Though not directly affiliated with the post-apocalyptic genre due to its ambiguous ending, The Birds is a film by Alfred Hitchcock which is inspired by Daphne Du Maurier's novel with tells the story of a small village terrorised by a sudden attack of, well, birds. It stars big celebrities from the sixties such as Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor and Jessica Tandy.
Tense music is used with an additional score of a symphony which gives the opening a tense and grand effect. Dark silhouettes of birds also flit across the screen to coincide with the titles, which fly past the stark blue writing and give an imposing feel to the colour schemes in frame.
Similar to the previous film openings, the title is included in the opening title sequence, but unlike the previous films, no story is being foretold for the events about to unfold. This film is more a thriller than a post-apocalyptic piece, and therefore the events will unravel with the viewer, and will therefore make them feel more sympathetic towards the characters.
As the credit roll, a transition effect is used which causes the text to dissipate into the next section...similar to if a bird had pecked at the text or if the lettering was being beaten away with the wings of the birds.
ADDITIONAL
An establishing shot of the city if the first thing we see after the credits have cease, and instead of showing us the main character initially, we see a bus full of people. In a flock, similar to pigeons in a coop. It draws the eye's attention to follow the bus, but also makes us feel included in the city scene.
After the bus leaves, the camera then tracks the journey of the blonde figure, Tippi Hedren. She's dressed stylishly and well in her time line. There is no distant or eventual future - she is, for now, just an average civilian in sixties America.
There is a moment before she enters the pet shop when she notices her friends walk by, yet it also makes the viewer feel self conscious, like at any moment she may notice us watching her.
But she is being watched in a way. Above head, we see her looking up at a sky full of the same shadowy-black birds in the title sequence, heavily contrasted against the white sky. This ssems to foreshadows things to come.
Now what would a Hitchcock film be without a cameo?
CHARACTERS
The characters and their costumes outwardly reflect the era and the character. Tippi always dresses stylishly - her character is a rich heiress and she appears just that. Though at heart she hates conforming to the rich-guy persona, she is a model example for sixties style. However, as the film progresses she becomes more and more disheveled from the bird's attacks. Her hair ruins, she gets covered in cuts and her clothes become dirtier.
This also happens to Rod Taylor as the male lead and protector of the group. He starts off in the pet store as well dressed and witty, but looks can be equally deceptive due to the fact that he's a coastal boy who lives with his mother and his daughter.
The mother and the daughter are always well dressed (And Tandy oddly looks like an older Tippi Hedren), but it's their relationships with one another and hard exteriors that are tested in a post-apocalyptic situation that develops their characters in the end.
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