This is a very interesting article about Hitchcock’s view about suspense. He has carefully analysed and came up with a solution to come up with a great method to create suspense. It is also interesting as he distinguishes between suspense and surprise. Hitchcock’s state of mind in his theory about suspense is fascinating as he believes that the audience should play God, meaning that they should know more than the actors as the characters. As the norm is that people believe a murder would cause the most suspense, Hitchcock disagrees with this and makes and important comment stating “Just because there is a touch of murder and an air of mystery about a story it is not necessary to see transoms opening, clutching fingers, hooded creatures and asps on the Chinese rug.”
One other thing Hitchcock talks about is how the mise en scene plays a huge role in creating suspense. He believes it is important in a story with sinister implications to use counterpoint, great contrast between situations and background. He mentions many movies that fail to make the most of the mise en scene like having a house filled with shadows, the weather dull and stormy throughout, the moor windswept, and the doors creaky.
I agree with Hitchcock on his point that states that it is necessary for a director to change his style in order to develop new characters and a different story in each film. I believe it is crucial for a director to do this because exploring different ideas and techniques in filmmaking is vital to keep the audience to entertain. Just like how music artists have to change their music slightly because there audience doesn’t want to hear the same kind of thing again and again.
I have learnt that Alfred Hitchcock is a master of keeping the audience on the edge of their seats as we all know he is the mastermind behind the classic film psycho. He showed the power he could create using his techniques of suspense and the film was so popular it created the intertextuality of the image of the shadow showing the dagger stabbing the woman in the bath.
The most fascinating and so true comment he made was when he said “suspense is created when you let the audience play God and if the audience does not know whether a character is a hero or villain they will not know whether to cheer or weep.” This made me think how I would react to a film if I was in this situation and realised that he was totally right about this. This changed my concept of how a thriller should be conducted and tried to think of how I can avoid this when starting my thriller.
This article taught me a lot and gives me the idea of looking beyond the obvious and expected. He analysed why certain films don’t have good suspense and explained reasons for it didn’t. He also came up with a solution of how suspense should be developed. This was simply “Let ‘em play god”, which is basically allowing the audience know more than the actors. At first this came as puzzling to me but then it all came clear of why his theory is right. This man has understood the extreme methods of creating a great film and this is shown in all his films and I know I would be taking tips from him to help me make my thriller the best it can be.
One other thing Hitchcock talks about is how the mise en scene plays a huge role in creating suspense. He believes it is important in a story with sinister implications to use counterpoint, great contrast between situations and background. He mentions many movies that fail to make the most of the mise en scene like having a house filled with shadows, the weather dull and stormy throughout, the moor windswept, and the doors creaky.
I agree with Hitchcock on his point that states that it is necessary for a director to change his style in order to develop new characters and a different story in each film. I believe it is crucial for a director to do this because exploring different ideas and techniques in filmmaking is vital to keep the audience to entertain. Just like how music artists have to change their music slightly because there audience doesn’t want to hear the same kind of thing again and again.
I have learnt that Alfred Hitchcock is a master of keeping the audience on the edge of their seats as we all know he is the mastermind behind the classic film psycho. He showed the power he could create using his techniques of suspense and the film was so popular it created the intertextuality of the image of the shadow showing the dagger stabbing the woman in the bath.
The most fascinating and so true comment he made was when he said “suspense is created when you let the audience play God and if the audience does not know whether a character is a hero or villain they will not know whether to cheer or weep.” This made me think how I would react to a film if I was in this situation and realised that he was totally right about this. This changed my concept of how a thriller should be conducted and tried to think of how I can avoid this when starting my thriller.
This article taught me a lot and gives me the idea of looking beyond the obvious and expected. He analysed why certain films don’t have good suspense and explained reasons for it didn’t. He also came up with a solution of how suspense should be developed. This was simply “Let ‘em play god”, which is basically allowing the audience know more than the actors. At first this came as puzzling to me but then it all came clear of why his theory is right. This man has understood the extreme methods of creating a great film and this is shown in all his films and I know I would be taking tips from him to help me make my thriller the best it can be.
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