This trailer of the film the Birds effectively manipulates its audience to feel a certain way. Both the fast editing and the graphic sequences shown within the trailer make the audience focused and engulfed by what they are watching on screen. Putting the trailer in its context of 1963, the audience would be extremely disturbed by hostile and aggressive Birds where they know from real life that birds are generally passive creatures and no harm to humans, and therefore, this comes as a shock to them and can make them feel uneasy. It would also provoke their thinking and question whether any such things could happen. At this time, horror/thriller films by the lights of Alfred Hitchcock were rare and themes and storylines like the Birds were effective and impacting and the audience experience discomfort by this. On the technical side of the trailer, Hitchcock does well to portray most of the major aspects of the film with large explosions present on screen, conflict between the characters on screen, and attacking Birds, especially coupled with extremely fast and bold editing, there is a feeling of a lack of control within the world of the film. Therefore, the audience feel like they also have a lack of control of themselves while watching the trailer.
Film infrastructure
Running time: 119 minuets
Genre: Thriller/Horror
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Daphne Du Maurier (the story) Evan Hunter (Screenplay)
Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, and Suzanne Pleshette
Synopsis
A Spoiled socialite and infamous practical joker Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), meets Mitch Brenner in a San Francisco pet shop looking to buy a pair of love birds, he recognises Melanie but decides to treat her as if she was an assistant in order to talk to her. As one of her Jokes, she buys the birds before he does to get her own back and heads for a coastal town in Bodega Bay where Mitch happened to spend his weekends with his mother and sister. However, as Melanie takes a trip across a lake in a small boat, she is randomly attacked by a seagull which was not thought very much of after the event. However, has her stay pursues more and more birds gather and attack the civilians of the town, it soon evolves into a desperate drive for survival.
Archetypal elements
There are many archetypal features of a thriller within the film. A McGuffin ironically takes the form of 2 passive love birds as Melanie plays her practical joke on Mitch. It can be argued that a Red Herring is the aggressive and hostile nature of the seagull that attacked Marion as the storyline could have easily been blown in the direction of a romance between Melanie and Mitch but the Seagull changed the direction of the plot where it becomes are quest to survive the birds. There is much suspense and tension within the film. The section of the film where the birds are at the school is a prime example in the film of a build in tension and suspense where more and more birds gather on the climbing frame at the school, and effective editing means that it is very suspenseful for the audience. The children must leave the school, but the only way to do this is to face the birds, the audience therefore anticipate the worst as the children are vulnerable and the result is Hitchcock deducing the audience to want to protect the children from the birds and as they do not have the ability to do so, they stay engaged and tentative to the action on the screen.
Bodega Bay
It is common in Alfred Hitchcock's films that he will leave the characters in exposed locations where they're vulnerable to the threat of the villain. In this instance, the villain is nature taking form of the birds and Bodega Bay is a reflection of this where it is a very subtle and quite natural place and the violent and hostile actions of the Birds contrasts the setting and therefore the action has a greater impact on the audience making them feel more shocked and bewildered by the behaviour of the Birds.
Scene Analyses
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