The Birds

The Birds 

The Trailer

The trailer contains many aspects of a typical thriller. For example, there is the main character who we hope to see survive any horrors that are thrown at them, which is the blonde woman (Tippi Hedren), a villain, which technically is the birds and the sense of tension. The trailer itself contains a build up of tension, with the blonde woman arriving into the peaceful town, and then the flock of birds build up before we see a group of children running away, terrified, with the birds chasing after them. It is ironic at the beginning because the old woman says that there is "nothing to be afraid of" and she praises birds for being such wonderful creatures. But through watching this trailer alone we learn how wrong this assumption is and let Hitchcock's version of a thriller make the audience change their minds.

Thriller Conventions

The Birds stars Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette. It was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was released in 1963. This film contains many typical thriller conventions also, such as suspense. For example, when the blonde woman waits outside the school and has a cigarette there is only sound from the outside and is no soundtrack, as there was no actual score to the film. All we hear is the sounds of children singing a song in their school, and the innocence coming from them contrasts with the terrifying reality of the birds eerily building up suspense when they all line up behind the woman. This also creates dramatic irony, as the audience know more about what is happening than any of the characters. Then of course, she eventually turns around and realizes she's about to enter a very dangerous situation unwillingly.

*The scene described when the typical thriller suspense builds up*

This film contrasts from other thrillers however. Where most thrillers directed by Hitchcock (such as North By North West or Psycho) have a person for a villain, the real threat in this film actually comes from nature. Birds, are naturally presented as peaceful and gentle creatures who would never normally harm someone. The old woman in the cafe in one of the scenes is in the film to show the audience what is usually expected from these creatures, and her character is there to assure everyone around her that nothing is going to happen and everything will be fine because they are harmless. But we know otherwise, as we have seen an attack already, whereas she hasn't.
Within Hitchcock's films, he makes it almost impossible for characters to find somewhere to hide, therefore making the terror involved with thrillers even more nail-biting for the audiences to watch. In The Birds, the family portrayed within most of the movie and of course the blonde woman return home after the little girl has been attacked at her school, along with the majority of other students in her class. There is complete silence as the family are frantically hoping and praying that there will not be another attack, as being in the house will not protect them any more than being outside. So literally, the audience get the feeling that there is no hope for any of these characters and that Hitchcock has offered them no escape.

"Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action."

There is constant fast pacing action throughout The Birds because of how much suspense there is to build up scenes where there is an attack of the birds. They start of f as little attacks, like when the blonde woman gets pecked by a single bird to begin with, and then birds terrorize the little girl's birthday party, then further on there is an attack on the whole town where the blonde woman is later trapped in a phone box. Finally, there is a huge attack when she returns home and then goes upstairs to check on the attic to see if there's anything there, but then gets brutally attacked and she is all alone. I would say that there is action throughout this film all the way through as there are lots of times when there are attacks, minor ones getting bigger and bigger until the big one at the end.