English        Analysis of how Hitchcock uses various        /        

         techniques to create suspense

        

Alfred Hitchcock is renowned for his films, which are full of suspense. Films like psycho, rear window and birds demonstrate many of his cinematic techniques. The techniques Hitchcock uses include lighting in many ways, camera shots including reverse shots, perspective shots and many others. All of the techniques used in his films add to suspense. The films I have chosen to compare are ‘Psycho’- a suspense thriller with some horror. And ‘Rear Window’- which is a suspense film but with a touch of romance. Many directors today now imitate his work or have adapted to, many of Hitchcock’s techniques. This shows the significance of Hitchcock’s work was of a very high standard.

        Lighting in psycho is very hard to spot as it is in black and white. Even though you can spot in many scene that lighting is used to create suspense or to give us an unpleasant situation. As Marian drives the car and it is raining the lighting dims out the background and focuses on Marian- this lets us see clearly that Marian is nervous because she is griping the steering wheel and biting her lips- this is also an example of pathetic fallacy. Here Hitchcock’s makes us feel as if Marian is trapped. Even though ‘Rear Window’ is in colour the audience will be surprised to see the lighting in both films are very similar. As Jeff is looking out the window and realises  the murderer is looking at him, he goes back and turns the light off- you can see there that the background has been faded out and the lighting is on Jeff. Also many times backdrops were used to show us a time of day and lighting to represent it very well. Like when Jeff is talking to Lisa a sunset backdrop has been used which shows the mood of both characters. I think lighting has been used very well in both films to create suspense.

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        The soundtrack in ‘Psycho’ is very important. It creates suspense and warns us of upcoming actions in a scene. In the shower scene the stabbing of the knife goes with the rhythm of the soundtrack. When this sound appears the second time- as the detective goes into the house we know that he is going to get killed, and he is! Whereas in ‘Rear Window’ the soundtrack is more realistic or played live- from another flat. Also many times we are left with a juxta position- when “Ms Lonely Hearts,” is about to commit suicide the flat next to her ...

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