RESEARCH: CREATING SUSPENSE IN THRILLER FILMS

Thrillers are a well established popular genre of film, which aims to keep the audience on edge with the use of cliff hangers and twisted plotlines, building towards the climax. Thriller and suspense films tend to promote intense excitement, tension and establish a high level of anticipation. They all consist of a main character that is put in a life threatening situation, which seams un-escapable.

Thrillers are when “ordinary people in extraordinary situations”

Some thrillers, for example the work of the Cohen brothers, use semantics which is using signs, symbols and motifs to produce meaning, often used in a montage, linking these semantics to demonstrate something mysteriously, often a characters qualities or a past.

Sub genres:

•             Conspiracy
•             Crime
•             Disaster
• Erotic
• Legal
• Medical
• Mystery
• Political
• Psychological
• Rape and revenge
• Religious
• Supernatural
• Techno

Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock is a well known English filmmaker, who specialised in suspense and psychological thrillers. He began his career with silent films and early talking films. He has a recognizable directing style, making viewers identify with the ‘normal’ character, by using certain camera angles, mimicking a person’s gaze and view. He used innovative editing to establish the point of view and framed shots to maximise the anxiety and manipulate the feelings of the audience creating suspense ad tension and the audience feel fear and empathy. He often incorporated an icy blonde female character and usually had twisted ending with violence, crime and murder and through his time, directed more than 50 films, with the daily telegraph awarding him with greatest ever film maker in 2007.

Today I looked at Hitchcock's film theories in 'Rope' which look at how directors create suspense and tension in order for the viewer to ensure the movie is engaging. Some of the best thriller directors such as Alfred Hitchcock uses techniques such s specific and specially selected camera angles to keep the viewer interested in the film.
For example, a classic theory that Hitchcock used and that we have adopted for our thriller movie, is the pull focus technique. In Hitchcock's film 'Rope' he constantly switch focus between the chest and dinner party proceeding behind it, to continuously remind the viewer that one of the main characters has been murdered in the box. This technique could be used if I was creating a full feature film, in the trailer we see Sydney handing The Ghost a bag which is filled with money. Although, they are not discussing the money, they are discussing how Sydney let people come to the warehouse, potentially running the whole operation. We then see her being killed, making the audience feel sympathy for this young girl, the pull focus technique could move the focus to the bag and remind the audience that she got herself into this mess.  The below shows how this has been done, by using the pull focus technique Hitchcock has combined the aspect of a formal dinner party and a murder.



Another theory that Hitchcock adopted within his films was the Auteur theory. This suggests that when a director is filming, the content of the movie reflects that of the directors creative vision. If the author (Auteur) of the film is a strong director, he portrays his own visions and creative ideas within the production. However if weak , they use outside inspiration and ideas to influence the content of the movie. Hitchcock is seen as a ‘strong’ director and he uses this style in many ways throughout his productions. His views could be seen clearly by both the way in which his stories were told , and by the mise en scene throughout his pictures. For example, Hitchcock uses the reoccurring theme of building tension within a film slowly , until it is expected by the viewer. However, Hitchcock does not release the tension at this point, yet waits until a further place in the movie where the release of tension is not expected. In ‘Rope’ Hitchcock’s murderous characters Brandon Shaw and Phillip Morgan begin to be questioned by Rupert Cadell. Following Hitchcock’s build of tension then the suspended release of it , Rupert questions the pair intensely and it seems as though he will find out the secret they have been hiding for the duration of the dinner party. Just as the viewer feels Rupert has unearthed the murder, the tension is released and saved until a further place in the film.

The formalist theory is the technical elements of a film , for example the lighting , soundscape and set design. The formalist theory is closely linked with mise en scène of a film. This theory further breaks down into ‘Hitchcockian themes’ which Hitchcock used regularly in his films to convey his creative visions (Auteur theory). For example, Hitchcock uses Hitchcockian themes such as violence when unexpected, and the ‘cool blonde’ character such as in ‘Rear Window’ (Grace Kelly). Hitchcock uses the lighting in his films to convey his creative ideas. In ‘Rope’ the apartment the movie takes place in has dim lighting , whilst the background (city skyline) is bright and vibrant.  This gives the effect that although everything seems well and good on the surface, darkness and suspense lies below. The image shown previously illustrates the dull and soft colours used on the props, whilst the sky scrapers lights span across the background. In my trailer, the colours tend to be quite dark, in order to create tension and an eerie feeling that creates suspension and makes the viewer want to watch the movie.

Hitchcock also uses a film theory called the ‘Macguffin’ in his productions. This technique is a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of the movie forward. The Macguffin is an aspect of the film (e.g an object or conclusion) to which the characters will sacrifice anything to obtain. In ‘Rope’ Brandon and Phillip are trying to obtain victory and survival throughout their hosted dinner party. The pair have placed David Kently in the chest and invited others to their apartment in an attempt to challenge the ‘perfection of their crime. Their ‘Macguffin’ is therefore to survive the night and prove to themselves that they have created the perfect crime, therefore feeling victorious. The Macguffin of A Question of Identity is that The Ghost has killed Sydney and believes he has gotten away with it as he frames her brother, Aaron.

Alfred Hitchcock also uses a lot of cinematic experimentation within his films. In ‘Rope’ he experimented with the camera shots to make the film appear as one long take to the audience. This gives the production a more flowing feel and creates tension as it tricks the viewer into believing the chest is in every shot. In our film we use a lot of small camera shots in order to hype tension, an example is when Sydney is killed, I used 4 still images, however they went in a semi-circle around Sydney and flashed very quickly in the trailer.

Another theme used is Hitchcock’s ability to blur the distinctions between the innocent and the guilty. Although , Brandon and Phillip are the murderers within the film , the viewer finds themselves developing an emotion attachment to the pair, and a willingness for them to succeed is felt toward them. This therefore creates a haze into who is the hero or villain of the film. The images first shows the two placing David into the chest and then later in the film , being interrogated by Rupert. The two show the distinct change in emotion felt by the viewer as by the second shot, the viewers have learnt more about the characters and changed their perspective on the film:

In my trailer, we know the murder of Sydney is The Ghost, however we see him framing Aaron, by forging emails to The Ghost through Aaron. Therefore the audience cannot help but admire the cleverness of The Ghost, as he states his name in the crime however throws it under the radar by adding Aaron in. We also see in our trailer Aaron talking to someone saying "Someone is trying to set me up!" The audience do not know who this is so are unsure whether he is good or bad.

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