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Hitchcock Techniques

A short survey of recurring Hitchcock devices - the MacGuffin, the wrong-man plot, deliberate camera placement that withholds information from the audience. Pulls examples across several films.

Cinephilia and Beyond · 9 min · Beginner · DIR · Directing · 2014

What you take away

Add the MacGuffin and the wrong-man structure to your working vocabulary of suspense devices.

Watch it

Filed under

The films of Alfred Hitchcock

Oscar winners for directing

Gravity (2013)
Life of Pi (2012)
The Hurt Locker (2008)

Books on directing

The director’s monitor

FEELWORLD LUT7 PRO — A bright 7" monitor at a quarter of the price
Accsoon CineView SE — Video to a phone, for under three hundred
Accsoon CineView Quad — Four inputs, switchable — a tiny multicamera village
PortKeys BM5 III WR — Monitor that can also run the camera
Hollyland Mars 4K — 4K wireless to four phones at once
Atomos Ninja V — The 5" recorder-monitor that made ProRes RAW normal

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