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Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock: Master Of Suspense

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“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” – Alfred Hitchcock.Suspense is a technique used by film directors to bring excitement to both short and feature films; leaving the audience feeling helpless yet engaged. Alfred Hitchcock, a world-renowned English director, has long been considered the ‘Master of Suspense’(Unknown, n.d.). Hitchcock spent most of his 60-year career refining suspense techniques within his films. Narrative elements such as audience knowledge, secluded location, isolated character and fake scare, are also supported by technical codes and conventions such as camera shots, lighting, camera movement and pace of editing. Hitchcock believed the real terror is the suspense leading to the climax, not the …show more content…

The film begins with a parallel editing sequence, which cuts between the main character (Nicolas Leoni) running from the camera and splashing in a pool clearly in distress. The film then fades out to the same character lounging beside the pool in the sun. While relaxing and drinking alcohol, the main character spots a dark figure watching him from the fields beside the house. With no real understanding of whether he is hallucinating or not he retreats inside the house; where he proceeds to the bathroom and washes his face. While standing there, he begins to stare into the mirror blankly. This stillness is broken by a very quick cut of him smiling towards the mirror, giving us the impression that the character is mentally unstable. As he continues to stare into the mirror, we are given a very quick cut of a hand grabbing a salient item, scissors. This opening sequence sets up the use of the film technique ‘audience knowledge’. Audience knowledge occurs when the audience is given more information than the characters within a

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hurt with Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, and Bill Murray in the comedy Caddyshack, and see life from the eyes of mob henchmen, Tom Hanks, in the crime and gangster film Road to Perdition. American cinema has used Alfred Hitchcock to create fear for many years like it was displayed in the horror film Psycho, has allowed us to sing in dance with the cast in the musical Chicago, and check out, momentarily, from reality in many science fiction films. American cinema has taken us back in time as we rode horse-back with our western heroes John Wayne and Clint Eastwood or put on the badge with the brothers of the law in Tombstone. Some of the greatest impacts from the world of cinema have been from films that covered war.

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Through an in depth analysis of Alfred Hitchcock's ‘North by Northwest’ (NBNW), it becomes evident that in order for films to be able to entertain their audiences they must ‘weave’ or manipulate images, characters and issues. This is evident through two particular scene within the film, including: chapters 5 and 26 (clickview). Hitchcock's manipulation of issues and characters in NBNW to entertain the audience is exemplified through the severity of the issues faced by the protagonist, Roger O Thornhill (R.O.T) and his comical response and attitude towards the adversity he faces.

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Hitchcock utilizes sound, camera work, MacGuffins, and plot twists to tell the storylines of the movies. Hitchcock understood the importance of camera work and sound because he began his career making silent films.12 It is why he uses many close up shots so the audience can pay attention to specific details and the emotions on the character’s face. He does not rely on dialogue to tell the story. He uses sound to help convey the message of a scene.

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Suspense is a mental uncertainty or anxiety. It can also be defined as the state of being undecided or doubtful. Authors of mysteries include elements such as foreshadowing, red herrings, and closed settings to help create suspense. The short stories “This Way Nobody Gets the Blame,” “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” and “Invitation to a Murder,” include these elements and are examples of well-balanced and well-defined mystery stories. The authors of these stories write interesting and suspenseful stories/mysteries.

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What is suspense? Suspense is anxiety the reader feels about what is going to happen in the next story. Suspense can cause the reader to feel nervous and worried. There is a lot of suspense in books. In a comic book called Dragon Hoops, Dragon hoops is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang about basketball, student stores, and racism.

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Suspense, it's that slow quiet moment building up fear or suspicion in your mind while watching a movie or reading a book right before something important happens. The T.V. series Harper's Island demonstrates this perfectly when a couple, and their group of friends go to an island to get married, but an old killer lives on the island and he’s looking to spill blood once again. Three ways Harper's Island builds suspense is very close up shots where you can only see a small movement or only one thing in frame, very far away quiet shots, and when you have to wait a second for something to happen but you know it's going to happen. Firstly they use really close up shots.

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In the end, suspense is something that gives stories a little excitement to

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Alfred Hitchcock successfully performs suspense and shock in a number of ways. One way was when he reveals that the cop is following her, making us think that he found out concerning the money she stole. Another way is when we see Norman staring through the hole, examining her as if he is waiting to make his move. The last technique that Hitchcock constructed suspense is when we identify a shadowy character gazing at her take a shower, making us wonder who it could

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Suspense is used in literature to give off a feeling of uncertainty. In W.F. Harvey’s story “August Heat”, he writes about our protagonist James and how he meets a bizarre character named Mr.Atkinson who he feels is an unnatural person and feels uneasy with him. Later when he is invited to stay the night, Harvey finished the story off with James saying he will “be gone in less than an

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To the unknown eye, Hitchcock has carefully and skillfully used Mise-en-scene to his advantage, causing the audience to feel fear and a sense of caution towards the character of Norman Bates. It isn’t until we reflect back on the scene and notice how intelligently Hitchcock uses the positioning of props and the characters, lighting, camera angle and staging, that we notice how he has added meaning to his characters but has also to the film, creating suspense and fear from one scene to the end of the film. Ultimately proving the point that Hitchcock “the master of suspense” uses Mise-en-scene to not only help make a brilliant film but also uses it as his disposal to add meaning in his

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Suspense is a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen. For instance, page 173 states, “And this I did for seven long nights- every night just at midnight- but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me; but his Evil Eye”. Page 173 has many examples of suspense but, the main one was that he wouldn’t kill the man for seven days. He was safe because, his eye was closed but, this then makes the reader fear for the man because, what if one of his eyes opened.

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Hitchcock’s Journal: Biographical Criticism of Hitchcock in His Films Vertigo (1958) and The Birds (1963) Alfred Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, England during the Edwardian Era. His parents, William and Emma Hitchcock, instilled the ideas of guilt and punishment into him from an early age. They were devout Catholics and sent their son to a strict religious boarding school.

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Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho redirected the entire horror genre, and in doing so dismantled the prudent 1950’s societal barriers of cinema. Although unseen for its potential by the large studios of the time, Psycho became one of the crowning achievements of film history. While based partially on a true story of murder and psychosis from Wisconsin, the widespread viewing of this tale made way for a new era of film and ushered in a new audience of movie goers. The use of violence, sexual explicitness, dramatic twists, sound, and cinematography throughout this film gave Hitchcock his reputable name and title as master of suspense.

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These were explored by the use of the motifs of birds, eyes, hands and mirrors (Filmsite.org, n.d.). Hitchcock skilfully guides the audiences through a tale

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In the film Rear Window, the director, Alfred Hitchcock uses a variety of techniques to create suspense and leave viewers on the edge of their seats throughout the film. Hitchcock uses a good assortment of tempo to create thoughts in the viewer's mind. He slows down the pace to create anticipation, and speeds it up to show a change in intensity. In the ending scene of Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock uses changes in pace and tempo, lighting, and a short term deadline to constitute an immense atmosphere of suspense in the viewer's mind.

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