Close reading of The Birds (Hitchcock 1963)

1. Note the details of each attack: who is attacked and why. When is the first attack? What happens? When do the audience first know an attack is coming? How is this moment foreshadowed?

Melanie is the first person to be attacked in the film, when a seagull swoops down and pecks her head. She was coming back from secretly visiting Mitch's home, who lived on the other side of the lake.

Mitch saw her in the boat, and drove around the lake and waited for her as she came back. When they looked at each other, the seagull suddenly attacked.

2. Write a one sentence description of the protagonists.

Mitch: A handsome man who must learn to make room for the many women in his life.

Melanie: A younge naive woman who means well but has fallen in love with a man in a complicated situation.

Lydia: Mitch's mother, who is overprotective of her child and scared of losing him to any woman.

Annie: A school teacher who has always been attracted to Mitch even though he doesn't feel the same way.

3. How does Hitchcock build tension through editing in the school yard scene?

Hitchcock first places Melanie in front of the school yard, so she is unaware as the birds fly onto the playground one by one behind her. The fact that the birds make no noise as they fly onto the school yard creates even more tension. Then he cuts to the classroom and then back to the school yard, only now it is full of birds:

Melanie doesn't notice this for a while but she does she becomes as tense as the audience is and walks into the school. The entire time we are expecting a massive attack, but Hitchcock does not rush anything: He slowly builds up the tension for a while until the birds finally attack.

4. Can you work out what triggers the attacks?

It seems that the attacks have something to do with the three main women of the movie (Melanie, Lydia and Annie). There is always at least one of those three women present when the attacks happen. I do not know why.