. We can see her professional and sensual code of dress. From 0.24-0.28 the camera quickly follows here through panning movements, the way in which the camera is positioned is behind all the tograophical references we see for example she walks past the San fransico newstand. She then stops outside 'Davidson's pet shop' what Hitchcock is doing through these references is emphasisig the minority of this character in that she is in a scoiety which she is used but we know this soon to be disrupted.
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