Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock: Master Of Suspense

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. In 2018, reviews of films often are headlined with “the book was better.” But, in 1960 there was no such thing

Many authors use setting to create suspense . Suspense is “the sense of growing tension,fear, and excitement felt by the reader” (95). Edgar Allen Poe and W.W. Jacobs create suspense throughout their short stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Monkey’s Paw”. Three techniques, these authors use to create suspense are ambiguous ending, the scaring techniques , and the setting.

“Suspense combines curiosity with fear and pulls them up a rising slope,” quote by Mason Cooley summarizes the idea of how W.F. Harvey creates suspense in his short story, “August Heats.” Everyone likes a little suspense in their life so W.F. Harvey attracts his audience by using foreshadowing, “the use of hints to suggest events later in the plot,” (source 1) a reversal is involved, “a sudden change in a character’s situation from good to bad or vice versa,” (source 1) and the narrator withholds information from the reader. With these steps the author intrigues the audience to continue reading and cause them to feel frightened as they read.

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.

Suspense, a state or feeling of being excited or anxious uncertainty about what 's going to happen. Something writers of horror and thrillers have mastered this technique of writing, horror stories are designed to make our pulses race and our skin tingle. A good story can lure you in and make you feel all types of emotions. Writers use several methods to create suspense, they use foreshadowing, they withhold information from the reader, to keep them reading obviously, they create suspense when a character we care about is in trouble or in a horrible situation and they need to choose between two dangerous courses of action. Sometimes they throw in reversals, a sudden change in a character 's situation from to bad or vice versa. For example someone is enjoying a quiet evening at home when they hear a startling noise coming from the basement. According to statistics the majority of people enjoy suspenseful anything!

In conclusion, stories would not be very interesting without a little suspense. Without them, they would be dull and we would never be on the edge of our seats. Suspense was used very well in stories such as The Landlady which used atmosphere, the lady or the tiger which used action or the tell tale heart which used

You’re watching a show. The character is in a canoe floating down the river. All the sudden there is a cliff with water rushing off of it. The waters speed up and the character is getting closer to the cliff. Then the show cuts off. You anxiously start the next episode to find out what happens to the character. This is called suspense. Suspense is the feeling of being excited or anxious uncertainty about what will happen next.These three stories have suspense. The first story is “The Sound of Thunder,” by Ray Bradbury. Ekels, the main character, goes back in time to kill dinosaurs but breaks the rules and messes up current day. The second story is “Pancakes,” by Joan Bauer where a perfectionist waitress named Jill was the only person working when many people came in at the same time. In the end, Jill’s ex-boyfriend and his mom ended up helping out Jill. The last story is “The Cop and The Anthem,” by O. Henry. Soapy, the main

Hitchcock utilizes sound, camera work, MacGuffins, and plot twists to tell the storylines of the movies.

Alfred Hitchcocks powerful and complex psychological thriller, horror film “Psycho” (1960) was classes as the first sub genre of horror, the slasher. The film ushered in the era of slashes with graphic content of blood-letting and shocking killings of the time. Although this was Hitchcock’s first horror film, he was labelled as a horror film director ever since. The film contains disturbing themes of corruptibility, confused identities, voyeurism, human vulnerabilities and victimisation. These themes symbolise the effects of money, oedipal murder and the dark histories. These were explored by the use of the motifs of birds, eyes, hands and mirrors (Filmsite.org, n.d.).

Alfred Hitchcock is remembered as the "master of suspense", most notably in one of his cinemas, "Psycho".Hitchcock used a variety of sensory details, to shock moreover frighten his audience.Three sensory details that he used, is when we notice a cop following Marion, we see that Norman is stalking Marion, and when a shadowy figure shows up while Marion is taking a shower.

Suspense. It's what makes us sit on the edge of our seats at movies, or has us biting our nails as we read. It’s the backbone behind any classic horror film where the babysitter keeps getting unknown phone calls about checking the children and she asks the police to trace the call only to get a call back saying it's coming from upstairs. 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

“Mise-en-scene” is a French expression that was originally a theatrical term that refers to “staging” (Thompson & Bordwell 1999). When this term was transferred to film production, its practices involved the framing of the shots (Hayward 2000). According to Karam (2001), Mise-en-scene involves a choreographed set of visual elements that correspond to a set of ideas.

"Godfather Death," is a short story written by Brothers Grimm. It is about a poor father’s 13th son. The father already had 12 sons. He gave his 13th son to Death to be his godson; since he was very poor. When the son grew up and became doctor, he tried to deceive the Death and as a result, the Death could not tolerate his action and took the protagonist’s (the son, or doctor’s) life.

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. He was taken out of school, however, at the age of fourteen because of his father’s death. Due to his upbringing, Alfred developed a fear of punishment at a young age. His fear transformed into a morbid interest as he grew older. His fascination for guilt and punishment shaped the way his films were made.

When mention about suspense, “Hitchcock” must be the first word appears out in the mind. Alfred Hitchcock produced plenty of films which are suspense and thrilling. In his filmography, Spellbound and Rope were produced in a bit earlier stage. Spellbound is the first batch of film using the topic of Psychoanalysis. Rope is the first experiment film made by Hitchcock. Even though, these two films produce early before the well-known film such as Psycho and Vertigo in his filmography. Hitchcock was successful in creating suspense and mystery in these two films as using rusty technique and editing.