Hitchcock has the ability to film directly the feelings and thoughts of his characters to make them feel suspense. The popularity of suspense films and fiction creates mysteries and provides a mental workout to try to brainstorm the next things to happen. The elements of suspense in Hitchcock’s article, including Playing God, Plausibility, and Counterpoints, are all demonstrated in the film “Breakdown.” Alfred Hitchcock says that one of the best ways to create suspense is to let the audience play God. meaning that the viewers get to know things the characters don't know. For example, the director states, “if the audience knows the secrets they will work like the devil for you, because they know what fate is facing the poor actors”.This quote …show more content…
The author states that “...one of the necessary ingredients of the formula is a series of plausible situations with people who are real. “When characters are unbelievable you never get suspense, only surprise” (Hitchcock 6). What Hitchcock means in this quote is. that something in the movie has to make sense to be a probable cause or it wont give off any suspense, only shock. A perfect example of this from the film Breakdown is in the beginning of “The Birds” as we saw her driving in a boat, a bird flew in from nowhere and hit her on the head. This creates suspense for readers because now we question why the birds did that. The third element of suspense is Counterpoint/Contrast. According to the text, “.it is important in a story with sinister implications to use counterpoint, great contrast between situation and background” (Hitchcock 6). This example means that you have to make sure everything adds up so it doesn't look messy. In the film, viewers can see this element when the camera keeps going back and forth. In “The Birds” it cuts her face to the background and everytime we see it another bird is added to the play structure which creates