Inaug.-Diss.--Köln. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Liberty University, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation--Dresden--Universität, 2004. / Notes bibliogr.

“Hitchcock and Humor: a Study in Collaborative Authorship” presents three case studies that examine how Hitchcock’s humor, a critical component of his touch, fluctuates and varies in accordance with his collaborators and his creative control. The first collaboration addressed involves Hitchcock’s dealings with producer David O Selznick on both Rebecca (1940) and Spellbound (1945). By tracing each film through its initial treatments to its final screenplay, the each man’s individual contribution comes to light and explains why Rebecca lacks the humor required for the full Hitchcock touch whereas Spellbound does provide comic moments. Under Selznick, Hitchcock first established a working relationship with actor Cary Grant. The two would continue to collaborate as the years went on and made four films together in all: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). In each subsequent film Hitchcock’s methods of humor mesh more with Grant’s screwball persona culminating in a Hitchcock classic full of funny moments. Along with Hitchcock’s wit and Grant’s physical comedy, North by Northwest owes a debt of gratitude to its screenwriter Ernest Lehman who created the original script simply out of sketches of characters and moments. The third case study examines the humor in Frenzy (1972). While Hitchcock’s recent films had failed to reproduce the Hitchcock touch for an uncharacteristic lack of humor, Frenzy is laced with tongue-in-cheek action. The story was based on Arthur La Bern’s novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square (1972) and was adapted to the screen by playwright Anthony Shaffer to create what many call Hitchcock’s return to form. These case studies reveal that the inclusion of humor in Hitchcock’s films comes about when Hitchcock has the freedom away from the pressures of the studio and studio heads to assert his creative control with the collaborators and films of his choosing, preferably collaborators whose aesthetics compliment his own, and preferably films whose genre allows for generous tongue-in-cheek. / text

In this essay, I argue that issues of voyeurism and scopophilia raised in Laura Mulvey’s early essay, “Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema,” are closely related to the social and economic shifts which occurred during the post-war period. Specifically, I argue that Mulvey’s essay articulates a particular kind of formal technique associated with what she calls “non-narrative scopophilia,” a kind of long-take shot that is utilized to great effect by Alfred Hitchcock in two of his later films, Rear Window (1955) and Psycho (1960). I argue that these shots represent a disruption to the smooth functioning of the classical Hollywood model of narrative and gender ideology in the post-war period tied closely to the changing economic realities of the period. I further argue that such a disruption is closely related to a new model of consumerism that emerges during this period.

In this essay, I argue that issues of voyeurism and scopophilia raised in Laura Mulvey’s early essay, “Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema,” are closely related to the social and economic shifts which occurred during the post-war period. Specifically, I argue that Mulvey’s essay articulates a particular kind of formal technique associated with what she calls “non-narrative scopophilia,” a kind of long-take shot that is utilized to great effect by Alfred Hitchcock in two of his later films, Rear Window (1955) and Psycho (1960). I argue that these shots represent a disruption to the smooth functioning of the classical Hollywood model of narrative and gender ideology in the post-war period tied closely to the changing economic realities of the period. I further argue that such a disruption is closely related to a new model of consumerism that emerges during this period.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan. / Reproduced from typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-33).

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan. / Reproduced from typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-33).

Stuttgart, FH, Diplomarb., 2002.

Close association with, and proximity to, a culture of commercialism means film trailers are often overlooked in academic analyses of cinema. Trailers are, for many audiences, simply adverts: disposable, consumable and not 'worthy' of the critical attention paid to the their feature-length antecedents. Yet trailers' undeniable impact on spectators generates a spectrum of reactions which contradicts the often dismissive and negative reception with which they are met. Trailers receive intense popular and critical scrutiny and are constantly compared to the films they represent. Despite negative associations with commercialism and advertising culture, trailers are archived, exhibited and produced and discussed in contexts very similar to film and seem to share more than just a receptive connection. This thesis explores the artistic qualities of the trailer and examines its position as part of a wider cinematic culture. I will demonstrate the trailer's artistic status by arguing for a redefinition of the field of film studies and examining the trailer through a number existing theoretical discourses, including auteur-theory and Deleuze's ideas for the Movement and Time Image. My study will focus on Hollywood film trailers from a number of eras and cover an extensive body of case studies. Each era will be used demonstrate that trailers are artistic texts and members of a cinematic - as opposed to advertisement - culture. The first era focuses on the trailers of Alfred Hitchcock, which exhibit the early signs of innovation and artistic expression in a format still viewed overwhelmingly as an advertising context. Hitchcock himself intervenes in his trailers as an auteur - producing memorable and undeniably cinematic film texts. Hitchcock’s trailers are spaces in which Deleuzean film theory is eminently visible and the trailers discussed offer the opportunity for greater understanding of Gilles Deleuze’s work. Following Hitchcock, the ‘blockbuster’ era covers high-budget, highly commercial films from the seventies and eighties. Blockbuster trailers see strong codification of convention and style - and a re-presentation of the affect as a unit of commercial and artistic value. Martine Beugnet’s Cinema of Sensation is embodied in this group, in examples which fuse the artistic and commercial aspects of trailer identity. The final chapter examines the ‘postmodern’ trailer. In this era, the trailer moves beyond its commercial origins to the point they are often no longer applicable. Examples include 'spoof' trailers with no feature film antecedent and no detectable commercial intent. Postmodern trailers, I will argue, can be pure artistic expressions - and even work in reverse, generating commercial interest after the original instance of artistic exhibition.