Final Film Project: Day 1; Alfred Hitchcock: Rope (Day 1)

This morning during period 1, please complete the following tasks:

1. Gather with your film group. Do the following tasks:

• Producers: come up with the name of your company. Share that with your editor. Help where needed in your project. Make sure everyone in the group has something to do to help the project move along.
• Director/Casting Director: Get the names, addresses, contact information for the actors in your film. Share this with your director and producer and editor. Keep track of time. Create a shooting schedule. 
• Editor(s): Select music/sound effects, etc. for your film. Use a Youtube converter (one that is free, preferably) to capture these files. If you do this job, you are the "sound editor" as well as the editor. You may also create your titles. You will need a title for your film, opening credits, and closing credits. 
• Cinematographers: find "still shots" of your locations for your film. Save these. You may also use a Youtube converter to steal/borrow any existing clip on Youtube for your film. 
• Writer(s): Write your script. Or conduct research as necessary. But time is of the essence. Get the job done! Once you are done with a scene, give the scene/script to your director!
• Actors/Others: help your group members. You have little to do until the script is done. Cooperate with your director/producer. Help your director with the shooting schedule.

View the video hints for film projects:

• Director: How to Direct
• Director/Producer: How to Schedule a Film
• Director/Producer: How to Plan a Movie (pre-production)
• Director/Cinematographer: How to Shoot a Short Film
• Cinematographer: Shooting Tips
• Cinematographer: Tips for Cinematography
• Cinematographer: Tips for Angles & Locations
• Editors & Cinematographer: Continuity Editing
• Writers: Story Telling Tips
• Actors: How to act realistically
• Actors: Acting in Film

See jobs above. Work on your film project. The script needs to be done first. Tackle that today in the lab. If you are the director/producer, talk to one another about where the project is: what needs to be completed next? Make a list, organize yourself and your cast/crew. Decide on dates to shoot your film.

2nd period:

As an example of our director film documentary project (as an option for your final film project), we will learn about and begin working with the master of suspense: Alfred Hitchcock.

Alfred Hitchcock is considered the "master of suspense" and his career in film was a long and influential one:

His first full-length film was The Lodger and appeared in 1926. This was followed by Downhill (1927), The Ring (1927), Champagne (1928), The Farmer's Wife (1928), and Easy Virtue (1928), The Manxman (1929), and Blackmail (1929).
These were British silent films (Blackmail was not, as you can hear).

You are free to watch any of these films as extra credit.

In the1930's, Hitchcock made even more films, mostly suspense films for which he became famous. These included: Rich and Strange (1931), The Skin Game (clip, 1931), Number 17 (clip, 1932), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) with Peter Lorre, The 39 Steps (1935), Sabotage (1936), Secret Agent (1936), Young and Innocent (1937), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Jamaica Inn (1939), then Foreign Correspondent (1940).

At this point in his career, Alfred Hitchcock moves to Hollywood to work with producer David O. Selznick. He makes a variety of films for Selznick, although the two approached film from a very different perspective. Hitchcock often felt trapped or restricted by Selznick's contract. The films include: Rebecca (1940) Laurence Olivier, Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Joseph Cotten (from Citizen Kane), Life Boat (1944) Talula Bankhead, Spellbound (1945) with Gregory Peck, Notorious Cary Grant & Ingrid Bergman (1946), The Paradine Case (1947), Rope (1948) with Farley Granger & Jimmy Stewart (you'll see more of this guy), and Under Capricorn (1949) with Ingrid Bergman again (She was seen in Casablanca, 1942--learn more about how to write a great film scene here).

Today, let's take our first look at the film Rope.

Rope (1948) 

Cast List

James (Jimmy) Stewart  ...      Rupert Cadell, Publisher 

John Dall  ...             Brandon Shaw, Murderer 

Farley Granger  ...     Phillip Morgan, Murderer 

Cedric Hardwicke  ... Mr. Kentley 

Constance Collier  ... Mrs. Atwater, Kentley's Sister-In-Law 

Douglas Dick  ...       Kenneth Lawrence 

Edith Evanson  ...      Mrs. Wilson, the Housekeeper  

Dick Hogan  ...          David Kentley, Murder Victim 

Joan Chandler  ...      Janet Walker, David's Fiancee 

Things to notice:

Rope is Hitchcock’s first film in America where he acted as producer and director. Before this, he worked for producer David O. Selznick. Being his own producer, Hitchcock was able to cast who he wanted, film what he wanted and basically, call all the shots himself. He was in complete control of the film. So many of the following choices came from Hitchcock's own artistic vision:

• Rope is Hitchcock’s first color film.
• Rope was originally a play by Patrick Hamilton. The movie has only one set. The camera was moved from room to room. Walls were whisked up into the studio “flies”.  Grips (technicians who move or work with set pieces) stood off-camera removing and replacing furniture when the camera moves forward and backward. 
• Most shots in movies last only five to fifteen seconds - the shots in Rope last on average 10 minutes (the length of time a “magazine” of a film can be exposed in a camera.)
• These 10 minute takes each end as the camera is moved closer to an object or a character’s jacket.  The next reel is then filmed focusing on this object and pulling back. As you watch the film, try to notice each “take”. 
• If any mistakes occurred during the ten-minute take, the complete shot had to be done again.
• The music Hitchcock selected is Poulenc’s “Mouvement Perpetuel” (perpetual movement).  In the film, the camera is constantly moving (moving perpetually, for instance). 
• The film is an exercise in suspense. The murder happens within a few seconds of the opening shot.  The tense situation or suspense occurs as the murderers place the body in a chest, invite his parents and fiance over for dinner and serve the meal on the chest itself.

Themes in the movie include: cannibalism, ritual, sexuality, and the difference between theory and practice (book learning versus real experience).

The rope used to kill Dick Hogan is used to tie up his books, presented to his father as a gift.

The play is based on the Leopold and Loeb case. You can learn more about the Leopold and Loeb case here.

As you watch, list the moments in the movie when the shot changes:

1.  Example:  The camera moves from an exterior shot of the street and window to an interior shot of the apartment as Dick Hogan is shown being strangled by Brandon and Phillip.

2. ? Try to locate the various shots. You should find about 7-8 of these. 

HOMEWORK: Please work on your film script projects.