The Lodger: Week 1 blog post

Alfred Hitchcock’s, The Lodger: A Story Of A London Fog incorporates symbolism in its narrative, as a tool to mark out important characters within the story.

The triangle, the pagan symbol of initiation, is first seen in the narrative when the police come across a note from the avenger. The note has the avengers name within the triangle. This note is found in the hand of the murder victim after the avenger has left the scene. We never see the avenger through the movie but the triangle marks his initiation into the narrative as an important character. The story revolves around the discovery of the avenger’s identity.

The triangle is again seen in the narrative when we come across the name Daisy, for the first time in the movie. Daisy’s name is not within the triangle but outside. Daisy, though not a central character to the plot of the movie plays a big part in helping the lodger, escape his unfortunate destiny.  She falls in love with the lodger staying at her house and due to her help, the lodger, who as everyone was made to believe is the avenger, escapes his death, when he is faced with an angry mob who have taken to the belief that he is the avenger.

 The first time we are introduced to our protagonist, the lodger, he knocks on the door of the house, numbered 13. The number 13 stands out, as it symbolizes misfortune and bad luck. We see the lodger knock on its door and go in to face his unfortunate fate. Even when we see the lodger for the first time, he is masked in smoke, another device used to add to the mystery off the lodger’s identity. He is dressed in similar clothing to what we believe the avenger to be wearing that night. 

Week 2 Blog: The 39 Steps

In Alfred Hitchcock’s movie titled “The 39 Steps,” Richard Hannay is the protagonist, who became involved in a conspiracy to steal British military secrets by an organization known as "The 39 Steps" after he was framed for murdering Annabella, a young woman who was a target of assassins due to her knowledge of the scheme. Hannay becomes a fugitive, traveling from London to Scotland to escape from the police who are on a manhunt for him.

Color contrast and lighting play important roles in one particular scene of the movie. In this scene, Hannay is on-board a train in its station, preparing to leave for Scotland (time stamp--21:55). Two men sitting across from him in the same train compartment share the information on a newspaper that announced the nationwide search for Hannay, a supposed murderer. The lighting on Hannay’s face is bright, making his face look pale in comparison to the rest of the shot as he is listening intently on the men’s conversation and attempting to read the news article held by one of the men. The camera performs a close-up shot of Hannay’s face for the audience to see his expression of dismay as he discovers that he is the target of the manhunt (time stamp--22:18). At this point, shadows of people walking past the window outside are cast on Hannay’s face. These slight shades of darkness cast over his face symbolize the dilemma that he is slowly acknowledging as the men proceed to read aloud the printed murder story.

The scene continues with Hannay asking if he could take a look at the newspaper (time stamp--22:43). When he reads the article on his own, he finds out for certain that his life is in danger. His face becomes engulfed in shadows in this shot. This shading represents Hannay’s full recognition of his situation and new life as a runaway criminal. Hitchcock could have easily left Hannay’s face lit up but instead, this casting of shadows over his face creates a contrast that represents Hannay’s crime-free “good” life gradually starting to change into the “bad” life of a fugitive. All of this took place as Hannay began his departure from London to Scotland, marking the start of his new life as a fugitive.

In the Lodger, Hitchcock applies many cinematographic techniques to produce interesting and suspenseful scenes in the films. The contrast of light and dark is used to create a mystery about the story. The audiences are curious and want to know what is going on and what will happen in the film. At the very beginning of the film, the words "to-night golden curls" are written on a dark background, a represent of evil, of dangerous and mystery. Throughout the film, there is a big question about who actually is the serial killer. The film becomes more interest when the angle of framing is used to film the scene at 26:18. It is Tuesday night, the night that "Avenger" would kill someone. The lodger is walking out of his room, dressing like how the witness describes about the killer. The camera is placed significantly lower than him indicate that he is the dominant of the scene. This technique is mostly used to show the power of the character in the scene and how important he is in the scene. Medium long shot is also used in this scene to emphasize the way he dresses. He is in deep focus so that the audience can see that he is in front of his room, looking around to see if someone notices that he is going out at night. The next scene again deeply focuses on the stair as he is walking down along. The stair is long and twisted brings up the feeling of a long difficult way to get to somewhere. This scene relates to the lodger's situation. He is going around and around to track down the killer. On the next scene, when Daisy's mother is looking down from her window, she sees the lodger is walking away in light. The act of walking out from the dark to the light indicates that he is going to find the justice, the truth about the killer. These are the scene that I found very interesting to me.

Week 1 Blog: The Lodger

(Reposted as a blog. This used to be a comment on the first blog)

One particularly suspenseful scene in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lodger" is the one where the lodger makes his first appearance at the Bunting's doorstep (time stamp--14:55). The lodger slowly approaches the door and casts an enormous shadow that overlooks half of the shot. This makes the man appear sinister. The position of the camera is over the shoulder of the man so that the viewers seem to approach the house alongside the mysterious man. When Mrs. Bunting opens the door for him, a cloud of fog enters the house in the background, blurring the body in a shroud of mystery (time stamp--15:26). The lodger's dark entrance gives the audience the impression that he may be the antagonist of the film and is up to no good.

The way the lodger appears in his entrance hints to the viewers that he may be the Avenger that city detectives have been looking for since the beginning of the movie. As described toward the beginning of the film by a female bystander of The Avenger's murder (time stamp--3:05), the lodger highly resembles the description given for the killer--tall, wears a hat, and covers the bottom portion of his face. Mrs. Bunting had an expression of distress when she opened the door and first saw the man, implying to the audience that the lodger’s presence was menacing (time stamp--15:29). The way Hitchcock filmed the lodger’s entrance inexplicitly suggested to the viewers that the murderer supposedly on the loose is now living in the house with the Bunting’s along with Daisy, the daughter of the house that fits the description of the Avenger’s victims: female with blonde hair.

In addition to the lodger’s entrance, the Bunting’s house number is “13”. Based on superstition, the number “13” has a negative implication at which bad events typically take place when the number appears. This detail, with the entrance of the mysterious lodger, adds to the suspense in the scene.

week 1

The film “The lodger” of Hitchcock is full of suspense and the plot is very much intense.  I could not help but notice the triangle shown in the beginning of the film and kept coming out throughout the film, first the avenger’s name was written next to the triangle which one of the detectives wrote on a piece of paper (time stamp: 01:36), then when Daisy came along later in the film, the triangle showed up again with Daisy’s name next to it. This triangle somehow connects the avenger with Daisy in a way, so we may infer that the avenger’s next target would be Daisy seems fairly reasonable, in addition to the lodger had became part of Daisy’s life after the Avenger had attacked a few blonde girls, Hitchcock used some cinematography techniques to make the audiences think that the lodger is the Avenger on the loose, techniques such as the close up shots of the lodger’s facial expressions like he has something to hide and he looks very suspicious most of the film. Deep focus on the description of the Avenger, like “Tall he was – and his face all wrapped up” (time stamp: 02:10) it looks like a specific description of the avenger published on a local newspaper, but it deep focused on one sentence which is the quality that the lodger also possess. All the evidences that are pointed out had built up to lead  the audiences believe the lodger is indeed the avenger everybody is looking for.

Week 1: The Lodger

One of my favorite scenes from The Lodger is when the landlady takes the lodger into his rented room (13:12). Hitchcock has numerous close-up frames of the lodger's face that show that he is disturbed by the portraits of all the blonde women in the room. It gives an obvious clue that the lodger is not to be trusted and might possibly be The Avenger because of the hair color of all the portraits. He is also quick to close the window when a newsboy is yelling about The Avenger and a sinister look on his face is seen when he closes the window which made me to believe that he is somehow linked to the murders.  It also shows some kind of guilt when he turns the portraits around, when the landlady opens the door and catches him in the act he is not even looking at the portrait while he is turning it around, he has to look away as if the images disgust him.

Hitchcock also uses music clues to reveal more about the plot than dialogue would be able to do on its own. Prior to the lodger's entrance, the music was very playful when Daisy and her family were hanging out in the house (10:15) but when the lodger knocks on the door (11:08), the lively music suddenly dies down and more dramatic music beginnings as soon as we see the hidden face of this mysterious man. The music also changes depending on the interaction between the characters. When Daisy and the lodger start to build a relationship, lively music starts playing (18:11) that shows the lodger is not completely evil and it makes the scenes between them feel more playful. It made me start rooting for the lodger and Daisy to get together. While the music added to the tension of the fading relationship of Daisy and Joe, the detective. The music playing when Daisy and Joe where interacting sounded strained to me, as if it was difficult for the music to keep on playing.
Hitchcock uses great transitions to move along the plot in the movie. For example, when the body of 7^th murder victim is discovered we see a reporter speaking on the telephone which transitions into a busy news room. Immediately after that scene, we again see The Avenger’s phrase of “To-Night Golden Curls” that allows Hitchcock to introduce one of the main characters, Daisy, by having all the girls in the scene take off blond wigs.  
I also noticed that Hitchcock used the contrast of dark and light colors to portray the aura of the characters. In many scenes, the lodger wears dark clothing and also extra accessories like a scarf to "hide" himself while Daisy is dressed in light colors that make her seem very angelic or innocent (7:38 and 38:11).

Week 1 The Lodger

The scene sequence beginning at 60:46 could be considered as the anticlimax to the suspicions we, the audience, have toward the lodger. This scene, a flashback of the lodger’s past, is the key to the movie; used to answer important questions that both the viewers and the characters in the story have since the arrival of the lodger. By choosing to show us the coming-out event of the lodger’s sister, we gather important details about the lodger’s background. Judging by the mise-en-scene of this sequence, we understand that he is of high status. We also gathered that he has a mother and a sister, but his father is out of the picture for reasons unknown. It clears up any suspicion we may have had of the lodger as the murderer by providing the reasoning behind his strange behaviors. The fact that the lodger’s purpose is revenge brings up the interesting idea that he is, in a way, an “avenger”. From this scene we were able to understand why he rented a room at the Bunting’s, his strange disappearance during the night of a murder, and the possessions he locked up (his gun and a plan of the murders).  All of these were previously used by Hitchcock to make both the audience and the other characters infer their own connections between the lodger and the Avenger.  At 61:02 Hitchcock applied an interesting cinematography technique. In this scene, the way the camera moved from a medium close-up of the lodger and his sister dancing, and then slowly zoom out not just to a long shot but to an almost extreme long shot, cause our point of view to move from that of the lodger to the point of view of the murderer watching from afar. By subtly switching our point of view from the lodger who is supposedly the narrator of the scene to that of the murderer, Hitchcock maintains the viewers’ feeling of suspense even in the anticlimax. Another note-worthy point about this scene is that instead of revealing his background to the police by going along with them when they arrested him, the lodger felt the need to run away and only explained to Daisy. It is strange in that he must have realized that he would be treated to a fair trial despite what evidence they had against him, so there would be no need for him to run off. This action clearly is a way for Hitchcock to show the trust that had formed between Daisy and the lodger.

The Lodger

Using "The Avenger" murders as a backdrop, The Lodger is a film that delves into the power conflicts that result from love.  The best example is the jealousy that Joe feels towards the Lodger.  Through various scenes in the film, Joe is shown to have to a desire to possess/control Daisy.  However, in the presence of the Lodger, he feels that his control is slowing slipping away.
An example of this shift in power and Joe's attempt to keep control is the scene where he confronts Daisy and the Lodger in the streets and Daisy chooses the Lodger over him.  As Joe sits dejected on the bench, the film uses a high level framing to signify that he has finally lost control (1:00:10).  At that moment, he feels powerless in comparison to the Lodger.
However, as he stares at the water's reflection, he pieces together the supposed clues that point to the Lodger being the Avenger (1:00:30).  The low angle of framing and the fact that the water is beneath him points to the control being shifted over to Joe again.  He can use the assumption that the Lodger is the Avenger to gain back Daisy.  Once he realizes that he has control again, he stands up and the height of his figure takes up the whole screen (1:01:16).  The imposing figure shows the power he has over the Lodger and Daisy again.
The struggle between Joe as Daisy's lover against the Lodger is just as important as the struggle between Joe as a detective against the Avenger.  In the end, he may have won against the Avenger, but he lost control of Daisy because of the very desire to control her.

The Lodger: Week 1: Blog 1

            Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 film, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, is a story about a serial killer called "the Avenger" who is out to kill blond women in London. At the beginning of the film, the suspicious character, the lodger arrives at Mr. and Mrs. Bunting's home to rent out a room and he meets their beautiful model daughter, Daisy. Daisy, who is being pursued by the policeman Joe, falls in love with the lodger despite the fact that the lodger is a key suspect in being the Avenger. Throughout the film, Hitchcock demonstrates many power relations through the use of cinematography.

            An example of power relations can be seen in the scene when Joe, arrives at the Buntings' home with a warrant to search the lodger's room. Hitchcock captures Mr. and Mrs. Bunting with his camera angled so that the stairs seem very grand, the path to the door seems very narrow, and the door seems very tall (1:04:50). This use of camera angles makes the couple appear to be small and defenseless. Upon his arrival, Joe is wearing a hat, which makes him a head taller than the Buntings (1:05:12). This difference in height causes the couple to have to look up at him because he has authority as a government figure. Joe is also wearing a light colored suit (1:05:12) illustrating the fact that he has come in good nature to pursue justice; ironically, this color scheme is misleading because he has really come to unintentionally arrest an innocent man. Because of the Bunting's inferiority, they are unable to do anything about the situation even if they wanted to.

            When Joe goes upstairs with his warrant, he finds the lodger and his love, Daisy, in an embrace as they kiss each other. The two lovers approach Joe and once again, Joe is taller than the lodger and Daisy, establishing his authority over both of them. (1:05:51) Joe is also dressed in lighter clothing compared to the two of them (1:05:51) ironically leading the audience to falsely infer that he is the good guy where as the lodger and Daisy are guilty in the eyes of the audience - the lodger for supposedly being the Avenger and Daisy for falling in love with "the bad guy."

            As Joe's men search the lodger's room, Hitchcock captures a shot of Joe, with his back turned to the audience, partially covering Daisy and the lodger (1:06:54). This once again establishes that Joe has power over Daisy and the lodger but the fact that his back is turned to the audience gives his authority an ominous aura that foreshadows his misuse of power.

            After having found solid evidence, of which included a picture of a victim, against the lodger, the lodger collapses making him have to look up at Joe and Daisy and then through a racking focus the camera captures Joe in an low angle of frame once again demonstrating the lodgers inferiority to Joe and Daisy (1:11:08). Once the lodger claimed that the picture was of his murdered sister, Daisy looks up as the camera captures her from a low angle of frame (1:11:45). The camera angle makes it seem as though the main focus of the shot is Daisy and a higher figure that she is looking up to for consolation.

            After the lodger's arrest, every one heads down the stairs and the camera captures Joe following Daisy down the stairs as he stares at her through a low angle of frame (1:14:12). Joe look especially taller than Daisy both because he is a few steps behind Daisy and because the camera angle intensifies the effect. His stare is symbolic of him finally having authority over Daisy because the lodger has lost his authority over her after having being arrested by Joe.

            There are many power relations within this just this scene and Hitchcock makes them evident through his use of cinematography. These power relations surface controversial issues such as the power of the government to arrest innocent people and the power of men over women. 

Week 1 blog 1 The Lodger

In Alfred Hitchcock's film The Lodger, it is interesting to see that it is a black and white silent film, the contrast of black and white are high meaning it is a high contrasting movie. The quality and focus are not as good for it is a old movie and there is no audio or color to help make it easier to understand what is going on in the film. From what I remember is that "The Avenger" is the serial killer making his prey on women. Hitchcock is very well known to depict this type of plot where the women fall victim to men, in a world where the women never triumph or possess power as much as men and basically put, the women always die. In 5:42 the word "murder" is flashing across the screen, being emphasized that there is a killer out on the loose and that in fact a murder has been committed, on the bottom right hand side we see the words "wet from the press" and as we all know, media attention brings forth the thought that it is a serious matter and the public needs to know and be aware of it. In 46:00-46:16 the woman is sitting next to the man who's suspicious gaze draw attention that he is indeed The Avenger or it can also indicate that he wants to become The Avenger. The man lights her cigarette without even looking at her, that is a little suspicious and his gaze is locking in (seems focused) on the show and does not want to lose sight of it. In scene 55:27 the camera in fixated on one particular side of the room, not centered but a little to the left. The angle is right and enhances the scene when the scene opens with dark room being lighted by light. This can symbolize that something is coming to an end like a resolution has almost been made. In scenes 1:03:9-1:03:12 we see flashback and flashforward being used as the scenes jump from one pair of characters to the next and it goes back and forth and the transition is quite fast too. The author is trying to get the audience to see or make a connection to something for better understanding of who The Avenger is and or what is going on. The camera technique also lets us infer that when there is passion in a scene that is upcoming they camera automatically zooms in on the faces as in the case of 1:03:15-1:03:43. What I found interesting was also in 1:07:55 the detectives discover a bag and the expression on his face seems shocked, like he did not expect it to be there, totally caught him off guard and makes him very suspicious. They are accusing him of being The Avenger and this scene had me confused because I did not know who to believe, but overall I thought it was an interesting film.

Week 1 Blog Post: The Lodger

     One of the most intriguing and perplexing scenes of “The Lodger” was the scene in which the fiancé (Joe) jokingly handcuffs Daisy, upsetting both her and the lodger (who is watching from the staircase). Why would a man who supposedly loves and cares for Daisy put her in handcuffs and refuse to take them off when he can see that she is obviously distressed by his actions? I believe that this is a very important scene because it symbolizes the restricted, imprisoned life that Daisy would lead if she were to marry the “wrong man”. In addition, the scene casts even more suspicion on the lodger by portraying him as extremely menacing and threatening.
     The cinematography and the acting of this scene support the idea that Joe is the wrong man for Daisy, and Joe’s unusual actions make the audience silently root for the couple’s break-up. The camera takes a close-up shot of Daisy’s handcuffed wrists (time stamp: 23:09), creating a rather menacing and foreboding shot due to the pure-black background that accentuates Daisy’s imprisoned wrists. In this shot, Joe’s hand is also tightly clamped around Daisy’s arm, adding to Daisy’s symbolic captivity. Soon after, the camera takes an “over the shoulder” shot of Daisy pleading with Joe to release her (time stamp: 23:15). The slightly high angle of the camera and Daisy’s pleading expression creates an image that is remarkably similar to the Avenger’s screaming victim in the beginning of the film. By creating this connection, Daisy is likened to the helpless murder victim, therefore exaggerating her imprisoned state with Joe.
     This scene also casts even more suspicion on the lodger because he becomes very upset by Joe's actions, and the lodger seems to barely be containing his rage. The medium close-up shot of Jonathan’s face is extremely threatening, mainly because of the low-angle of the camera which makes the lodger appear to be even larger than he actually is (time stamp: 23:23). The lodger then does some deep breathing, as though he is barely containing his anger. In addition, the shadows that fall over only one side of his face and his bulging eyes add to his threatening appearance. The cinematography of this scene definitely seems to incriminate the lodger and to suggest that he is capable of great anger and violence, just like the Avenger.

Week 1: The Lodger

Let us consider the scene in which the Lodger has a conversation with Daisy from the opposite side of a door. Prior to the Lodger going over to the bathroom Daisy was in, we see him pawing at his marked up map; this may cause one to wonder, why go talk to Daisy right after looking at the map? Looking from retrospect, we may make an inference that the Avenger’s strikes reminded him of his sister and, as a result, the also golden-haired Daisy. This scene at a cursory reading implies that the Lodger is just receiving clarification from Daisy about the events surrounding the dress; however, with further inspection, this scene could arguably be placed to represent a bonding moment between the two while misleading the watcher to further suspect the Lodger as the Avenger.

Firstly, we should note the Lodger’s costume change from his map pawing attire (42:40) to his door conversation attire (43:19). He moves from a slightly disheveled look with robe and tie out crooked to cleanly suited. Additionally, looking at mise-en-scene, rain pours outside his window prior to him speaking with Daisy (43:31). The first may imply a “sobering up” of sorts, that is, the lodger summoning the courage to speak to Daisy when he believes she may possibly be angry about the dress he purchased for her. This works as a milestone in showing him to be benign in their relationship in showing how he would react to what was potentially her denial of his gift and, as a result, him. On the other hand, the rain sets an ominous mood attempting to cause the viewer to consider he may be up to something insidious – since insidious things happen when it’s raining. However, this angle and the Lodger’s opening of the curtain emphasizing its presence should be seen as far too direct and obvious of an approach to alert the viewer to the true intention of the scene.

Secondly, on Daisy’s end, up until they have their conversation, she bathes. As the Lodger works his way to making his presence known, the camera makes close-ups on Daisy’s moving feet (43:58). Along with her nakedness, this parallels to a possibility that Daisy is helpless and vulnerable, since she is naked, and is attempting to run away from danger, as symbolized by her moving feet. However, any close-ups of her feet are drowned out by continual close-ups of Daisy’s face, which we see are shot from an angle that has Daisy at eye-level with the camera. This contrast to the angles used on filmed victims of the Avenger (0:55, 27:46) shows that Daisy is not in any actual danger but, on the contrary, is very much having sensible and amiable moment with the Lodger.

The Lodger (W1) /mm

                I don't believe I've ever seen any of Alfred Hitchcock's work in its' entirety but after watching The Lodger I'll have to admit a certain attraction to, if not black and white silent films, Hitchcock's work.  The scene I'll be considering is a reoccurring scene that takes place throughout about the first half of the movie.  With much of the first class discussion based around the flashing of the "To-night 'Golden Curls'" segment, I was rather frustrated with the meaning. The first thought I had regarding the scene had to do with the mentioning of the telegraph shortly after the first set of appearances. I wondered if possibly it was Hitchcock's way of showing the widespread publicity of the murders.  But when watching the cleaner version of the film, it was clear that "Golden Curls" was actually surrounded by a pair of quotations.  A telegram would most likely not place significance on golden curls in that matter.  Although the targeting of "fair" women is significant, the consistency of murders in itself is probably a more pressing issue.  At this point I gave in and asked my friend, Google.  He didn't have any definite answers but one site did mention a marquee for a show.  Unsatisfied I continued watching the film.  But soon after the scene where the press began printing papers, it cut to the back stage of what is presumably some sort of theatrical production.  This is also the scene where Daisy makes her first appearance.  We learn later that she models clothes for what I assume to be wealthy business men or wives of such business men, when the girls first come into the back stage, they proceed to shed blonde wigs.  Then it occurred to me that the show "Golden Curls" must have actually been playing that night.  Thus, To-night Golden Curls.  Of course it doesn't mean that Hitchcock did not meant it to be a not-so-subtle reference to the Avenger's weekly deeds.  This has been the most pressing issue watching this film.  But in terms of cinematography and basic terms learned there are few others. 

                In reading the short history of Hitchcock in the Britain's Film and TV history guide, there were two elements there that appeared in The Lodger (although the film itself was mentioned I won't be referring to these subjects).  I may be incorrect in my understanding of the term but I felt Hitchcock incorporated his famous use of a MacGuffin in the film.  The small bag that the Lodger carried was identified with careful use of a close up when the lodger first appears, reappears when the mother attempts to open the cabinet, and then once more in the final scenes of the film.  Although a MacGruffin is supposed to have no relevance, in the case of the Lodger, it did play a meaningful part in the plot.  But at the same time, the use of the bag could have been avoided altogether.  The bag merely brought intrigue and suspicion upon the Lodger just as Hitchcock had wanted. 

                Throughout the film Hitchcock also incorporates the use of the Look that the BFI guide so mentions as Hitchcock's defining elements.  For instance, when the Lodger first gets his real look at Daisy, and shortly before then when closes the window after seeing the newspaper boy selling the Avenger front page paper. 

                There's also the flashback that occurs when the Lodger retells the story of his sister's death.

                Also as mentioned in the previous discussion, there was much talk of the framing of the 4th victim's face in the beginning of the film.  Not to mention the arguable point of view situations when the victim was murdered by the avenger and the entrance of the Lodger at apartment 13.  To name a few.

In the opening scene (The lodger with better resolution) where news of the avenger's murder spreads across the media, there were a couple close up shots that are pretty significant. The first close-up was the scene we discussed in class about the victim being murdered by the Avenger. The next close-up scene begins at 5:18 where there is a string of close-ups featuring a variety of men and women. These two close-up scenes are linked in a way because we can see their expressions etched on their faces. The victim's face is marked with fear and horror, and the other faces show expressions of fear and shock. I thought the second close-up scene was significant because each face is quickly superimposed by a new face with a different reaction as if they were all one person expressing their reaction to the Avenger, whom the crowd recognizes as a figure with power given the angling of the faces; all the faces are shot so that the eyes are somewhat looking upwards or around to suggest their vulnerability. These two scenes provide a contrast to the reactions of the crowds of people as they read about the news. As the audience, we are able to confirm (or digress) our own reactions with the close-up shots.

In my next scene, at time 12:35, the camera begins with a medium close-up of the lodger and then pans across the room while alternating with a medium close-up of the lodger as he turns his head. There are many portraits featuring blond women positioned so that it feels as though the portraits are looking down towards the camera which is in the point of view of the lodger. This cinematography technique also helps the audience to see the close proximity of the portraits to the lodger. What I thought was particularly interesting was at time 12:48 after the lodger finishes looking around at the portraits. The mise-en-scene at this timestamp features a mirror above a fireplace and in the mirror is a portrait of a blond woman reflected in it. The lodger walks off the canvas of the camera so that the framing of the shot shifts the attention of the audience from the physical appearance of the lodger to the reflection of the lodger in the mirror looking at a portrait. This represents the a connection suggesting that the lodger could be the Avenger. In this scene, there is a reversal of power and vulnerability between the lodger and the blond women in the portraits. Not only do we see that the lodger is disturbed by the multiple portraits, but I thought it could signify a slight eerie haunting guilt of the Avenger. 

On another note, the text dialogue scene featuring the text "To -night Golden Curls" appeared multiple times throughout the movie. It appeared in the beginning scene, at time stamp 25:00, and the final scene at time 70:00. In the first two scenes, the scale of the dialogue is something of an extreme close-up to emphasize a connection between the Avenger and women with golden curls. It is unclear what it means exactly, but I thought it was an annoucement or headline from either the Avenger or a news article so perhaps it may have been a sinister message of some sort. The way the text appeared on the screen seemed to form the shape of a triangle, which was on the slip of paper the Avenger leaves behind. I thought that also helped to form a connection between golden curled women and the Avenger, and I also agree that the text dialogue could also be indicating a love triangle between Daisy, Joe, and the Lodger (whom could be the Avenger). The last scene with this dialogue is remarkably different than the previous two. At time 70:00, Daisy and the Lodger are together and the mise-en-scene shows a window with a view of a couple buildings. On one of the buildings, the text dialogue shows up but significantly smaller than before. There is a comparison between the dialogue and the couple and I thought it served to desensitize the sinister nature of the message that it conveyed in the two other scenes. The scale of the text also serves as a conclusion to the case and movie because it is no longer a close-up that suggests urgency.

Week 1 Blog Post: The Lodger

One of the most suspenseful and eye captivating scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s film, “The Lodger”, was the scene where the map that the police officer (Joe) plotted out the locations of the crime scenes of the Avenger changes scene to the map plotted by the lodger (time stamp: 39:18-39:19). It arouses a feeling of doubt and suspicion in the audience to suspect that the lodger is the Avenger. 

The cinematography and editing used in this scene support the idea that the lodger is the same person as the Avenger that has been murdering women with golden curly hairs every Tuesday. The camera takes a close-up shot of Joe’s map that is marked with circle and dots (time stamp: 39:18). Then, by the use of dissolve editing, Joe’s map gradually disappears while the lodger’s map that is marked with triangles gradually appears on the scene (time stamp: 39:19).  The dissolved editing allows the audience to see the relationship between the two maps and by taking a close-up shot, it encourages the audience to focus on the different markings of the two maps. Because the lodger is using triangles to mark the map, the audience will instantly correlate it to the trademark of the Avenger. This event makes the audience infer that the lodger is the Avenger (story). While the actual plot is that the lodger was also plotting out the locations of the crimes committed by the Avenger to track him down in order to fulfill the promise he made with his deceased mother, which was to get the Avenger behind the bars for murdering his sister (the first victim).  

Therefore, the mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound used to film “The Lodger” are important because they can completely change the interpretations that the audience can have. Alfred Hitchcock incorporated these key elements to make the audience believe that the lodger is the Avenger.

The Lodger, Week 1

    After watching “The Lodger” (the better resolution version), I found that several scenes in the beginning of the movie use foreshadowing and focus to instill a feeling of mystery into the audience. For example, as the telegraph machine is relaying the message (time stamp: 3:12), the focus is blurred everywhere except for when it focuses on words such as, “golden-haired,” “victim of mysterious murders,” and “the Avenger.” I believe that Hitchcock purposely blurred the rest of the telegraph message in order to associate the Avenger with those particular phrases, which come up throughout the rest of the film.
    Another scene that I found interesting was when Daisy is first introduced (time stamp: 6:12). I found this scene to be perplexing because it introduces Daisy, who happens to be a young blonde girl. In this scene, it shows Daisy and her friends reading about the Avenger’s latest victim in the newspaper. What I found to be intriguing was when Daisy was reading the newspaper, the screen flashed to “TO-NIGHT GOLDEN CURLS” and focused back on Daisy again, who was now looking at the mirror and running her fingers through her hair with a nervous look on her face. This particular moment is interesting because it also foreshadows that something bad might happen to Daisy, or it could be used as another technique to further convince the audience that the Lodger and the Avenger are indeed the same person.
    I noticed that when Daisy is first introduced, the camera focused on her reflection in the mirror, leaning the focus onto her face. After examining this, she bears some similarities to the girl in the beginning that was presumably the Avenger’s next victim (time stamp: 0:54). Clearly, the Avenger has a certain type, and based on his past kills and the evidence shown in the film, his type is young and beautiful with blonde hair (coincidentally, Daisy fits this description perfectly).
    In the scene where the police are at the crime scene (time stamp: 1:35), the policeman opens up a piece of paper with “The Avenger” written on it in the middle of a triangle. In another scene (time stamp: 6:55), Daisy’s name appears with a triangle next to it. This may be coincidental, but it also goes back to possibly foreshadowing that something bad may happen to Daisy. The triangle on the note and the triangle next to Daisy’s name also subconsciously connects them together, before the Lodger/Avenger and Daisy even meet.

Brief Intro to Hitchcock

Class,

Here's a very brief introduction to Hitchcock from the British Film Institute.  At the very least, it will call your attention to certain trademark Hitchcock techniques.

Also, I've located a version of The Lodger with better resolution. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Leo