Vertigo

Question 1

Elster’s Office: Cinematography

Answer 1

• two shots, mid-shots, mid-longs & low angles (especially on Elster to show his power)
• eye-level on Scottie
• two-shot = equality

Question 2

Elster’s Office: Mise-en-scene

Answer 2

• big office
• browns & reds, no patterns to signify masculinity & danger
• staging - varied proximity & heights (why don’t you sit?)
• proscenium arch - Elster is performing (macguffin)
• big window to shipyard to show wealth & power (phallic imagery)
• naturalistic performances

Question 3

Elster’s office: Sound

Answer 3

• no music - would give away the plot
• diegetic sounds from shipyard
• dialogue essential to the plot

Question 4

Elster’s Office: Editing

Answer 4

• mix of long & short takes
• continuous & natural - doesn’t give much away

Question 5

Elster’s Office: Aesthetics

Answer 5

• strong use of cinematography to display power difference
• browns, leathers & woods = very masculine

Question 6

Elster’s Office: representations

Answer 6

• Elster asks about Scottie’s disability - Connell’s hierarchy of masculinity - Elster at the top & Scottie lower due to vertigo. Gives the impression that men at the top can get away with anything
• disabled men are weaker than able-bodied men
• men’s control over women (patriarchy)

Question 7

Elster’s Office: context

Answer 7

• men trying to re-assert control after WW2 - Elster spying on his wife
• Age of Anxiety - paranoia, any threat was possible
• beginning of red herring / macguffin

Question 8

Elster’s Office: evidence of the auteur

Answer 8

• charming villain - he tries to influence Scottie through his emotions
  -macguffin - Hitchcock has Elster create an elaborate plan which leads the audience through Scottie (alignment) on a wild goose chase
• cameo - Hitchcock walks through the frame at the beginning of