“The Birds” is an American horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1963. The film is based on an eponymous short story by Daphne du Maurier.
It is also one of the first films to use modern special effects to create horror scenes. Bird attacks have become iconic in film, and the special effects used to create them as well as the sound work for the bird calls were highly innovative at the time. Notably, the film has no traditional musical score. Instead, Hitchcock used a Trautonium, an electronic instrument, to create unsettling sounds that blend with the bird cries.
During filming, the production team worked with thousands of live birds including crows, ravens, gulls, and sparrows. The seagulls proved particularly unpredictable and aggressive, leading the crew to sometimes feed them wheat soaked in whisky to calm them down, as actor Rod Taylor recounted. While crows and ravens were easier to train and handle, the gulls remained difficult to control. Tippi Hedren described during an interview the shooting as “brutal, ugly and relentless,” particularly during the attic attack scene where live birds were thrown at her for several days, causing real injuries despite initial promises to use mechanical birds. This final attack scene took a week to shoot.
The film was shot in the real town of Bodega Bay, California, which has since become a tourist attraction thanks to the movie. This one ends abruptly, without explanation or resolution, which was highly unusual for the time and created additional tension.
This is my 2019 photo series shot in Paris as a tribute to the film
“Much of my photographic practice is inspired by cinema. I explore how cinematic composition, atmosphere, and storytelling can translate into still images, blurring the line between film and photography.”
© Copyright Jacques Julien 2025
Storyline
Melanie Daniels is the modern rich socialite, part of the jet-set who always gets what she wants. When lawyer Mitch Brenner sees her in a pet shop, he plays something of a practical joke on her, and she decides to return the favor. She drives about an hour north of San Francisco to Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends the weekends with his mother Lydia and younger sister Cathy. Soon after her arrival, however, the birds in the area begin to act strangely. A seagull attacks Melanie as she is crossing the bay in a small boat, and then, Lydia finds her neighbor dead, obviously the victim of a bird attack. Soon, birds in the hundreds and thousands are attacking anyone they find out of doors. There is no explanation as to why this might be happening, and as the birds continue their vicious attacks, survival becomes the priority.
“Many in the community, including at times Nat himself, believe strongly that the structure of civilization itself will save them from any danger.” –
Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds
Sir Alfred Hitchcock revealed on The Dick Cavett Show (1968) that 3,200 birds were trained for the movie. He said the ravens were the cleverest, and the seagulls were the most vicious.
Source: IMDB