The Birds

The birds
"The birds" is a 1963 horror/thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film started rod Taylor, Trippi Hedren and Suzanne Pleshette. The story of the birds was written by Daphne Du Maurier and the screen play was written by Evan hunt. 

Thriller Conventions

the external threat of this thriller is from nature. A thriller convention characteristic is the fast pacing frequent action, this is shown throughout the film. for example the birds come in waves they will come then disappear for a little while then come back but why the birds were gone the people of Bodega bay argued so there was always frequent action. usually in thrillers there is a resourceful hero that must thwart the plans of the more powerful villain. You could argue that Mitch Brenner is the resourceful hero that is trying to thwart plans of the villain in this case the birds. suspense is used extensively throughout the film. They make good use of non-diegetic sound to cause suspense. for example when Mitch, Melanie, Lydia and Cathy are in the house trying to keep safe and they can hear the screeching of the birds. Dramatic irony is used in the birds when Tripi Hendren does not know that the birds have been gathering but the audience does. we have knowledge that the character doesn't. This builds suspense as we know the birds are going to attack but we don't know when.

did you know?
there is a scene where Trippi Hedren is ravaged by birds near the end of the movie took a week to film. the birds were attached to her clothes by long nylon threads so they could not get away.

Alfred Hitchcock is known as the "master of suspense", he always uses suspense and tension to show his audience.he does this by the way he uses the camera position, angles, movement and shots. He also uses scary music to create suspense in his films. there is a good example of this in The Birds, it is the scene when Trippi Hendren is sitting on a bench out side the school playground smoking, and in the background you can hear the children singing, the singing is a very unpleasant sound that builds tension and suspense. as the singing repeats you see a shot of 4 birds gathering on the climbing frame in the school playground. this builds more suspense as Trippi Hendren does not know that the birds are starting to gather. a few moments after Trippi Hendren notice the birds on the climbing frame but thinks nothing of it. Then she notices a bird in the air the camera follows the bird flying through the air to when it lands on the climbing frame. when it lands we see that the birds have gathered in large numbers, Trippi notices that the birds are about to attack and the children singing is attracting them so she goes to warn the school teacher. throughout all of this the singing is being repeated.



Alfred Hitchcock didn't finish the film with his usual "The End" title because Alfred Hitchcock wanted to give the impression of unending terror. There was a number of ending suggested for the film. one that was highly considered was that the scene would have shown the Golden Gate Bridge completely covered by birds.

in this interview Alfred Hitchcock talks about the making of "The Birds" and why he made the film. He also talks about how the birds were trained and how dangerous some of the birds were. Trippi Hendren talks about how excited she was to star in her first film and to be working with Alfred Hitchcock and how scared she was for 2 weeks but after was fine. she also talks about the scene when all the birds fly at her when shes in the attic. she was scratched and bitten a few times one that was very close to her eye at the end of the scene she passed out and was sent to bed for 5 days by the doctor.