Suspense Techniques Applied By Alfred Hitchcock Film Studies Essay

Suspense Techniques Applied By Alfred Hitchcock Film Studies Essay Suspense, horror, and creative are some of the words that describe Alfred Hitchcock s films. Something that no one had ever seen on screen was the techniques Hitchcock used. He was known as the master of suspense for his ways of manipulating and creating the sense of fear in the audience. Knowing the meaning of fear since childhood, he was believed to be the inventor of the suspense and horror genre in the film industry, improving movies with new technology and ideas to deliver exactly what he wanted to viewers to feel and understand. The film The Birds (1963) was a masterpiece and a thriller directed by Hitchcock that had many effective and brilliant techniques that are still used to this day. Alfred Hitchcock (August 13, 1899-April 29, 1980) was born and raised in a middle class family in London, England. Fear was the key emotion Hitchcock was very familiar with while growing up that played a huge part in the films he directed. At the tender age of five, his father sent him to a local police station many times after misbehaving and was put in jail for several minutes. The policeman returned to let him go, just to remind him that this is what naughty boys go though if they get into trouble. His mother would punish him by making him stand up at the foot of her bed for hours. Because of his overweight body figure, he stated that his childhood was very lonely and sheltered . He first went to school at St Ignatius College, but right after his dad died when Hitchcock was 14 years old, he went to the School of Engineering and Navigation, where he was fascinated by photography and film. His first job was working as a title-card creator for the film company Paramount Pictures. It took Hitchcock five years to become a film director. Being a perfectionist, Hitchcock would draw every single scene on his storyboard before shooting a film. This was one of his styles for which Hitchcock became famous. He was very dedicated to his art from the start of his career. Some techniques Hitchcock used were with the camera. The camera would capture shots that were made to build suspense so the audience can see something that the actors themselves don t see. An example of this technique being used was in The Birds. Melanie Daniels, the protagonist of the film, was sitting in front of a jungle gym smoking a cigarette. Black birds, which had attacked Melanie viciously earlier in the film, started gathering behind her, but she did not know, the viewers knew. This technique agitates the audience because something frightful can happen and we can do nothing to warn her. Knowing something that something bad can happen to an innocent makes the audience worried mixed with fear. Another technique he used was the subjective shot where th e camera was placed in the human eye perspective. The camera would stray around the setting or place mischievously looking for something unusual in a room, as if it is a detective itself. This allows the viewers to feel like they are involved in revealing the problem. Before sound films came out, the directors of films had to find a way to communicate to the audience what is the plot of the story, and Hitchcock used this technique even after sound films came out because it was so successful. He used this technique in The Birds. Perhaps the most suspenseful part of the movie was when Melanie was walking slowly up the stairs in the dark with a flashlight in her hand. The camera was put at Melanie s perspective, and we can see how frightening it can be to be in that position when we know that if she goes to the room on top of the stairs, the malicious birds will be there, waiting. The camera would start with a close-up of the actor, and then cut to the shot what they are seeing, and th en back to the actor to see his reaction. The sound of her footsteps was quiet, her breathing shallow, almost no sound was being heard. Finally, when she opened the door, she was attacked brutally. Suspense building was a major technique Hitchcock was famous for using. What we as humans find most horrendous is to know that nature can turn on us and that no place is safe. The Birds had several scenes where this technique was used, one of which was at a children s birthday party. The evil black birds came swooping down and started attacking the children, pecking until their flesh was open and bleeding. This behavior by the birds was unexplained; there was no answer as to why the birds were like this, which caused insecurity to the actors which is framed closely to show the emotion, therefore causing the audience to feel insecure also. The house was attacked during a night, windows were broken, doors were being pecked open, and the roof was being destroyed. At this point in the movie, the actors show deep concern about their safety and that their fear doesn t stop from the horror from coming, and the fear the viewers gain is exactly what Hitchcock was going for. Hitchcock s movies were planned to perfection. His ideas were sketched for every scene and chose his actors carefully that would break the clich or stereotype of people. He was well aware of what the audience was about to go through when they are watching the film, and this is what makes a great film director. Hitchcock wrote, produced, and directed films up until 1979. Despite his fondness for murder, chaos and shock, Alfred Hitchcock led a quiet life with his wife and daughter. In the last year of his life, Hitchcock was honored with the American Film Institutes lifetime achievement award. The master of suspense died in 1980 in Los Angeles, but his techniques are still alive today.

The Elevator Response to Lit

Response to Literature: â€Å"The Elevator† Par ·a ·noi ·a- noun. A mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions and the projection of personal conflicts. In the short story â€Å"The Elevator,† William Sleator uses fear and paranoia to drive his main character to a compelling resolution. The main character’s (Martin’s) fear of elevators created an imaginary obese monstrous woman who intimidates him every time he rides the tiny exhausted elevator. In the beginning of â€Å"The Elevator,† the setting is set up at a decrepit building with eighteen floors.The elevator is the root of fear for the weak, thin Martin. Sleator implies this by writing, â€Å"Of course he always felt uncomfortable in elevators, afraid that they would fall, but this one was especially unpleasant. † By stating this, it proves that Martin already had a mild phobia of elevators and the fact of this matter is that this particular elevator appeared to be ver y worn out and only big enough to hold 2 people. When he first encounters a gargantuan woman on the elevator, at first he is disturbed and then mentally disturbed for the rest of the day until he encounters her again after school ends.After every confrontation, Martin’s anxiety grows. In the rising action of this horror story, immediately after Martin spots the plump lady already on the elevator again, he bolts down the stairs. In the process, he snaps his leg while sealing his unfortunate fate. Sleator expressed, â€Å"Martin had broken his leg and needed to walk on crutches. He could not use the stairs now. Was that why the fat lady had smiled? Did she know what would happen? † He broke his leg, which means that he is obligated to use the elevator.Now he will have more confrontations with his worst nightmare. His fear of this woman is what caused him to run away from her in the elevator and break his leg. Finally, in the climax, Martin is abandoned by his father and left alone in the elevator. Before long, the whale-like woman gets on the elevator and corners Martin. The end is sealed with, â€Å"The door closed and the elevator began to move. ‘Hello, Martin,’ she said, and laughed, and pushed the Stop button. † This quote was important because this is the first time we see the fat lady speak and actually do something.Her increased actions have instilled an overbearing fear within Martin and have now made him insane. Have you ever had a bad experience with an elevator? Well, in this case, Martin has and his broken leg proves it. His fear evolved every time he rode the elevator. Martin’s fear was shaped into a living nightmare because his phobia was so immense. It drove him to the point of insanity and that is why the story ends at a cliffhanger. If William Sleator didn’t use fear as the focal point, then story wouldn’t be interesting as a horror-based narrative should be.

Compare and Contrast Ww1 & Ww2 Essay

The World Wars were in some ways similar but also, different. The World Wars had similarities in the way the wars were caused, how the wars ended, in regards to who lost, and propaganda. The casualties, the cost, and the military tactics however, were some of their differences. World War I was caused by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914. However, World War II was caused by the political and economic instability in Germany, along with the bad conditions of the Treaty of Versailles . When the treaty of Versailles was put into affect, Germany acknowledged responsibility for the war, which also meant agreeing to pay enormous amounts of money for war reparations and losing land/territory to those who won the war . However, Germany agreed to this with a lot of bitterness. During World War II, Germany, as a nation, grew to really dislike the Treaty of Versailles because they thought it was unfair and that they were unable to pay the reparations due to the time period, the Great Depression. In addition, Hitler’s Rise to Power and his alliances in opposition to the Soviet Union. World War I was based on imperialism while World War II was a result of a clash of ideologies . WWI fought mainly to try and acquire territory. A s for WWII, it was a battle between Fascism and Communism . Even though there were some different causes to the wars, a similar cause would be the fact that the two wars were caused by a country or more than one country would want more power. During World War I, Germany was trying to get a hold of more power than it already had . The idea of having Germany gain more power alarmed many of the other countries, specifically France, England, and Russia, and forced them to go to war with Germany to be able to keep the balance of power within the nations. By World War II, Germany and Japan both believed that they did not have the amount of power they actually deserved . Germany wanted to regain the power it lost after World War I. As for Japan, it wanted to have a larger empire and to be taken in as a major power. Of course, the Allies were against this because they were fond with how everything was balanced at this time period. In the end, Germany would be the country that suffers and is defeated in both World War I and World War II. The difference in the defeat was that during WWI, the defeat was acknowledged, while in WWII, Hitler chose to fight until the final ending, which ultimately led to mass destruction . The outcome of World War I was that German, Russia, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires were militarily and politically defeated. The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires ceased to exist and the League of Nations emerged. The League of Nations was created in the hope of preventing another conflict . However, it failed due to the emergence of World War II. World War II ended with the Allied powers rising with victory, specifically giving USA and the Soviet Union the reputation of being the two most powerful nations, while Germany and Japan lost . After the League of Nations failed, the United Nations was established so that future conflicts could be handled by â€Å"international cooperation† and by preventing conflicts that could lead up to war . World War II had, by far, the most amount of deaths ever before. World War I had an estimated amount of 10 million dead, 21 million wounded, and 7.7 million missing or imprisoned, while World War II had more than 55 million civilian and military deaths . WWII was fought at a much greater scale and there were 7 times more casualties than in WWI. Also, World War I was located mostly in Europe, while World War II had included nearly the entire world. In addition to the casualties, the costs of the wars were outstanding. It is estimated that the cost of World War I cost about 380 billion dollars, while World War II cost about 42,000 billion dollars . Just the cost alone shows the great difference between World War I and World War II. Warfare methods had been the altered in regards of weaponry. During World War I, soldiers would fight from trenches and would use artillery, machine guns, early airplanes, and poisonous gas . There was little mobility during that time period. On the contrary, World War II fought using nuclear power and missiles . During this time period, many special operations were put into affect. An example of a special operation would be Operation Foxley, where the British military planned to assassinate Adolf Hitler (which was not really put into affect). In addition, submarines and tanks were also more heavily used and secret communication, or â€Å"code,† became more difficult to figure out, which benefitted them so that others would not understand their plan of attack, their location, etc. Radios were invented which were heavily used during WWII, while there were only landline phones in WWI . Something similar between World War I and World War II would be the propaganda that would be used to each countries benefit. During World War I and World War II, propaganda was something that both wars relied heavily upon. The propaganda was so heavily relied on due to the use of creating nationalism and supporting the war efforts on both sides and wars . An example would be how, even though the United States were reluctant in entering the war, when it finally joined, propaganda showed men fighting for their country and having to persuade other men to enlist. In addition, there would be that same type of propaganda for World War II. The propaganda helped to have the nation pull together as a whole and to, more importantly, support the war . Even though WWI and WWII seem close, they have had some major differences between them. In regards to political purposes, they were different. Economically, they were outstandingly different. Militarily, they had some similarities but some differences as well. Germany was a big factor that was important in both World War I and World War II. Overall, there were some similar qualities between both wars. In addition, there were some differences that can be seen between Worlds War II and I.

The Effects Of Violence On The Media - 1782 Words

Megan Haley-Rowjohn U61976910 Introduction It has been said that violence in the real world becomes â€Å"much more acceptable after you ve seen infinitely greater violence on the screen (Maslin 1982). Seeking to test that hypothesis, researchers have sought to find how long it takes for individuals to become desensitized to violence in television. As intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all crime, researchers have sought to understand the causes behind the violence. Linz, Donnerstein, and Penrod operationalized violent television exposure by using five slasher films that were found to directly contain violence against women. The men in the study were tested before and after each film on their perceptions and reactions to the on-screen violence. It was found that desensitization increased as exposure to the films increased. After the film viewing, the participants were asked to watch a criminal trial where the victim was a domestic violence women. After hearing the case, the men who had watched the slasher films did not express as much sympathy towards the victim as the men who had not seen the film. Other researchers, such as Bomomi, have claimed that exposure to not only violent films, but violent fiction can reduce sensitivity to violence against women. Bonomi furthered her claim by asserting that not only does a desensitization in men occur, but that there is also a shift in the risky behaviors of women when they are exposed to violence against women in â€Å"romanceShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Media Violence In The Media1212 Words   |  5 Pages Introduction With the recent increase in media presence throughout the world, there has also been an increase in violence portrayed through the media. Media violence is believed to be causing aggression in today’s youth and society. This paper will examine the potential reasons on how media violence is causing aggression Review of Literature In a study conducted, media psychologists, mass communication scientists, pediatricians, and parents all completed an anonymous online survey that asked whetherRead MoreMedia Violence And Its Effects1057 Words   |  5 Pages Media violence exposure has been investigated as a risk factor for aggression behavior for years. The impact of exposure to violence in the media the long term development and short term development of aggressive behavior has been documented. Aggression is caused by several factors, of which media violence is one. Research investigating the effects of media violence in conjunction with other predictors of aggression such as; environmental factors and dysfunction within the family household,Read MoreThe Effects of Violence in the Media944 Words   |  4 PagesViolence in the media started as early when Plato was around Complaints about violence in the media being harmful appear all through history. Even Plato was worried about the effects on children. The study of violence in the media reviews the amount of correlation between the themes of violence in our media sources with real-world damage and violence over time. A lot of this research has been deprived from the social learnin g theory concluded by Albert Bandura. The media effects thoughts in modernRead MoreThe Effects Of Violence On The Media1550 Words   |  7 PagesThe effect of violence in the media is a big controversy; some say it affects are society and others say that there is not any proof of this. There are many theories on how violence in media does, and how it does not, affect our society. Many people claim watching television or even playing video games will affect children’s or young adults’ minds. Researches claim that they found no evidence of change in aggressiveness in children or young adults while playing video games. Researchers allowed childrenRead MoreThe Effects of Violence in the Media2052 Words   |  8 PagesViolence in the Media It has been a long day and you decide to sit down to relax while watching some television. You turn on the TV and begin flipping through channels. On one channel, you see some random news report on a tragic school shooting that occurred across the country. Changing to another, you might catch the last 30 minutes of a slasher, horror flick. The last channel you come across, before turning off the TV, features a popular television show where the main cast fights a new villainRead MoreEffects of Media Violence1973 Words   |  8 PagesThe potential relationship between media violence and actual aggression comes to the forefront of public discussion, but unfortunately this discussion rarely takes into account the science related to the relationship between media violence and aggressive behavior. In particular, there is a widespread assumption that media violence directly causes aggression and aggressive behavior, and this assumption has become so common that even secondary scholarly discussions of the evidence have taken to relyingRead MoreThe Effects Of Media Violence On Behavioral Violence916 Words   |  4 PagesThe Effects of Media Violence on Behavioral Violence in Young Adults in America The influence of mass media has progressively increased in American society, but can the media have effects beyond mere entertainment and impartial information? American culture has become saturated with online news reports, social media, and media entertainment. Technology has become a major factor in America’s social environment. Much of the information gained from digital sources involves or portrays violence, andRead MoreThe Effects Of Media Violence On The Media Essay1111 Words   |  5 PagesThe media has become one of the main sources where people obtain their information from. This information can be taken in knowingly, or through subliminal messages. The media like magazines, videos, commercials, television shows, and movies. Since, media has major influence over the public; violence being portrayed in the media is causing problems. Violence against women in the media has been happening for decades. The violence has been taking shape in many forms, as in emotional a nd physical violenceRead MoreThe Negative Effects Of Media Violence In The Media754 Words   |  4 Pagesabout violence portrayed in the media, I noticed that many violent images in the media such as movies, videogames, and music have inspired people to commit large amounts of violent acts, such as committing assaults and murders. It is proven that children can he affected by the violence in media, when they are at a small age. When adults, some can be more aggressive than others, and some may commit more crimes than others. Over 1,000 case studies have proven that media violence can haveRead MoreThe Effects Of Media Violence On People1388 Words   |  6 PagesThe Effect of Media Violence on People Media violence impacts the physical aggression of human beings. It is one of the many potential factors that influence the risk for violence and aggression. Research has proven that aggression in children will cause the likelihood of aggression in their adulthood. Theories have evolved that the violence present in the media most likely teaches the viewer to be more violent. It is a risky behavior that is established from the childhood. Furthermore, media violence