4) Hitchcock; The Birds clip analysis

From this clip in the Birds we can see that Hitchcock has positioned the character to the corner of the frame to show that the audience are aware of what is happening before any of the characters. The diegetic singing from the school children help the build up of tension for the audience as we're the only ones that know the birds are going to attack. We see the character from different angles which influence the significance of her unawareness. Hitchcock uses inovative quick cuts between her and the playground behind her each time a new bird reaches the climbing frame, with each cut progressively getting closer to her face, which is significant in showing how oblivious she is also in creating suspense and tension for the audience. We also see her turn her head and look slightly behind her several times, which makes us think that she might notice the birds behind her, however Hitchcock plays on this to create suspense as more birds keep coming, which also creates frustration for the audience as we are aware of whats happening and how close she is to them yet she is so unaware. When she sees the bird, the audience are immediatley shown through a point of view shot that she has noticed, as it is flying to the playground towards the others she is still unaware that there are many more right behind her, from the point of view shot it cuts to a high angle shot of her to show her reaction, this is used to look down on her to show that she is vulnerable and useless in the situation and to show her fear of the birds. Hitchcock then cuts back to a point of view shot of the bird reaching the entire playground full of them. It then cuts back to an empty shot with the character rising into the frame looking over at the infested playground, suggesting the she is paniced and doesnt know what to do. it cuts back to a shot of the birds then back to the character looking over to the school, showing that she is aware the birds are going to attack the school children and that she needs to make them aware. As shes walking towards the school we see her point of view shot looking at  the birds whilst hurrying to the building, this emphasises her fear, as shes looking back at them also the diegetic sounding of her footsteps aswell as the children singing build up the tension and suspense of whether she can stop the attack.
The use of the quick cuts between the character and the birds are effective in creating tension and building up suspense and the audience are already aware that the birds will attack, this is an effective aspect of thrillers which will be useful in creating our own thriller as we can use the quick cuts to build tension and suspense.

Natasha