Preview

Alfred Hitchcock's Use Of Suspense

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
213 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Alfred Hitchcock's Use Of Suspense
Hitchcock uses hidden information, reaction shots, and costuming in order to portray the plotline. A concept Hitchcock uses to add suspense is showing the audience what the characters do not see.11 Typically, Hitchcock shows the harmful object in the beginning and let the scene continue normally. The suspense of oncoming danger will be in the audience’s mind. This is shown in the movie when Hitchcock shows the brake fluid leaking from the car and Blanche and George driving the car completely unaware of the problem. The audience is terrified because they are aware of the trouble that is about to come, but the characters are oblivious. He also uses point of view shots and reaction shots to allows the audience to feel the same panic the characters

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The only sound playing is the rapid flapping of the soft black feathers. It feels as though it will never cease. All that is shown is a black, shiny wall of furious birds. It traps viewers and develops a feeling of helplessness. They feel as though they are suffocating from torn feathers cluttering their airways even though their rational side tells them none of it’s real. This is what audience members of the movie, “The Birds”, reported feeling during the immersive experience. Some felt so claustrophobic that they had panic attacks. Cinema: the art of tapping in to an audience’s deepest emotions and using it to provoke a specific sensation. Few are able to master this fine art, however, “The Birds” by Hitchcock is a perfect example of a…

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Instead of using setting description, he just uses scenery because you can actually see it. For example, he uses the setting descriptions of the narrator’s dream from the beginning of the novel to create the scenery, visuals, and the enactment of the dream in the movie. The dream in the movie sounds exactly like the dream in the novel, but you can actually see it instead of imagining it. The suspenseful part is when the house is dark and there is no sign of life. But suddenly, a light turns on. Also, he uses scenery as Manderly burns to the ground at the end of the movie. Hitchcock also uses music to create suspense and tension. As mentioned earlier, Manderly is burnt down and as Maxim figures out that it’s Manderly burning, suspenseful music plays. Earlier in the movie, the narrator tells Mrs. Danvers to remove certain things from the room. Mrs. Danvers asks her why, and the narrator replies, “Because I am Mrs. de Winter now.” As she says this, suspenseful music…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to The Film Experience " … a film bears the creative imprint of one individual, usually the director …" and that it " … is taken to reveal the personality of its director …" such that the director is referred to as an auteur (p. 464). Certain decisions made by the director Alfred Hitchcock to employ similar idealistic themes throughout the movies Psycho, The Birds and Rear Window let him express his creative style. Voyeurism is undoubtedly the most recognizable feature in Hitchcock’s movies, similarly addressed in each movie in the form of an assault, where the audience’s dimension of voyeurism feels somewhat compromised as the characters of each movie are poetically punished for their voyeurism following an eloquent, skin crawling suspense, causing both the audience and characters to reflect and question the voyeurism we are somewhat predetermined to do.…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Throughout the reading "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell there are multiple incidents of suspense. One of these moments is Rainsford's first encounter with a man named Ivan, who greeted Rainsford with pistol pointed straight at his chest. Almost immediately, the reader began to anticipate whether this character would die, survive, or suffer other consequences such as injury causing tension in the story. Another occurrence of suspense is when General Zaroff begins to tell of the most dangerous game, hence the title. As he begins tell of his life, he states that the animals he had been once so fond of hunting had ceased to be "a sporting proposition" and that they no longer were of fascination. It then became his aspiration to create…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Suspense is what makes a story popular because it is interesting to read. Suspense is used in most stories to make the plot interesting. There are several factors that generate suspense in the story The Most Dangerous Game produced by Richard Connell. The use of pauses by punctuations, recurring vivid imagery, and the dialogue itself helped create mystery and suspense. These are just a few of the many ways that Richard Connell used to make the reader lust for emotionally satisfying events.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even in times of worry, you must try to stay calm and think rationally. The characters Michael Northrop created are no different. Trapped in a school, they try to stay calm. The audience are not the only ones worried. In the story “Trapped,” narration is used at the end of every chapter (through Scotty’s thoughts) to build suspense, represent how the characters think, and to show how the characters feel about what will happen next.…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    People look to comedy movies to laugh just as they look to scary movies to be frightened. Producers and directors of these films include key elements to fulfill the audience’s wants. In scary movies producers use elements such as: colors, foreshadowing, symbolism, camera angles, sounds, etc. to heighten the suspense and scare factor of the film. In Robert Zemeckis’s films he uses these techniques to scare the audience and build up the suspense. Zemeckis specifically uses foreshadowing and camera angles, in What Lies Beneath, to generate suspense and prove that everything is not always as it seems.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In attempt to entice and lure the reader into reading further, the author of “The Most Dangerous Game” creates a suspenseful mood through the uncertainty and danger in the story. First of all, the described setting played a huge role in developing the tense mood. The island that Rainsford and Whitney approached was supposedly named “Ship-Trap Island,” and as if the name wasn't suspicious enough, Whitney proclaimed that “sailors have a serious dread of the place,” and “The place has a reputation--a bad one.” In addition, the uncanny feeling in the air shot a sudden chill down Rainsfords back. He recited, “What I felt was a--a mental chill; a sort of sudden dread. The use of this eerie environment draws the reader in, in desire to uncover the…

    • 134 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Suspense is a necessity for any story, facilitating a reason for readers to continue flipping the pages. A powerful literary device indeed, but it is exceptionally hard to master. However, noted author Richard Connell is one of the exceptions. In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Connell, the nigh palpable conflict between the characters is certainly a key reason to turn the pages. Through the utilization of foreshadowing and foreboding words, Connell constructs a rock-solid sense of suspense.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a great many stories there is suspense, but the story “The Most Dangerous Game” has many instances of suspense to keep the reader wanting to read, all based on the author’s cleverness in taking advantage of human nature. The first instance is in the very beginning- the sailors arriving at “Ship-Trap Island.” Suspense is created by the reputation of the island and the emotions of the sailors. Whitney first mentions, “Didn’t you notice that the crew’s nerves seemed a bit jumpy today?” The suspenseful mood is further backed up the the fact that even “that tough-minded old Swede, who’d go up to the devil himself and ask him for a light” Captain Nielsen, an experienced seafarer, was nervous to be arriving at the eerie island. Nielsen actually…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In our mordern world, stories affect our life every day, but how do the authors of these wonders keep the reader exited and focused? This is when the type of writing called suspense comes along. Suspense is the type of writing skill authors use to give readers uncertainty about the conclusion of the story. In some stories, the reader may guess the conclusion before they even finish reading the introduction, but when authors add suspense in to their master pieces, the stories become far more interesting and keeps the reader wondering whether if the conclusion of the story would end like they thought it would, and therefore keeps the reader wanting to read more. The famous writer Edgar Allan Poe is an expert in writing suspense related stories…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What makes a story suspenseful? Is it imagery? Is it dialogue? The reason for suspense varies for different people. For some, dialogue makes a story suspenseful and others maybe diction or even a combination of two aspects but typically not the same aspects for every person. In a movie, it is usually the sounds and darkness and location. In a book though, there are no sounds so you need other aspects such as diction, dialogue, imagery, plot, etc.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    No matter what film you watch or examine, there will always be details that you as an audience member will miss. You may think that these details were too small and therefore they were insignificant. Additionally, these aspects provide the audience with a different view and an altered outlook of the film and its characters. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is filled with different motifs creating different emotions within the viewer. However, no motif in Psycho was more visually obvious than that of the birds. Hitchcock included birds all throughout the movie and this motif, these symbols came in the shape of: physical birds, names, decorations and many more. While it was subtle, it created a sense of tension and stress amongst the characters in Psycho.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In (pg : ) it states that the old man was yelling louder and the sound might be heard by a neighbor. This makes the story suspenseful and makes the reader want to know more about the neighbors hearing the sounds of the old man yelling. Therefore another example is in (pg : ) the police came into the old man's house because of the neighbors hearing the yelling from the old man. This really makes the reader anxious of knowing what's going to happen and the fear of the murderer getting…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Burton’s does this by using techniques such as mise-en-scene and cinematography. The Horseman is chasing Mazbeth, Ichabod and Katrina through the Western Woods. A close up is shown on Katrina’s face, to show expression, by using a close up the viewer cannot see what is actually going on. This creates an atmosphere of suspense to the audience. As the Horseman grabs onto Ichabod, this further builds the feel of suspense because the audience is left wondering what will happen next. Burton’s use of mise-en-scene and cinematography build an atmosphere of suspense.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays