An Alfred Hitchcock film
Kyler Rienderhoff, Alex Boettger, Elijah Pearson,
Justin O’Connor, Jordan Isaacs and Marcus Cohen.
Background of Film (Alex)
● Early stages of Cold War
● During Vietnam war
● Typically a racist environment
● Everyone filled a very stereotypical role within the movie
● Women wore long dresses
Movie Summary
Rooftop chase
Midge and acrophobia
Gavin Elster and Madeleine
Scottie goes to Ernie's
Scottie stalks Madeleine
Madeleine goes to the cemetery to visit Carlotta Valdes’s tomb
Scottie follows her to the McKittrick Hotel
Midge suggests that scottie talk to a historian
Movie Summary
Scottie follows Madeleine to the golden gate bridge, where she attempts suicide
by drowning
Scottie saves her and takes her back to his flat
Madeleine claims to have no memory of the incident
The next day Madeleine leaves Scottie a note and he suggests they go for a
drive to a sequoia forest
They make small talk
Later Madeleine wakes Scottie and describes a recurring dream
Movie Summary
They kiss and then Madeleine races to the top of the tower
Scottie follows but suffers from vertigo and is unable to stop her from leaping to
her death
Madeleines death is ruled a suicide although Scottie is heavily criticised
After a nightmare about Madeleine, followed by a nervous breakdown, Scottie is
institutionalised for a year
After his release he sees women similar to Madeleine everywhere
When he sees a woman who looks extremely similar to Madeleine he follows
her to her hotel room.
Movie Summary
Judy begins to compose a letter to Scottie explaining her role in the crime
She then destroys the letter and tries to make a relationship with Scottie
He slowly turns her into a mirror image of Madeline
Scottie realises that Judy is Madeleine when she accidently dons Madeleines
necklace
Scottie then takes Judy up to the tower where “Madeleine” committed suicide
A nun suprises them and Judy falls to her death
Director
Alfred Hitchcock was an English and American film director/producer
He is widely recognised as one of the most influential directors of all time
He was knighted by the Queen in 1980 for his contribution to film
Film critic John Russell Taylor described Hitchcock as "the most universally
recognizable person in the world" and "a straightforward middle-class
Englishman who just happened to be an artistic genius"
He started his career in silent films but later moved into the realm of sound
Camera angles (Elijah)
- Very detached
- Still shots
- Camera seldom moves
- zooming
- Dramatic angles
John “Scottie” Ferguson
Protagonist of the movie
Feels guilty over partner’s death
Prefers to walk with a cane
John seems to reject reality in favour
of his illusions of the woman he loves
even though she isn’t real.
Judy Barton
Real
Overly attached
Judy is willing to be
someone else in order for
john to love her,that
should give you a good
idea of her personality as
she is extremely attached
to john and is willing
enough to give up her
own personality to be
closer to john.
● Just a persona
● Mysterious
● Alluring
She is the one that stole
John’s heart and drove
him to insanity over his
obsession for her.Not
exactly relationship goals.
Madeleine Elster
Gavin Elster
Cunning
Two-faced
Manipulative
Wealthy
Gavin is the antagonist of vertigo as
everything was puppeteered by him
since almost the beginning of the
film.He appears as someone friendly
and that he just cares for his wife’s
safety but in actual fact is determined
to murder her.
Midge Wood
Independent
Mother-figure towards John
Originally wasn’t in the book that
vertigo was based on.
Midge is an artist who works in the
clothing designing industry as well as
still having feelings for John as they
were periodically engaged in the past.
Sound (jordan)
Sound Plays a vital role in Hitchcock's work .
In Vertigo the sound track mirrors what is on screen.
Absence of sound is also used to create suspense.
It is used to draw viewers in.
Sound is a tool to create atmosphere.
Air of suspense (marcus)
The atmosphere is an important part of any movie and creating suspense, if done correctly,
can lead to very effective results. Vertigo is a thriller at heart and uses many methods to
achieve this air of suspense
The movies first big area that revolves around suspense is when Scottie is tailing Judy in his
car. The movies music is far more focused than the other sounds in this scene and this adds
a deliberately slow pace for the scenes.
In the chase scene we see the main focus of the scene go just out of sight and we’re left
wondering what will happen next before scottie hesitantly moves forward
Using camera angles and methods the movie can create more suspense by lingering on an
important element to the story like it did with the buildings and places he visits
Panel Discussion
Justin - Alfred Hitchcock, Director
Jordan - James Stewart, John Ferguson
Marcus - Kim Novak, Judy Barton
Elijah - Tom Helaware, Gavin Elster
Kyler - Barbara Bel Geddes, Midge Wood