The Birds opening analysis

The Birds 1963 - directed by Alfred hitchcock

Mise-en-scene: The opening begins with a shot of silohetted birds flying visiously across the screen, this builds a very uncomfortable feeling for the audience. This is also creates a strong sense of binary oppoision as it shows the birds in darkness which suggests evil on a white sky background which shows innocence. Moving on we are introduced to a new location and the character, the location is a busy city street of San Fransisco, The character is a young blonde woman who is introduced by establishing shots and tracking which helps show her importance.

Titles: Throughout the extract cold blue coloured titles appear on screen, the cold blue which creats a cold sinister feeling.

Sound: Diagetic sound is also included throughout the sequence, the sound of squawking birds and flapping wings reinforces the uncomfortable feeling which the audience feels throughout the sequence as the high pitched squawking from the birds is not a very nice sound to listen to.

Editting: Iconic thriller editing is used at the end of the opening where a fade cut is used to establish the shot of a women. Jump cuts are used later on in the sequence to show the conversation between the shop keeper and the woman.

Camera: The establishing shot of the blonde woman shows her importance, what also reinforces this is her postion which is in the center of the screen. Also the camera pans along as she walks across the road into the pet shop.