Most films that we see tend to have many themes within the narrative, and the themes usually change according to the way the audience sees and interprets the movie. Although there are movies that are made for entertainment purposes, there are also movies that the audience has to figure out the moral of the plot, and there is usually no absolute right or wrong; there are just moments in which one thought seems to be more reasonable than another. However, most of the times, the purpose of the movie is not only to give a moral message but also to emphasise certain realities of life by using the effective cinematic theories and techniques along with cinematography to produce a movie that conveys sometimes many, and sometimes a single feeling such as tension, death, hatred, love, etc. In the movie Vertigo, produced in 1958, the director Alfred Hitchcock uses the camera movement and effects such as the different angled shots and viewpoints of shooting with the elements of mies-en-scene such as the use of colors on objects and scenery to emphasize themes that produce feelings of tension and suspense.
In his article, Jean-Louis Baudry says, “The arrangement of the different elements— projector, darkened hall, screen— besides from reproducing in a striking way the mies-en-scene of Plato’s cave, reconstructs the situation necessary to the release of the ‘mirror stage’ discovered by Lacan. With this argument, Baudry seems to be saying that the combination of the ‘mirror stage’ theory with the mies-en-scene produces the effective imagery of Plato’s cave. Similarly, in the film Vertigo, the usage of the camera effect with the mies-en-scene allows the audience to feel the tension, see the characters from the thematic point of view, which are death, life and love. “The arrangement of everything that appears in the framing–actors, lighting, décor, props, costume–is called mies-en-scene, a French term that means “placing on stage.” The frame and camerawork are also considered part of the mies-en-scene of a movie.”(Maura, 1) Throughout the film, many colors are used to symbolize themes, but the one that seems to be the most prevalent is the color green, and it is projected in many forms, such as greenery, forest, green objects, etc. The color green is first introduced to the audience as a symbol when Madeleine and Scottie are in the forest and having a conversation about the trees: she says that the trees are “the oldest living things.” As they continue to walk, they come across a massive tree, and Scottie says that that particular tree is the tallest one and explains it’s meaning. He says, “It is called Sequoia Sempervirens, always meaning green, ever living.” She responds that she does not like it because it reminds her that while she has to die, the tree will live on. The theme of the fear of death and curiosity for the afterlife is symbolized by the color green in this conversation. The audience comes to realize that the film will be about the constant conflict between the two feelings that a person has: When do we enter the real world, when are we really in it? When we die or while we are living? In this sense, the color green that is projected in almost every scene is the symbol of the endless circle of life that plants possess and humans do not. This use of the mies-en-scene is very cleverly used by Hitchcock to show the importance of the apparatus and visuality in the production and viewing of a movie.
The camera movement is the first thing we see as soon as the movie starts, with a close-up of a woman’s mouth, and the camera panning out and then again closing in on her eyes. The screen all of a sudden turns red, creating a feeling of alarm and danger, while the camera focuses on the eye. The audience feels like there is something to be afraid of, as we see the woman afraid, but we do not get to see what causes the fear, which creates the tension and wonder feeling that will be prevalent throughout the film. The missing object-gaze-object effect produces the tension of the reality-fantasy theme in the movie. We are sure of the woman we see on the screen, but as the camera zooms to her eye and the spiral vertigo effect is created within the red screen inside her eye, we seem to fall into the realm of fantasy. The first scene of the movie is a police chase with the wide shot of the rooftop and a dolly zoom shot of the street, where the audience and Scottie experience the vertigo effect, thus once again creating the reality-fantasy conflict. “The dolly zoom shot is achieved by dollying back while simultaneously zooming in on the subject or by dollying in and zooming out simultaneously.” (Padawer, 25). This creates a “visually disturbing effect.” (Padawer, 25). The gaze-object-gaze seems to be a tool that the director uses to open and close the film. In the final scene, where Scottie listens to the confession of Judy, every time the camera moves on to show Scottie’s face we see that it is covered in darkness, thus a shadow is produced on his face using the subtle lighting effect of the camera. This signifies the contradiction he is experiencing; he is not sure whether to forgive her or not. Eventually, they do, and just as they embrace, Judy sees the shadowy hooded figure coming towards them in the darkness. The zooming of the camera on her face and out of character creates the fear that the audience can remember from the beginning of the movie. Once again the gaze-object-gaze tool is used at the end, only this time we see what the woman is afraid of and this time instead of the camera zooming in, we see it zooming out to show the reality of the figure. Thus emphasizing that within each fantasy there exists a reality. We are left to assume that Judy was the woman from the beginning of the film, and now we get to see what she was afraid of.
The conversation and mies-en-scene in Gavin’s office between Gavin and Scottie foreshadow almost everything that the audience will be presented. The red and green color is once again used as symbols to emphasize the prevalent themes of life and death. The wide-shot camera effect of the red rug along with other red objects spread out throughout the office room symbolizes death and fear. The scene, where the camera moves to show Scottie sitting in a red chair as he listens to Gavin talking about Madeleine, shows Scottie engulfed in redness and how the color emphasizes the theme of love, death, and fear. Next is the medium shot of Scottie in front of the camera and Gavin standing behind him, all very picturesque in-depth composition, where the director seems to be hinting to the audience that there is more to what Gavin is saying to Scottie. When the screen is paused, Gavin and Scottie look as though they aren’t even in the same place, which presupposes that the director used a wide-angle lens to transform the long into a short focal length. “A lens with a short focal length creates a large depth of field. This makes objects in the background appear further away than they are.” (Padawer,18). Another shooting sequence of the camera movement comes in the next scene, where we get a quick mid-shot cut of Gavin in a close-up moving on to an even closer medium shot of Scottie. The camera eventually zooms out as soon as Gavin starts to ask Scottie about believing in ghostly spirits. At the end of this shooting, the audience feels like there is a third person in the room watching the two men.
The color green is also noticed in the room, dominantly but sub-consciously. The plant next to the front door can be seen several times; when Scotties walks in, when he stands by the door while sitting and finally when Gavin and Scottie both stand next to the door. In these appearances the plant stands between them, suggesting two opponents ready for a duel, thus foreshadowing that Madeline will come in between them. Hitchcock manages to use the concept of mies-en-scene by placing the green plant in the perfect position, and also using the camera movement with different camera angles and shot types within a tight framing that manages to consolidate the plant between the two men and into the frame. Thus causing the audience always to notice it and also causing it to be dominant rather than a minor contrasting object.
Another instant of the combination of mies-en-scene and camera movement is when Scottie and Madeleine visit the Spanish Stable. The first shot starts with a horizontal shot across the street and then pans out to a full shot of the stables. Once again the audience is given the feeling of a third person watching the characters. The color green, this time, appears strongly in the form of grass all over the stable grounds, thus suggesting the duel of life-death that is or will be happening. Further, into the scene, we see Scottie once again experiencing the vertigo effect he did at the beginning of the movie, and the zooming camera effect gives the audience the point of view of Scottie’s vertigo, and so we can comprehend what is going on in his mind. We are confronted with the conflict between life and death; the closer we get to Scottie and therefore the closer we get to end the closer we are to the answer whether reality exists in the afterlife or this life, but we are afraid to step further over the edge to the truth, just like Scottie was afraid to climb further up to the tower. Towards the end of the final act, Madeleine returns with a different character and a green dress; thus the color green being stable once again. The green dress seems to be symbolizing the resurrection of Madeleine, how she returns to life as a different person after “falling” down the tower. The color green is finally seen in the hotel room as a high contrast lighting key. Scottie waits for Judy to come out of the bathroom after having dyed her hair blonde like Madeleine, the fluorescent green light of the sign fills in the room, symbolizing the theme of life. However, as Judy walks towards Scottie, the green light covers her body making her appear like a ghost, thus symbolizing and foreshadowing death. In this scene, the color green also seems to symbolize the returning of Scottie from his trauma; he has come back from the point of falling over the edge, just like Madeleine.
The movie, in its entirety, uses many elements of cinematography and mies-en-scene to produce a compelling visual effect and narrative. The audience is always left to wonder if there is more to what the characters are saying and what is happening, in this sense, there is a secretive atmosphere in the movie. The camera shots add to the anxious feelings that we get from the way the characters are positioned in front of the camera to the props and colors used for the cinematographic effects. However, despite the cinematic techniques and theories used, Hitchcock seems to convey the message that the Utopia does not exist. The imagined perfect circumstances cannot always be achieved in reality, and there will still be something to throw off the balance that we seemingly have produced. Because of this, we all suffer from vertigo in different levels and as Midge says to Johnny, “There’s no losing it.”
Bibliography
Baudry, Jean-Louis, William, Alanç “Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus.” University of California Press. Film Quarterly, Vol. 28, No.2, Winter, 1974-1975, pp.39-47. 3 August 2017
Maura, Gabe. Mise-en-scène. http://www.elementsofcinema.com/directing/mise-en-scene-in-films/. July 1, 2014. Web. 3 August 2017.
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-44. 3 August 2017.
Padawer, Craig. Close Up: A Critical Introduction To Film. Iowa: Kendall Hunt, 2010. 3 August 2017.