A2 FILM STUDIES

FM4SECTION C

CLOSE STUDY

Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo

Past Exam Essay questions

Paragraph Plan Templates

Specimen Paper

Question Paragraph plan17. What does your chosen film reveal about the usefulness of one or more critical approaches you have applied? [30]

1. Introduction2. Auteur theory – Hitchcock’s body of work

– comparison to other films3. Auteur theory – signature style – film form

(camera work etc…)4. Feminist theory – Mulvey - gender roles /

female characters / male gaze5. Feminist theory – Modelinski & Wood –

gender roles / male characters 6. Psychoanalysis and the Rescue Fantasy

– is Vertigo about the rescue fantasy realised or, does it represent the collapse of the rescue fantasy and of Masculinity in the 1950s?

7. Marxist theory – Wexman’s ideas around the representation of class & 50s society in the film / Vertigo as a commercial studio product

8. conclusion18. Consider debates that have arisen in the critical reception of your chosen film, either at the time of its initial release or now or both. [30]

1. introduction2. reviews from the time of release3. auteur theory – influence of signature

style on the film4. canonical status of film 5. contemporary reviews6. personal opinion7. conclusion – summarise general

reception to the film21. Film scholars have argued that Vertigo is a film about cinema and about spectatorship. How far do you think this is true? [30]

1. introduction2. themes – spectatorship as a theme

and how other themes link into this, critical reception of the film since 1950s suggests Vertigo has become more popular overtime and with repeated viewing – it demands engagement from the spectator

3. Use of Camera – link to spectatorship & emphasis of subjective camera (POV) work to encourage this

4. Narrative structure – Scottie’s demise

and our questioning of him5. mise-en-scene – symbols & motifs eg

mirrors & framing and embedded, complex motifs that enable repeated viewing for spectators

6. characters – how we are encouraged to identify with Scottie and Madeline – how are we encourage to identify with Judy and Midge

7. conclusion

June 2010Question Paragraph plan• How useful has a particular

critical approach been in gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of your chosen film?

• Explain how your understanding of your chosen film has been influenced by critical debates.

• What do you consider to be the important themes and ideas Hitchcock explores in Vertigo through the use of the Madeleine/Judy character?

January 2011

Question Paragraph planExplore some of the ways in which placing your chosen film within a broader critical framework has helped to develop your appreciation and understanding of specific sequences.

How far has critical debate about your chosen film shaped and altered your response?

How far has critical debate about your chosen film shaped and altered your response?

June 2011

Question Paragraph plan17. Explore some of the ways in which you have gained fresh insights into your chosen film as a result of applying one or more specific critical approaches. [30]

18. How important have been the responses of others, such as film reviewers, in influencing your own response to your chosen film?[30]

21. Explore some of the ways in which Hitchcock attempts to manage the audience response to Scottie as the narrative of Vertigo unfolds. [30]

January 2012

Question Paragraph plan17. In developing a response to your chosen film, how valuable did you find the application of a specific critical approach? [30]

18. Explore how far a particular debate by critics has influenced your understanding of your chosen film. [30]

21. Explore the importance of narrative structure in the development of key themes and ideas in Vertigo. [30]

June 2012

Exam Question Paragraph Plan17. How far has an awareness of the filmmaker as auteur influenced your response to your chosenfilm? [30]

18. How far has particular writing by critics been important in developing your understandingand appreciation of your chosen film? [30]

21. ‘The representation of women in Vertigo demonstrates how far this is a film by a man for men.’How far do you agree? [30]