Casting a Shadow
Creating the Alfred Hitchcock Film
Edited by Will Schmenner and Corinne Granof
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Book Presentation:
Alfred Hitchcock is often held up as the prime example of the one-man filmmaker, conceiving and controlling all aspects of his films’ development—the archetype of genius over collaboration. An exhibition at the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, however, put the lie to Hitchcock-as-auteur, presenting more than seventy-five sketches, designs, watercolors, paintings, and storyboards that, together, examine Hitchcock’s very collaborative filmmaking process. The four essays in this collection were written to accompany the exhibition and delve further into Hitchcock’s contributions to the collaborative process of art in film.
Scott Curtis considers the four functions of Hitchcock’s sketches and storyboards and how they undermine the impression of Hitchcock as a lone artist. Tom Gunning examines the visual vocabulary and cultural weight of Hitchcock’s movies. Bill Krohn focuses sharply on the film I Confess, tracking its making over a very cooperative path.
Finally, Jan Olsson draws on the television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, to show the ways that collaboration contributes to the formation of his well known public persona. Anchored by editor Will Schmenner’s introduction, this book represents an important contribution to Hitchcock scholarship and a provocative glimpse at his unsung strength as a collaborative artist.
About the authors:
Will Schmenner is the assistant film curator at the Block MuseumCorinne Granof is Associate Curator at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University. She has organized numerous exhibitions of modern American and European art and has written on a broad range of topics, with a focus on early twentieth-century German art.
See the publisher website: Northwestern University Press
See the complete filmography of Alfred Hitchcock on the website: IMDB ...
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