Detailed Analysis of Hitchcock's Vertigo. The Apartment scene in Scottie's Apartment.
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Film History
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OCR
Using your knowledge of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene, what do we learn about Scottie and Madeleine in this scene? Attempts to answer this question. Talks about colour, design, cinematography and intent and effects.
Detailed analysis with examples and context. Hitchcock's Veritgo.
Using your knowledge of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene, what do we learn about
Scottie and Madeleine in this scene?
Hitchcock uses camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene for the character exposition of Madeleine
and Scottie. In this scene, Madeleine holds an air of suspicion and deception whereas, Scottie fights
to feel control and fulfil his role as former detective. Within this Hitchcock highlights Scottie’s
intrigue and obsessive nature and Madeleine’s role in Elster’s scheme.
The colour symbolism is crucial in discovering Scottie’s and Madeleine’s supposed state of mind.
Hitchcock’s significant use of colour was something he carefully considered to develop the cinematic
experience and to help visually convey the plot. Coming from a time where there was no colour to
full Technicolor, Hitchcock had a good understanding of the impact of colour on screen. For instance,
in this scene, Scottie wears a green jumper, which has become synonymous with Madeleine’s
character, indicating that Scottie is now fully invested in his role as detective. One may even suggest
that the green jumper signifies his disillusionment, when it comes to Judy’s deception of Scottie in
the role as Madeleine – we learn that Scottie is now engrossed, perhaps maybe in love, with
Madeleine. In contrast, Hitchcock has Madeleine sport a deep red robe. The crimson colour holds
connotations of love and passion, as well as famously being the colour of fresh blood; Hitchcock may
have been foreshadowing the death of the real Madeleine and by doing so highlight Judy’s corrupt
motivations for toying with Scottie. Though not explicitly, we learn that Madeleine might be
dangerous. These comparable colours also display their coordination with each other as they each
take the others’ colour, through this we learn their relationship and obvious awareness of each
other, although unbeknownst to Scottie.
In this scene, Hitchcock is able to demonstrate Scottie’s skill from his former detective days. The
dialogue alone stands to present Scottie as “direct” in his questioning alike to how he would
interrogate someone in his job. This could be in efforts to gain more control, as his vertigo has
hindered his feelings of masculinity and control before this point. Hitchcock shows Scottie’s want for
control through the positioning of the characters – Scottie at a height and Madeleine on the floor.
This is further confirmed by Hitchcock’s use of high angle shots from Scottie’s point of view. Scottie is
physically and visually exercising his control over her, the irony is that Scottie is in fact a pawn in a
game – holding no such control that he aspires to. Through this we learn Scottie’s eager intrigue with
Madeleine and detective work in general. The quick paced shot reverse shot editing in conversation
shows the obsession and inquisitiveness of Scottie as he tries to pry information out of Madeleine.
This is a huge testament to Scottie’s character as it identifies him as someone who wants the
“freedom” and “power” that Elster spoke of earlier whilst being consumed in his passion and
obsession with Madeleine – prohibiting him from gaining this freedom and power as he has been
bewitched by Madeleine. Putting Scottie at a loss as he can’t have the best of both worlds.
Hitchcock’s use of colour, positioning, editing and camera reveal great lengths of qualities that the
characters possess. Scottie’s green jumper aligns him in the sphere of Madeleine and Madeleine’s
red robe identifies her as danger. Revealing that Scottie’s obsession is all consuming and that
Madeleine isn’t all she portrays herself to be; holding an aura of mystery with her. Hitchcock’s
further use of positioning, editing and camera focuses more on developing Scottie’s character by
applying the skills from his background in this scene. His direct addressing of Madeleine and
accusatory tone identifies hums with a detective backstory. The use of high angle shots, fast pace
editing and the levels in character positioning amplify his former status as police detective and
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