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How To Build Suspense In Secret Window

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“Turn around. Turn around. Turn the car around and get the hell out of here. Right now. Don't go back. Do not go back there.” The film Secret Window is an adaptation of the short story, Secret Window, Secret Garden, written by Stephen King. Secret Window uses multiple methods in order to create the suspenseful film that it is. This film uses multiple suspenseful techniques including camera angles, music, and a definite issue audiences can not solve easily. Camera angles used in the movie really help set a suspenseful tone. One way Secret Window utilizes the cameras is by not showing the viewer everything that is happening. This technique is used in this picture around the time of Chico’s death. Before Mort discovers his dog’s body, viewers are only shown the window and the outside, instead of what he is trying to discover. In many scenes the movie will only show flashes of the important scenes, while focusing on little details. This builds tension by making the viewer want to know what is happening. This film also makes sharp turns and sudden movements with the camera to scare the audience. This effect can confuse the viewer and build up suspense by not allowing them to see what is happening. Secret Window shows this effect towards the end of the film when Amy comes into Morts house and sees “SHOOTER” drawn everywhere. One second the camera is …show more content…

During the scene when Mort must drive the vehicle off the cliff, the music is very fast paced. Fast paced music can often signify danger or action, and this was beneficial to the film. Another way the music creates suspense is by using notes and instruments that stand out. In many of the songs used in Secret Window, there are high pitched sounds that grab the audience's attention, drawing them further into the film. The soundtrack used for this film is successful in adding to the suspense of the movie, as is the

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There isn't as much soundtrack music compared to other thrillers so the film relied more heavily on the sounds that seem to come from both inside and outside of the shelter. Michelle often uses sounds to convey where she is and deduct whether or not it truly is safe to go outside. The sounds of the film are heightened in order to give to film a more unsettling and tense feeling. Invisible sounds help to create these feelings such as the creaking of the stairs, opening and closing of locks, moaning pipes, and when Michelle believes that she has heard a car above her room. The sounds are used to tell the inner story and convey Michelle’s emotions as she struggles to deal with her current situation.

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In Robert Zemeckis’s 2000’s film “What Lies Beneath”, he shows the significance of camera angles, scores, and special effects. These all help establish boundaries and moods that are set throughout the movie without Zemeckis verbally stating them. Also, they make the scene more realistic and allow the audience to see the movie and a different view which makes for a different prospective. As well as decreasing the sense of knowing what will happen next. In Zemekis’s film “What Lies Beneath”, he is able to frighten his audience with the mysteries of a ghost which eventually revealed that her husband murdered Madison in order to keep their affair hidden.

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Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window has several themes. One major theme is relationships. The lead character, Jeff Jeffries, a photographer and committed bachelor, is involved in a relationship with Lisa Fremont, a model, although the relationship has some tension due to Jeff’s lack of commitment. When Jeff is confined to his apartment recovering from a broken leg, he begins spying through his rear window on his neighbors in a nearby apartment. Through her frequent visits, Lisa is drawn into this spying as well.

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In this scene, lighting is used where a shot reflects on eves face to the farmer in the car on the farm showing how far they are. The scene continues where the lighting used appears too bright and somehow blinding to show the time of day the scene is taking place and the emptiness of the field and the only part left out is Thornhill thus focus is drawn to him and this launches the audience into the attack where the lighting makes it easy to know that he is alone in the barren land which makes him vulnerable and the scene captivating. The editing is utilized in the film where quick and intense scenes are made to be real fast in pace which creates suspense. Sound is also used where the music in the background moves in sync with scenes of suspense where it turns loud and fast making the audience aware of the impending danger (Pernoud, 2015).

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Rear Window Argues that people should mind their own business. Do you agree? Rear Window, a 1954 romance/murder-mystery by the renowned golden age director Alfred Hitchcock, is a film that explores a multitude of themes and genres through the voyeuristic gaze of protagonist L.B. Jefferies. Jefferies, or ‘Jeff’ as he commonly known throughout the film, is a middle-aged bachelor recently hospitalised due to his high-risk career as a photojournalist. This hindered condition serves as an important foundation on which the movie is built upon as Jeff’s forced lifestyle being in a wheelchair causes an abrupt stop in his usual high intensity way of life and causes him to quench his boredom in other ways, predominantly watching the other residents in his apartment complex through the ‘rear window’ of his apartment.

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Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock is a fillm full of symbolism and motifs that provides viewers with a bigger meaning. It shows these rhetorical appeals through Hitchcok’s eyes that would not be recognized if not analyzed. Through these appeals I have recognized the window as being a symbol and marriage and binoculars as motifs. After understanding much more than what the eye anitially sees when viewing this film there is a fine line between understanding what is going on in the film and observing what the protagonist Jeff is viewing.

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With Rear Window (1954), Alfred Hitchcock proved himself to be one of the best directors of suspense thrillers filled with mystery and humour. He himself called the film his most cinematic one because it was told only in visual terms (Morrow), but it was also a challenging “editing experiment” as the entire film was shot from one place, Jeff’s apartment that overlooked his backyard. The Film follows L.B. Jeffries “Jeff” (James Stewart), a photographer confined to a wheelchair in his apartment after breaking his leg at work. He spends his days watching his neighbours and eventually suspects that one of them killed his wife. His caretaker, his girlfriend Lisa and his detective friend, at first unconvinced of his suspicion, eventually join him in his voyeurism and help him to solve the crime.

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Camera narration is crucial to the effect the movie has on its audience. It is noticed that the viewer rarely gets close to the apartments or characters across the courtyard. The viewpoint is mainly fixed to Jeff’s apartment, apart from a few occasions where the camera plunges out of the window. The fronts of the buildings facing the main street are never shown either; instead all of the action takes place within the mystery and secrecy of the backyard, hence the title name ‘Rear’ Window. Perhaps Hitchcock realised that many people would not behave the same way in their front facing windows.

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This meant the guilt of a burning secret kept within the main antagonist became known to that of the main protagonist. This created a deeper connection between the two characters, and the audience could also feel the overwhelming guilt of the main antagonist. as well as a sense of triumph for the main character. This is evident in Hitchcock's film "Rear Window" (1964). The transference of guilt is made crystal clear when Jeff starts to resort to what could be considered to be almost drastic measures such as peeping with a telescope and having Lisa and Stella assist in leaving the safety of the apartment to scout certain areas where they had suspicions on such as the flower bed in order to bring the murderer Thorwald to justice.

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She argues that the act of moviegoing satisfies these voyeuristic desires in people. She writes, “The mass of mainstream film portray a hermetically sealed world which unwinds magically, indifferent to the presence of the audience, producing for them a sense of separation and playing on their voyeuristic fantasy,” (pg. 186). In this essay, I will further discuss her viewpoints on cinema and voyeurism, and how it connects to the film Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock. Rear Window is a film that follows the

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Hitchcock's mystery film “Rear Window”, took place in 1954. explores the theme of voyeurism as uncontrollable action that everyone can be guilty of. Due to Senator Joseph Mcarthy encouraging citizens to spy on their neighbours in the 1950s, voyeurism wasn't seen as crime. Nevertheless, Throughout the film there are many evidence and signs verifying that everybody is guilty of voyeurism The first sign of voyeurism occurs during a helicopter scene.

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Musical cues are put in place to scare the audience very quickly, rather than using a musical score to build up suspense during a scene. One of the most common cues to heighten dramatic activity in film is foreshadowing (Fischoff, 15). Directors will use music to foreshadow before a dramatic event is going to occur. Musical foreshadowing can give the audience clues as to what is going to take place.

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Alfred Hitchcock 's Rear Window explores the lives of those who feel isolated within society. The 1954 film, set in the tenements of Grenwich village, depicts those who are incapable of fitting into society 's expectations, as well as those who feel isolated from common interaction with others. Moreover, Hitchcock displays how its human nature to seek comfort and deeper connection even with those who are surrounded by others. Despite depicting characters as lonely, the progression of the film illustrates how individuals can be freed from isolation. The director asserts the loneliness and struggle that comes from fitting into social mores.

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The forest shows that the journey into the forest is a test of one's faith. In the beginning, Goodman Brown believes in the goodness of everyone, he will be able to return home to his holy wife, and be able to follow her to heaven. Within the forest, however, he discovers that the whole town has come to the devil’s meeting. Goodman Brown then concludes "There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given."

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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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