Directing - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 304

green suit. This green looks inappropriate against the natural greens of Bodega Bay,
immediately making her look out of place. Hitchcock shows Melanie Daniels, the Hedren
character, as a caged bird let loose, a woman breaking free of the usual sexual conventions,
and reinforces this through lighting and composition, constantly framing her with shadows or
grilles or the shapes made by a phone box. Throughout the i lm there are visual metaphors of
cages being open and shut.
Hitchcock is forever taking standard chases and giving them twists, such as the Mount
Rushmore sequence in North by Northwest . It's not just enough for him to have his hero and
heroine hanging over a clif , he has them hanging over the huge stone faces of the presidents,
who look on placidly (for Rigoletto I borrowed the idea and had the huge carved face of the
Duke dominating poor Rigoletto), and the juxtaposition makes all manner of comments and
subtext. In the same i lm, another breathtaking sequence has Cary Grant being chased by an
innocent-looking crop-dusting plane. He runs to hide but he is in the widest, most barren plain:
there is nowhere to hide. Finding these almost surreal settings makes for classic sequences
and great direction. Wallace and Gromit giving chase on a toy train set is inspired direction.
Another favourite sequence is in Hitchcock's Strangers on A Train . Bruno follows handsome
tennis champion Guy, to persuade him to murder someone, in return for a murder he has
already performed. During a tennis match, another cage from which there is no escape, Guy
knows that Bruno is somewhere, and in a stunning shot, Guy spots Bruno in the crowd, a single
stationary head among dozens of spectators all l icking their heads back and forth in perfect
unison, following the match. Some lesser directors might just have had a clumsy zoom in to
Bruno in the crowd, but Hitchcock uses the setting of the tennis match to highlight the tension
and the relationship between Guy and Bruno. A feeble scene might have had Bruno approach
Guy on the street and remind him about the murder, but this scene visually says it all and more.
Are you good at taking direction from the director or client? Have you ever
slipped in a piece of extra business in a fi t of pique?
JD - I learnt to tolerate the direction of agency personnel and of my employers. I learned that sometimes
they were right (Lucille Ball) and sometimes they were wrong (Gene Warren). I did slip in bits of
unrequested business, but usually out of boredom, not pique - I started making all the Davey and Goliath
characters look heavenward every time they said 'god'. 'God' takes about four frames, and is said a lot on
a religious show. I switched a costumed puppet to an uncostumed one of Davey's mother for a couple of
frames. ('Mom' without a costume looked like a nude lady.)
TB - I'll generally follow the requests of the client, director, whoever. If I have an opinion, I'll offer it,
but if it doesn't fl y, then I'll do what is requested without qualms. I'm not spending my own money;
somebody else is paying my salary.
KD - What do tutors know? Didn't my idea sound better? Were they always right?
RC - On a commercial, the client pays, so they have the fi nal call. I have told clients that this or that may
not look quite as they expect, or would not work. If they insist, I do it as requested. On a fi lm, a director
is in charge, and again, my job is to deliver what is asked. I give my best advice. Sometimes you have
a director that insists that they want you to do it a certain way, even though you know it is not going to
work. Ultimately, the choices are, do it their way and let them fi nd out, or be removed from the picture.
Usually, you will get to do it the correct way anyway, so it's better to keep working. Then they learn to