Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms.
Alfred HitchcockRead
I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Hitchcock suggests that his distinctive style influences audience expectations, even in familiar narratives.
Alfred Hitchcock's quote highlights how his unique filmmaking style, characterized by suspense and psychological thrillers, alters audience perceptions. By mentioning 'Cinderella', he illustrates that if he were to direct a well-known tale, viewers would anticipate a darker twist or an unexpected element, showcasing his knack for subverting traditional stories and creating tension.
Themes
FilmSuspenseAudienceExpectationNarrative
In practice
Example use cases
In a film studies class, discussing the impact of directorial style on storytelling.
More from Alfred Hitchcock
All quotes βLuck is everything... My good luck in life was to be a really frightened person. I'm fortunate to be a coward, to have a low threshold of fear, because a hero couldn't make a good suspense film.
Alfred HitchcockRead
I can't read fiction without visualizing every scene. The result is it becomes a series of pictures rather than a book.
Alfred HitchcockRead
Seeing a murder on television can help work off one's antagonisms. And if you haven't any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.
Alfred HitchcockRead
There is something more important than logic: imagination
Alfred HitchcockRead
One must never set up a murder. They must happen unexpectedly, as in life.
Alfred HitchcockRead
Similar quotes
What makes literature interesting is that it does not survive its translation. The characters in a novel are made out of the sentences. That's what their substance is.
Jonathan MillerRead
I've lost all my money on these films. They are not commercial. But I'm glad to lose it this way. To have for a souvenir of my life pictures like Umberto D. and The Bicycle Thief.
Vittorio De SicaRead
For two extraordinary years I have been working on it - learning to write - but mostly learning how to tell the truth. At first it is quite impossible. You make yourself better than anybody, then worse than anybody, and when you finally come to see you are "like" everybody - that is the bitterest blow of all to the ego. But in the end it is only the truth, no matter how ugly or shameful, that is right, that fits together, that makes real people, and strangely enough - beauty.
Louise BrooksRead
We have fallen in the dreams the ever-living Breathe on the tarnished mirror of the world, And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh.
William Butler YeatsRead
For the understanding of a picture a chair is needed. Why a chair? To prevent the legs, as they tire, from interfering with the mind
Paul KleeRead
I write essays to clear my mind. I write fiction to open my heart.
Taiye SelasiRead