Alfred Hitchcock Is Commonly Known As 'The Master Of Suspense'. Does He Achieve This In The 'Climbing Frame' Scene In The Film 'The Birds'?

The sound in this early part of the scene is very direct -by the means of everything is given to the audience. We ear the young children's voices singing an innocent school song. Immediately, when we hear the young children singing it gives the children naivety, by using the song as a symbol of innocence.

As she opens the door of the school we find out it is the school children who are singing this song. Melanie opens the inner door of the school and volume of the song increases. This increases the symbolism of innocence on the children.

When Melanie looks into the classroom, she distracts a few children from their singing. Melanie looks up, and we see Annie - the schoolteacher at the front of the class directing the children. Annie sees Melanie at the foot of the classroom and promptly gestures Melanie to leave. Melanie hurries of outside and the children resume their singing.

During this first part of the scene we learn how comfortable Melanie is with Annie and how they share a mutual respect towards each other. When Annie politely asks Melanie to leave the classroom, we notice how Melanie obeys this instruction.

The film moves onto the second section of the scene. This is the main part of the scene. Melanie leaves the classroom and walks towards a bench. The camera is in a fixed position and follows her as she walks towards the bench. Melanie sits down. The camera moves in front of Melanie and we can see Melanie seated on the bench and a climbing frame behind her. We then see a black crow flutter and perch on the frame. Melanie, unaware of the presence of the birds comfortably lights a cigarette. The camera switches from a distanced close up to an immediate close up of Melanie's upper body. This makes the audience pay particular attention to Melanie's face and body movements.

We notice Melanie's leg starts to twitch and she continues to smoke. Melanie is aware of the possibility of the birds attacking and is therefore getting nervous. The camera changes back to a distanced shot and we now notice that on the climbing frame there are two more black crows perched on the climbing frame. The shot was switched to make the audience aware of the two new crows perched on the climbing frame. This was done by bringing the climbing frame back into the view of the audience. Throughout the scene we can hear the children singing their innocent song. This is showing that the children are the most vulnerable in the presence of the birds.

Melanie then looks around but not behind her, she then looks into the sky and sees a bird fly and land on a climbing frame filled with hundreds of birds. Melanie stands up in horror but doesn't scream - instead she runs towards the school to alert Annie of the presence of the birds.

We learn a lot about Melanie in this part of the scene. We see that she was nervous about the bird attack but still showed a state of calm when seeing them. If she was nervous she would have screamed but she kept calm. We learn how she shows her nerves and how she calms them with a cigarette.

The sounds and camera shots in this scene are crucial in creating tension and suspense. The sound illustrates things to the audience which are not given by camera. For example, the children's singing and the birds arriving on the climbing frame symbolises to the audience good versus evil and shows how innocence contrasts with maliciousness. The camera shots tell the audience to pay attention to detail with close-ups and show how things have changed with distanced shots. When the camera shots switch subjects the audience are anticipating the next shot to discover what's changed. This creates anticipation which also helps to build the suspense and tension.

The audience knows that there will be more birds arriving but do not know how many birds will arrive on the climbing frame, or how long it takes to do this. Also, the fact that the audience know, by the means of the different camera shots used in the scene, about the gathering of the birds and the character does not create dramatic irony.

In the third section of the film, Melanie goes back into the school and warns Melanie about the birds outside. Prior to this Annie has told the children to prepare to go outside. Again, there is a sense of dramatic irony where Annie and the children are unaware of the birds outside.

Melanie walks in through the back of the classroom and tells Annie about the birds. Annie takes control of the situation and pretends to have a fire drill. The children begin to get worried and make noise. Annie raises her voice and gives the children instructions on what to do. She tells the children who live nearby to go home and those who do not to follow Melanie, in this case referred to as 'Ms Daniels' to a nearby hotel.

In this section of the scene we learn about Annie's character. Like Melanie, she started to worry but then regained a state of calm. She keeps calm and stays collected, and gives strong, clear instructions on what to do.

When Melanie informs Annie of the birds, Annie starts to worry. Hitchcock previously has given the audience the impression that Annie was a strong, solid character and how the children rely on her as authority. But we begin to see signs of her breaking down. This creates tension because it makes the children look even more vulnerable without their teacher.

But Annie grows stronger and becomes that strong, statue like the character the audience wants her to be. The camera shots show this by creating Annie as the main subject towards which the camera is directed. The camera follows Annie around the classroom not Melanie because for this section of the scene Annie has become the most central character. Hitchcock has switched subjects because here he wants to create more suspense by making Annie the character the audience pay attention to.

This part of the scene brings the whole section to a climax, awaiting the next scene. The audience are waiting in anticipation for what will happen next. Hitchcock makes the audience tense by making the wonder whether the children will suffer the same murderous end as Lydia's neighbour who was brutally murdered by these same birds.

The final section of the film starts with the children running. We see a shot of the birds on the climbing frame. There is silence, and then we hear the sound of feet running. This acts like a drum roll for the birds to attack. The birds flutter in all directions, the sound of feet is overpowered by the tremendous flapping of the birds. We see close ups of the birds swooping down on the children. This increases the tension as it focuses on the graphic detail of the attack. The camera captures each peck and each flap of the birds in this part of the scene. Hitchcock makes this part of the scene possibly the most horrific part of the film by showing the cries of the children and their blood.

There is chaos everywhere as the children are attacked and fall to the ground in pain. A girl gets attacked and falls onto the ground in pain. When she hits she ground her glasses smash. This makes the girl more vulnerable since she now can no longer see clearly. Dozens of birds surround the girl and begin viciously pecking at her. Melanie and Cathy gather her to safety in Melanie's car and they watch in horror as they see their whole surroundings filled with flying birds. We can hear the birds squawking outside but the sound is faded as it is in the car. The quieter bird sounds give the effect of fading away.

Now that they are in the car, they know they are safe for now but they are unsure of when the next attack will be and where it will take place. These questions are transferred through to the audience by the worried and anxious look on the characters faces.

In conclusion, I think Alfred Hitchcock has created suspense and tension in an effective manner throughout the whole film and especially the 'Climbing Frame' scene. He does this by using the sound and camera shots in different ways to send thoughts into the audiences mind. He uses the characters feelings and emotions to make the audience feel worried and tense.

Hitchcock has used the point of creating birds as creatures which could create so much terror in an effective way. It has a psychological feeling in that birds are common everyday animals and that they could turn against anyone, anywhere. When someone looks up into the sky and sees a bird, they will reminisce about the film and remember the birds as a symbol of terror.

Although Hitchcock has created suspense and tension in an effective way. I think modern audiences might react differently to the film. I think this because he uses the sound and camera work to send emotions into the minds of the audiences. But modern day films are created in a different style in which everything is there for the audience to see.

Arunan Tharmarajah English Coursework 18/12/2007 Pg1