Suspense and Shock

Alfred Hitchock was known as the master of suspense, as he became so used to creating Thrillers. A few quotes of Alfred Hitchcock are:

• "If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience will still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on"
• "Always make the audience suffer as much as possible"
• "I am a typed director. If i made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach"

Most of Hitchcock's filmed started off with an opening scene of someone getting murdered, and the film will just escalate from there. He will use a lot of the Thriller conventions as i mentioned before. Things like:

• Red Herrings
• Cliff Hangers
• Suspense 
• Protagonist and Antagonist 
• Cat-and-mouse affect (Pursuit/Chase)
• Complex Characters 
• Maguffin 
• Sub-genres 
• Enigmas 
• Shock
• Paranoia 
• Plot twist 
• Deadlines 

If a Thriller have all of the above, it is definitely increasing its chances of being a success.

The main difference between Suspense and Shock is that with Suspense the audience are aware of something that the characters are not. Shock is quite self-explanatory, its when both the audience and the characters are shocked and caught off-guard.

Main examples of Shock and Tension that spring to mind are films such as Children of Men, Sabotage and Rope. These are all trailers of the films we have been studying in class. All of these films contain shock and suspense.


Children of Men  

That was the Children of Men trailer, showing shock and suspense. They are used very effectively in this film, as it keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. The main example of Shock in this film are all the explosions going off, gun shots firing etc.

Sabotage

In Sabotage, the bus scene is an excellent example of Suspense. This is because he is carrying a bomb on the bus, but is unaware it is a bomb. However, he audience DO know. It is set to go off at 1:45, and every now and then the camera will focus on the clock to remind the audience of the time and to keep the tension and suspense built, along with the non-diegetic music playing. 

Rope

Rope is a very good example of what Alfred Hitchcock was like as a Director. He created a typical "Hitchcock" Thriller in this case. It starts off with a murder, which sets up the rest of the film and gives the audience an automatic idea of what the film is going to be about and what the plot is.