Alfred Hitchcock: The Fixating Structure Of Suspense

Development of Suspense by Hitchcock in Psycho 'Psycho,' the somewhat infamous film by Alfred Hitchcock was produced in 1961, a time when the American censors, The Hays Office, still dominated the film industry with their strict rules and principles. It earned its notoriety by defying the traditional cinematic convections of that time and pushing the boundaries of what could be shown in mainstream cinema. The rules implemented by The Hays Office were far stricter than they are today, and Hitchcock uses all available means to reach and go slightly beyond the set limit. Using clever and different camera angles, he implies things that are not shown. He proves that innuendoes can portray the

Suspense is what keeps the audience watching until the end and just as you think you have it figured out the plot; you might find yourself in a plot twist. In both pieces the suspense is built up by the careful placement and use of words. The repetition of words in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is what grasped the audience as the tale was told from the murders point of view so there was no mystery to who the killer

The stage directions created suspense because the sound of a car crash keeps the reader guessing on what is happening. Another piece of evidence from the book Closed for the Season is,” Violet looked at the stranger. Her hair hung in her eyes, and a dribble of blood came from her nose.” This illustrates that describing what the character like can help the reader visualize what is going on in the story. Suspense was created because it leaves the reader curious to what is occurring at this time.

Alfred Hitchcock uses many techniques throughout the film “Rear Window” to convey suspense. The major theme of the film regards L. B. “Jeff” Jefferies voyeurism. His intrigue in the everyday lives of his neighbours is viewed as intrusive and morally wrong on principle. However, without this voyeuristic tendency the crime committed by Thornwald would never have been solved. Thus, the audience is lead through emotional turmoil in questioning whether it is wrong to invade someone’s privacy, or just and heroic to solve a crime. We see the climax of the film when Lisa and Stella venture out of Jefferies apartment to investigate the murder of Mrs Thornwald. This leads to a confrontation between Thornwald and Jefferies. These scenes build suspense through the use of detachment, the use of ‘split-screen’, ‘red-herring’ plot devices, lighting, music and diegetic sound.

People reads books and they get their captured by the suspense the authors use to write their stories. Suspense is a key point for most readers it keeps them reading the book to see what happens next. Both Edgar Allan Poe and Richard Connell are very good authors that use a lot of suspense throughout their short stories. Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado” and Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” are two stories full of suspense. It’s unpredictable, surprising that we can’t figure out what happens next. .Through conflict, setting, and diction Poe and Connell are able to build suspense.

Hitchcock's Psycho Psycho first hit our screens in 1960 directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It faced major controversy, as it was different. Horror films before this were more unrealistic and gruesome. Psycho was a groundbreaking film of the horror genre. It was more realistic the events could happen in reality.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a bird and it doesn’t look too happy. The Birds is a classic story that takes place in Bodega Bay that is one day unexpectedly and strategically attacked by the entire bird population in the area. Alfred Hitchcock’s film, “The Birds” better utilizes suspense compared to Daphne Du Maurier’s “The Birds” because it shows the birds destruction and harm, the sudden hardship of the animal, and the use of words and angles.

Without suspense, the world is dull, boring, and uneventful; many people need suspense and drama to feel motivated and engaged in things; this is the same for books. In the book, “The Most Dangerous Game”, by Richard Connell, the author used various literature methods to create suspense; the techniques he includes are used differently depending on which part of the plot they are used in.

Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film The Birds is an American classical horror-thriller film featuring a small California coastal town just north of San Francisco. The film is not gory yet, still, manages to truly scare audiences around the world by focusing on unexplained bird attacks on innocent people. “Alfred Hitchcock has concocted an elaborate tease in The Birds as if to prove that suspense and thrills can be induced as much by the expectation of horror as by horror itself ”(hollywood reporter). The original story is based on the 1952 collection of short stories of the name by Daphne du Maurier, which Hitchcock had based two other films on (filmsite). Hitchcock is widely known for his production of horror-thriller films and right next to his

Alfred Hitchcock is considered one of greatest directors in the film industry. During his 50-year career as a movie director, he helped revolutionized film style and is known for his psychological and suspenseful films. Unlike other directors at the time, he directed his films with a unique take on the human psyche. Hitchcock has a long list of thrilling films under his belt including the popular Psycho, and Vertigo and The Birds. He was awarded two Golden Globes, eight Laurel Awards and five lifetime achievement awards for his films. He was even nominated five times by the Academy Awards for Best Director.

Hitchcock was a director who offered slices of cake to the audience instead of slices of life. Hitchcock used suspense and surprise to hold the attention of his audience and manipulated them in a different way. I would call him a person with divergent thinking. People could never anticipate what is going to happen next in a Hitchcock film. Hitchcock used the pure cinema and approached cinema in cinematic terms and talked it in that manner only. Hitchcock also utilised the advertisement industry and television equivocally. He directed and presented the programme “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” in TV. Advertised himself on TV and also used the cameo appearance in film as self promotion. Of the early film studios MGM & Fox had the most elaborate

However, in addition to his employment of suspense, Wolff uses an element of surprise through dynamic characterization to present a surprise twist, which is, in essence, suspense. The protaganist, Tub, is introduced as a bumbling, overweight token character to his hunting partners, Kenny and Frank, who show up together and remain in a similar dynamic until the surprising plot turn of the unexpected murder of a crazed Kenny by Tub. This allows for suspense to exist, as including a certain level of unexpectedness that remains throughout the duration of the text, that is essentially surprise, and in essence, also suspense. Within the mix of surprise leading to suspense, the literary element of mystery, is procured, as defined as, “an unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation” is derived

Insidious, a 2010 horror film that is based around a paranormal idea of astral projection and the astral dimension was targeted towards older adolescents and adults that enjoy the horror genre. Due to Insidious being reliant on the sound, editing and camera shots and angles to create suspense in an attempt to scare the audience, this film will be targeted towards people who enjoy suspense in a horror

Although every well-written murder mystery does not have fixed mode because the writers of detective story always want to give their readers a unique feeling, suspense and surprise are essential and indispensable features in a well-written murder mystery. (Alewyn 184) In Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, she fully combines suspense and surprise, through the omniscient point of view and poignant plot. Therefore, And Then There Were None is a well-written murder mystery. The omniscient point of view means a method of storytelling in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story. (Abrams 233) Plot is the series of events that form the story of a novel, play, and film (Abrams 294). I will show the suspense and surprise through the analysis of the narrative, rising action, climax, and falling action as well as use specific textual evidence from this fiction novel to prove it.

When people hear the word “Vertigo” the first thing which comes in mind is the disease but here this word refers to a movie “Vertigo” which is directed by the famous Alfred Hitchcock. This movie hooked the audiences ‘attention from it’s opening credit to the very shocking end. Vertigo is mixture of desire for love, rage, obsession, madness etc. It is based on a French novel D'entre les morts (From Among the Dead) written by Boileau Narcejac. Hitchcock’s Vertigo got mixed review when it was released but by the time it’s popularity increased and today it is viewed as Hitchcock’s most deeply felt work. The famous character in the movie Scottie which was played by John Stewart, he played the role of detective who was afraid of heights, acrophobia, after an unfortunate incident due to which Scottie retires from his job. Later in the movie, Scottie falls in love with Madeline (Kim Novak) who he was spying because his friend Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) believed that his wife was possessed with her late great-grandmother. Scottie goes through many phases in the movie like curiosity, obsessed, phobic, mental illness etc. In this essay I want to focus on “Dolly zoom technique” which triggered Scottie’s acrophobia, the Ernie scene from Scottie’s point of view and the immersive videos also known as 360-degree camera movement when Judy Barton’s retransformed herself as Madeline