In the last shot of this movie, Scottie stands on the ledge and looks down at what we assume is Judy's body. We have to assume she was the women in the opening credits, and now we finally get to see what she was so afraid of. Gaze-object-Gaze to end the film, just like the women in beginning. Eventually they embrace and kiss until Judy notices a shadowy figure appear in the darkness. He doesn't know if he should give her another chance, leave, or turn her in. This signifies his mental position while listening to her. The low key lighting places a shadow around his face. Each time the camera cuts to Scottie his face is engulfed in darkness. In one of the last scenes Johnnie listens to Judy explain herself and profess her love for him. But neither of them want to admit it to themselves. At this moment the camera follows them in a 360 degree rotation while the background momentary changes from the hotel room to the stable and back. When she steps out of the green light and back into focus they kiss and embrace. And what do ghost represent? The existence of an afterlife. When she walks out toward him the green light is superimposed around her body giving her the appearance of a blurred ghostly figure.
As Johnnie waits for the newly blonde Judy to come out of the bathroom the fluorescent green light from the sign outside engulfs the room. The color green makes its final appearance in the hotel room in the form of a high contrast lighting key. It eventually dies and gets absorbed by the ground, becoming part of the Plan(e)t. She has just died and returned just like a leaf that falls off a branch and hits the ground. This time it is used to compare her to the resurrection that a plant undergoes. In the final act Madeline returns under a new persona, with brown hair and a new name. Scottie even alludes to this in the stable when he says to Madeline, "you see? There's an answer for everything."Ī Scene From "Vertigo" by Alfred Hitchcock Closing Thoughts The closer to death we get the closer to an answer we are, but we are afraid to go over the edge to find the truth because of the unknown outcome. This is like the battle between life and the curiosity of afterlife that goes on in our minds. He battles his mind and almost makes it up the stairs, but it's too late and a woman falls to her death. This puts us in a position to understand what his mind is doing to him. Just like in the beginning of the movie, the zooming effect is used to give the audience a "Point of View" look at Scottie's vertigo. Inside the chapel Johnnie faces his fear of heights in order to make it up the stairs in an attempt to save Madeline's life. I think here the director is using it to remind the audience of the color one last time before he beats you in the head with it during the third act. By this time in the film, this color has become one of the main characters. As usual, the color green makes another strong appearance as the grass on the front lawn. This once again gives the viewer a feeling that someone else is watching them. Instead of a standard continuity shot, the camera starts off across the street with a still horizon shot, which then pans screen right and turns into a wide shot of the stable.
The first time Scottie and Madeleine visit the Spanish mission the stable is introduced in an interesting way. The next shot is a quick cut from a close midshot of Gavin to a very close medium shot of Scottie. This makes objects in the back ground appear further away than they actually are." (Padawer, page 18). "A lens with a short focal length creates large depth of field.
The director must have used a wide-angle lens for this shot to utilize its short focal length. If you pause this shot it looks like they aren't even in the same place, this gives you the idea that Scottie is in a world of his own. The composition and depth of this shot cuts the planes in 3-diminsions. Next is the picturesque medium shot with Scottie sitting right in front of the camera and Gavin standing behind him. Especially that red rug that is thrown in our face deliberately with the wide shot at the very start of the scene. All the red that consumes the room signifies blood and death. First of all the color values are used as symbols. The scene in Gavin's office foreshadows everything that's going to happen to Scottie.
0 kommentar(er)
