Today I have a very short example of cinematic storytelling. Nevertheless, it comes from the master of cinematic storytelling himself, hope you’ll like it.

During his conversation with Francois Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock mentioned an interesting example of using costume design as a storytelling device.

We did an interesting color experiment with Grace Kelly’s clothing. I dressed her in very gay and bright color at the beginning  of the picture, and as the plot thickened, her clothes became gradually more somber.

The plot of the movie is quite simple: Tony tries to murder his wife Margot, however, things don’t go as planned, so he has to think of plan B. And everything is reflected in Margot’s costume design, which changes from bright colors to more somber, as the story unfolds. Judge by yourself:

(This the only exception, when she is in her underwear.)

I would probably never notice this without reading the Hitchcock book, but again, this is the beauty of cinematic storytelling!

Alfred Hitchcock likes to appear in his movies at various places and in various forms, and this one is especially great! 🙂