The Birds (1963)

"The Birds" is a 1963 thriller created by none other than director Alfred Hitchcock. With Directors Daphne Du Maurier & Evan Hunter, & starring Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren & Suzanne Pleshette, the film follows a group of characters on what begins as a totally ordinary day, but soon spirals into a terrifyingly catastrophic event.

The film contains typical elements of a thriller in the way in which it constantly uses tension to keep the viewer on edge.
TRAILERANALYSIS

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock & written Daphne Du Maurier & Evan Hunter, the film runs for approximately 119 minutes & stars such actors as Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren & Suzannne Pleshette.
THRILLERCONVENTIONS

The main of the film is the way in which it makes nature the external threat. This is a very clever way of creating such a film as it makes us paranoid of the world without us. Hitchcock makes the main threat of the film "the birds" (hence it's rather self-explanatory title), but not just great big predatorial birds, but all birds in general, everything from eagles & vultures to robins & magpies. The fact that common birds such as crows & ravens are now suddenly made a threat is a thought very close to home as these birds are something we see on a regular basis. This greatly personalises the film & makes us question how safe we really are, possibly making one paranoid of the actual birds we see around us. This links in with how Hitchcock's films often a theme of abandonment where there is nowhere to hide, such as the Crop Fertiliser film in his masterpiece 'North by North West'. In this scene Roger Thornhill is trapped in an open field in the middle of nowhere as a crop fertilising plane flies from overhead to attack him. As Thornhill is in the middle of nowhere, with no means of escape, he has nowhere to hide & is forced into facing his foe. He is wide open to attack, which is a rather terrifying thought. This form of terror with the 'nowhere to hide' theme is used in 'The Birds' in the way in which the birds are now our enemy, & birds are everywhere, all around us. There is no escape from such a threat, as the birds can attack from all directions. This is made greatly apparent in the Bodega Bay scene in which in which the children are chased out of their school by the avian devils. The creatures attack the students from all angles as they run for shelter, even attacking those have taken refuge within cars & telephone boxes. The use their beaks to break through the children's temporary fortresses, rendering both those in the area defenceless against their will, whether they are situated inside or outside of any facilities. This is a prime example of Hitchcock's classic 'no escape' strategies in his productions.

The film makes great use of various classic thriller conventions. One example of this is how the film uses fast pacing. The film is a constant struggle to escape the birds & their wrath, as they are pursued by the aggressive avians. The film sees a lot of action as the birds wreck havoc on the land & it's inhabitants. There are constant scenes of conflict between the two species throughout the film's duration.