The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, US, 1963)
The crows gather on the climbing frame
By the time Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) arrives outside of the Bodega Bay school, we have already seen seagulls attack a children's birthday party, finches have streamed down Rod Taylor's chimney terrifying his family and one of the town's residents has been pecked to death. Hedren has gone to collect Taylor's sister and while she waits for the class to end - the birds seem to know that playtime is about to start - she sits with her back to the playround smoking, oblivious to the massing ranks of crows. Hitchcock used more than 80 camera angles - only a handful of the birds were real - to shoot the scene.
The camera lingers on Hedren for what seems an age - we can hear the children singing in the background - and the suspense is maintained with the camera cutting back and forth to the climbing frame as the crows mass. Hedren turns to discover the birds, rushes into the classroom and while the children are being evacuated down the main street the crows attack.
The crows gather on the climbing frame
By the time Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) arrives outside of the Bodega Bay school, we have already seen seagulls attack a children's birthday party, finches have streamed down Rod Taylor's chimney terrifying his family and one of the town's residents has been pecked to death. Hedren has gone to collect Taylor's sister and while she waits for the class to end - the birds seem to know that playtime is about to start - she sits with her back to the playround smoking, oblivious to the massing ranks of crows. Hitchcock used more than 80 camera angles - only a handful of the birds were real - to shoot the scene.
The camera lingers on Hedren for what seems an age - we can hear the children singing in the background - and the suspense is maintained with the camera cutting back and forth to the climbing frame as the crows mass. Hedren turns to discover the birds, rushes into the classroom and while the children are being evacuated down the main street the crows attack.