1. Sir Alfred Hitchcock
America’s
Auteur

2. Auteur Theory
In film criticism, the 1950s-era auteur theory holds that a director's films reflect that director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). In some cases, film producers are considered to have a similar "auteur" role for films that they have produced.

3. Signatures
According to Auteur theory, an actual Auteur would self-plagiarize, or use highly-distinguishable signatures (motifs) in his films

4. Hitchcock’s Signatures
1. German Expressionism
  harsh doses of light and shadow  
authoritarian, psychotic and/or murderous characters, or even supernatural beings
              
   exaggerated shapes, including twisting, spirals and diagonal lines, which promote a
sense of instability (as opposed to verticals and horizontals)
   extreme, distorted angles
reflections in glass (often distorted or eerie in some way)
   theatrical costumes and garish make-up
artificial-looking sets that are obviously filmed indoors
relating the narrative through the subjective viewpoint of one or more of the
characters

5. a sense of entrapment or claustrophobia, exacerbated by outsized
props, meant to reflect a hostile universe, with constraints on
personal freedoms     
  exterior qualities echoing a character's psyche, e.g., someone who is
crippled is generally spiritually broken, as well
   names of characters and places may be symbolic
   if color is used, it is employed in a symbolic rather than a realistic
manner
allegorical figures, such as the grim reaper

6. 2. Cameo Appearances – usually within the first ten minutes

7. 3. Casting blonde women as main female characters– icy, remote, confident characterization

8. 4. Scenes shot in or near the bathroom – promotes invasion of privacy theme

9. 5. The Initials “B. M. ” – again, invasion of privacy
5. The Initials “B.M.” – again, invasion of privacy. What happens in the bathroom?

10. 6. Close-ups of Women’s hairstyles

11. Themes Mistaken Identity The Wrong Man Gender Reversal
Ordinary fears become abnormal occurrences
Voyeurism as an ordinary, human trait
Overwhelming guilt
The thrill of getting away with something
Doubling, doppelgangers, twins
Betrayal
Heights and Falling
Importance of male/female relationships
Knowing something to be true when everyone else disagrees
Oedipus Complex

12. “This is what happens to bad little boys.”
Fear of Police
“This is what happens to bad little boys.”

13. 8. Symbols

14. 10. Focuses on Hands & Stairs

15. 11. The McGuffin
A device or plot element that catches the viewer’s attention or drives the plot. It is generally something that every character is concerned with. The McGuffin is essentially something that the entire story is built around and yet has no real relevance.

16. Alfred Hitchcock illustrated the term "MacGuffin" with this story:
"It might be a Scottish name, taken from a story about two men in a train.
One man says, 'What's that package up there in the baggage rack?' And the other answers, 'Oh that's a McGuffin.' The first one asks 'What's a McGuffin?' 'Well' the other man says, 'It's an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands.' The first man says, 'But there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands,' and the other one answers 'Well, then that's no McGuffin!'
So you see, a McGuffin is nothing at all."

17. 12. Climactic events in or around monuments

18. 13. Psychoanalysis
Hitchcock was skeptical of psychoanalysis, as he was of all attempts to explain human behavior. Nevertheless, he drew upon psychoanalysis in many movies.
"He's suffering from acute melancholia complicated by a guilt complex."

19. Freudian Theory Repressed Memories Oedipal Complex & Momism
Subconscious desires
Psychosexual development
Dream Analysis
Split Personality
Doppelgangers & exchange of guilt

20. 14. Scopophilia
Scopophilia, voyeurism, the gaze objectification, fetishism
“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
SIGMUND FREUD, And I Quote

21. Theaters in Hitchcock movies Theaters - places of enclosure and illusion - frequently figure in Hitchcock's movies, often at climaxes or at the ends of chases. Hitchcock's theaters include movie theaters and concert halls as well as music hall and dramatic stages.

22. 16. Shots through windows

23. Hitchcock's Five Basic Plot Formations
from Robin Wood, Hitchcock's Films Revisited
1. the falsely accused man
2. the guilty woman
3. the psychopath
4. espionage & political intrigue
5. marriage

24. Hitchcock viewed the audience as invaders/voyeurs who should be punished!