Three questions about Hitchcock: This is just a movie.

It's just that movies are good gossip. The author charlotte chandler's visit to the world around Hitchcock seems to make readers experience the suspense version of Alice in Wonderland, and let them peek and eavesdrop outside each of Hitchcock's films, trying to figure out what kind of murder Hitchcock will direct, what kind of escape he will set and what kind of scheduling he will arrange. Sometimes I look at his private life, how he took his daughter Patricia to the store to buy a dress she didn't like to wear, and how he said in front of a strange old lady and friend in the elevator, "Did you wipe the blood off the knife?"

? Gossip enriches the original monotonous and unreachable master and becomes an interesting person. In addition, some details scattered in these gossip also attracted my special attention, prompting me to analyze three problems. These questions, I think, should be related to the authenticity of Greek films.

? Hitchcock was a complete filmmaker. Myth and legend about him-before the official shooting, he had "shot" a movie in his mind. When he arrived at the scene, he knew how to decorate every set, how to walk every shot, and the editing points of this scene and the next scene without hesitation. He just wants to be a conductor and let musicians play their own music. Of course, making a movie doesn't depend entirely on "brains", even the music score should be copied down. Before shooting, Hitchcock will draw a detailed storyboard, and the producer will be surprised to find that the composition, light, angle and scenery after shooting are exactly the same as the original storyboard. So Hitchcock didn't have the trouble of "director's cut version". Any producer who tries to get back the final editing rights and take away his own films is still in vain. There is only one editing method for these films-Hitchcock's editing method.

? In other words, Hitchcock's creation was completed before the shooting, and all the creative fun has been enjoyed. Shooting itself is just hard work. So he thought-"The most boring part of the movie is the shooting stage." According to the interview in this book, the brain's skill of making movies originated from 1923. Miss Alma, who was only his colleague at that time, was editing a film and asked Hitchcock to help shoot some scenes. He went to the stage and rushed to the camera viewfinder to see the subject. Photographer Jack Cox said to him, "That's my job. You just need to see what's in front of it. "

? From then on, Hitchcock began to learn from Cox about shots, framing and shooting angles, and trained himself to look at things like a camera and imagine them as scenes. He knows how big the aperture and focal length of the lens are, and what kind of light has shadows. Therefore, "brain slapping" is not a myth, but the way Hitchcock watched movies. He forced himself to organize everything, including stories and suspense, to explore the meaning. As long as he is in film creation, his grammar is just a montage of pictures. This kind of picture language is arbitrary and enters the realm. For example, in the famous bathroom hacking in Psycho, the knife never really fell on the woman, and the murderer did not appear. The heroine even used the body art body double, but it doesn't matter. Hitchcock manipulated the picture, completely manipulating the audience's attention, forcing the audience to fill their fear of knives with their own imagination-so they were too scared to take a bath.

? Hitchcock's "guarantee" also forced him to refresh his film shooting techniques (including composition, scheduling and editing). Because once the picture is conceived, he must find a way to realize it, which requires thinking about many new stunts at the shooting scene. We can see countless rotating bodies in "ecstasy" and keep them in mind. In the Back Window, we can see that only by peeping indoors can we complete a good play. In Birds, we can see the attack of birds. In Overseas Commissioner, we can see the shocking scene of seawater flooding into the cockpit of an airplane for the first time in film history ... Robert Bowell, the production designer of Birds, said: "Hitchcock will push the technical level of any lens to the extreme.

? I think when dealing with Hitchcock's films, we should always walk out of the story and meaning and only appreciate how each picture is connected and operated.

The phrase "actors are all animals" makes Hitchcock look overbearing. However, in many interviews in the book, the actors denied Hitchcock's words. At most, in Birds, Hitchcock found that a bird had a desire to perform, so he joked that actors could be manipulated like birds. Hitchcock himself felt that even if he said so, it was a joke. What he really means is that he wants the actors to give him a "negative performance". On the set, he doesn't give any guidance to the actors, and usually only asks them to "go this way and that way" or "look left and right". This simple guidance confuses the participants of methodology. Therefore, paul newman, the protagonist of Breaking the Iron Curtain, can't cooperate harmoniously with Hitchcock. He wrote an outline of the characters and asked Hitchcock about their backgrounds and motivations. Hitchcock was impatient: "Motivation is your salary."

? Sean connery, the protagonist of The Thief, knows and respects Hitchcock's directing methods very well. "For him, any discussion is' excessive discussion'."

? This question is similar to Hitchcock's way of making movies in his mind. Hitchcock arranged the plot and suspense early in the morning. The most important thing for an actor is to restore the ideas in his mind with the correct actions, instead of considering the motives and background outside the actions. There is no need to improvise. Doing so will destroy the already set atmosphere and direction of the story. "Methods It may be ok for an acting actor to perform a play, but when making a movie, we cut into what he sees from his face, which is the subjective lens of the camera, which requires discipline."

? This "discipline" is Hitchcock's picture language. Sending actors to play acting skills in an attempt to shift the focus of the picture to people is off track. In Hitchcock's movies, people are often not as good as lighters (destroying flowers with hard hands) or windmills (overseas commissioners). Actors demand more than just action, which threatens the director's control of the story and the picture. When the actors stand out, the fluency of the story is disrupted. Hitchcock doesn't like it or hate it. As for the characters, Hitchcock prefers to enrich them with food: "The preference for food can show a person's personality ... the characters in my movies will never eat food that doesn't fit his personality." Hitchcock said, "That's not acting, that's writing."

? Therefore, "actors are animals" is an important principle of Hitchcock's film assembly. He hoped that the actors were movable props, and all the props were used to create every scene equally, so that many "duty" scenes were like train carriages. The remaining task was to see how Hitchcock connected them and could move quickly along the track. The purpose of all the assembly scenes is to excite the audience: "Hitchcock said that what matters is not the feelings of the actors, but the feelings of the audience." What he wants from the actors is "action, not motivation". "

? The sentence "This is just a movie" is repeated many times in the book. In the preface, ingrid bergman wants to ask Hitchcock about his motivation for playing this role. Hitchcock said, "Ingrid, just pretend it's just a movie."

? In the movie "Destruction", actor Sidney was very dissatisfied with the killing of a lovely puppy in the film. She didn't think it was necessary and told Hitchcock that the answer she got was: "It's just a movie, Sylvia."

? When filming "Destroying Flowers with Hard Hands", farley granger, the protagonist, sometimes came up with a line that was not suitable for performance and said to Strange, "Oh, shit! Sorry. " Hitchcock shrugged: "It's just a video ..."

? Kim novak asked Hitchcock a question about the character's motivation during the filming of Vertigo. Hitchcock looked at her seriously and said, "Let's not delve into these questions. This is just a movie. "

? ……

? What does this sentence mean? It seems that he always feels that his films are not worth going deep into the level of "motivation". This is his attitude towards movies. Of course not, he said. "whenever I get too nervous because of the problems in making a movie, I will say to myself,' remember, this is just a movie.' But it never worked. I never convinced myself. "

? This sentence is like a tranquilizer. On the set, actors can carry out the principle of "moving props", pull the actors back from their distracted thoughts and focus on action instructions such as "walking left, looking right and cutting with a knife". On the other hand, Hitchcock never regarded movies as the carrier of thoughts or meanings. According to the conversation with Truffaut, he hates that critics analyze moral topics from his films, and that others are interested in Freudian psychoanalysis of films instead of the quality of films. He also despised the film censor's restriction that "kissing should not exceed three seconds", otherwise it would be morally corrupt. In "honey trap", he divided the three-minute kiss into fifteen times, "no more than three seconds each time", as a gesture of challenge and ridicule.

? Hitchcock only cares about "inspiring" the audience. When his suspense plot works, his thriller lens works, and a movie completes its mission, he will be satisfied with his creation. The audience's excitement and their own satisfaction are the greatest purposes of Hitchcock's films. His film does not undertake other purposes, so he is willing to keep saying "this is just a movie". But this simple goal, after all, needs a rich and solid road to achieve. Hitchcock spent his whole life immersed in the technique of "thriller suspense" and created countless film techniques. He focused on one genre, but let the narrative skills of all types of films inherit an infinitely rich heritage. "This is just a movie" has become the signpost of all movies.

? I can only explain the sentence "this is just a movie" so reluctantly. In fact, that's not all. My shallow knowledge prevents me from going deep.

? After reading this book, my favorite gossip is about Hitchcock and his wife. One thing that Hitchcock really fell in love with was his movies, which he enjoyed all his life. He "didn't know what he could do" except movies. I like my wife Emma better than movies. Hitchcock has been together for 58 years since he proposed marriage.

? Finally, copy two paragraphs of this gossip, mark it and share it with everyone. 1979, the American Film Academy awarded Hitchcock the Lifetime Achievement Award. He made a good thank-you speech according to the usual practice: "Among all the people who have contributed to me, please allow me to name four people. They have given me the most care, appreciation and encouragement, as well as long-term cooperation. The first of the four people is a film editor; The second is a screenwriter; The third is the mother of my daughter Pat; The fourth is an excellent chef who has been showing miracles in the kitchen. Their name is Alma revele, and I want to share this award with her, just like I share my life with her. "

? He also told the author of this book in an interview, "Movies are my life, but even if I can't make movies anymore, I hope I can continue to live-as long as my wife. She is ill, and every day of my life is no longer wonderful. "