Editing task

This clip is from the film The Birds (1963), which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The pace of the editing at the beginning is quite slow, showing a long shot of the female protagonist running out of a diner. The use of diegetic sound at the beginning is also effective as we hear the loud sound of the birds shrieking, however, when she enters the phone box, the sound becomes less potent. This suggests to the audience that the phone box is protecting her from the danger of outside. This only lasts for a few seconds as the sound of the birds slowly gets louder. The use the repeated eyeline match forces the audiences' attention on the chaos outside. The fast pace of the straight cuts back and forth, from her and the car on fire, builds tension. Also, the use of constant juxtaposition makes the audience feel like they are in her position. There is then a high angle shot on the female protagonist, also known as a tilt, which shows her as a helpless, vulnerable, submissive character. 

It then jumps to another juxtaposition shot, the eyeline match is her looking at a car, which is driving towards her at high speed. It then cuts to a medium close up of her flinching and turning away from the camera. There is then a straight cut focusing on the man in the car, who is being attacked by the violent birds. There is then a jump cut back to our female protagonist, this is a close up and only half of her face is shown as she is hiding behind the telephone stand. This gives the impression that she is terrified and is in great danger. The mans face in the car is not clearly shown, which suggests that Hitchcock didn't want the audience to get too attached to this character as he isn't really significant. After the man drives off, there is another straight cut to the main character, however, all these straight cuts to the female protagonist are no longer than one second shots, this is extremely fast pace, which creates suspension. There is then a long shot of the car skidding, and fire in the background, which again suggests danger. She then attempts to get out of the phone box, with the camera titling up at her. We are then presented with the sound of sirens, which again symbolises some need of help. The jump cut of a close up of her hand, focuses the viewers to see her push the phone box door shut again. There is then another example of juxtaposition, where an eyeline match of her looking and the fire engine pulling up at the gas station. The constant use of this, puts the viewer in her shoes and really get a sense of what she is experiencing. The use of the third tilt (downward) emphasises her subversiveness. We can also infer that because it is a medium close up (different from the other tilt shots) of her, suggests that she is in a state of panic as it looks like she is in a tighter and more confined space. There is another eyeline match, which in cinematography is called a point-of-view shot. There is then a straight cut to a horse and carriage, which like the car earlier on in the scene, speeds towards her. There is then a brief jump cut to a close up of her face/eye. There is then a couple more straight cuts of her, which is then followed by a sharp jump cut to another tilt shot. We then see another jump cut to a mans bloody face, this forces the viewer to look at him as it is unexpected and sudden. The use of the eyeline match, suggests she sees an opportunity to escape. Which is then followed by her opening the door, but with her back facing the camera. As a viewer we want to see what her facial expression is when she is doing this, so this is quite frustrating as an audience member. There is then another sudden jump cut of the bird smashing into the glass, which has taken her aback. 
Finally, there is then a long shot of the outside of the phone box, where a man comes to her rescue and helps her out of the phone box. There is a frenetic pace for the entreaty of this scene. I think Hitchcock did this to build up tension and make the audience feel uneasy. In addition, there was not any dialogue used in this scene, this may be because Hitchcock wanted to emphasise all the attention on the sound of the birds, which again makes the audience feel uncomfortable as the sound is very unsettling.