Maryam Al-Naemi
11C
HL Film
Words: 1588
Suspense
Explore how Suspense is shown in four different cinematic elements in the films Jaws,
Rear Window and Double Indemnity.
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The smallest aspects can make a movie have a huge attachment to the audience
and make them sit on the edge of there seats. Directors and Film makers thrive to create
suspense in movies in order to keep the audience on edge and wondering whats about the
happen. Although, according to Alfred Hitchcock, theres a big difference between surprise
of suspense. He explains it by saying that surprise would be if there was a bomb in the
scene but no one knew and then suddenly, BOOM. The audience is surprised because
before that they didn’t expect anything. Although suspense is when they know the bomb is
present, by seeing the anarchist placing it, they also know that the bomb is going to go off
soon, and if they see the timer has 5 minutes to go and there is a clock placed in the decor
it will create suspense. Alfred says, “In the first case we have given the public fifteen
seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second case we have provided
them with fifteen minutes of suspense”
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In the films Jaw, Rear Window and Double Indemnity suspense is portrayed in the
cinematic elements sound, camera movement, shot types and color.
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Sound has a huge impact on suspense. All three movies used sound as a way to
show suspense. The sounds almost gives a signal for whats going to happen. The title
sequence of Jaws shows how the shark is connected to the music. The movie started out
with a very quiet and slow music making it seem very menacing and gloomy. The music
lets us know when the shark is close which builds suspension. The music builds up and
gets louder and faster which builds up the tension and suspense and tells the audience
something is coming towards them and its getting closer and it looks like its getting bigger.
An example of this is when the girl was swimming there was absolutely no music showing
that there is no one there but her, this tells the audience that something bad will happen
and no one will help her since she’s there alone. Also after the first attack there is a
sudden silence, this keeps the suspense alive and it makes the viewers think “what
happened.” The same aspect of an absence of sound was used in Rear Window to build
suspense. When Thorwald found out Jeff was spying on him Lisa is in his apartment with
the police. This builds suspense in itself because we have no idea what thorwald is
thinking or is going to do. Although the absence of silence occurs when Jeff picks up his
phone after it rings and there is no one on the other line. Pleonastic sound are
conventionally used to enhance the suspense of the central themes of Double indemnity.
At one point we Mrs. Dietrichson visits Walters house and she leaves with her car at night
and we never see this but stay wondering about what she does until that sound appears
and then we are safe to assume she is in the car. This created a short but effective
suspense reel.
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Camera movement is a strong factor in suspense in film. In the movie Jaws the
camera sometimes gilts and moves quickly to show something happening. For example at
one point the camera was showing an old man and then a sudden scream came from a
women who was in the water this was a surprise in the sense that the audience thought a
Maryam Al-Naemi
11C
HL Film
Words: 1588
shark appeared but before the audience was shown that it was just people messing
around the camera quickly ascended to the sea building suspense as the audience has to
wait till the camera stops to see what happened. The same concept was in Rear Window,
when Jeff looks through his binoculars he scans the neighborhood and this builds
suspense because it keeps the audience wondering what is happening around him and
what he is looking for and what he is trying to find and they wont know what happens till
the camera stops. In double indemnity when Walter is in the office you see him move from
his room to the bosses and the audience follows him with the camera, this builds tension
and suspense because it keeps the audience uninterrupted and waiting to see what will
happen to Walter next. All three films use camera movement to build suspense in the
sense that the audience is waiting to grasp information but they have to wait for the
camera to stop.
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Many different shots are used in each one of the movies to portray a certain scene
although some of these shots helped show and build suspense. The camera is Jaw uses a
point of view shot of the shark moving through the water, the director did this to show us
that there is something lurking in the water. Also the camera controls what the audience
can and can’t see. In the second attack the audience is shown a fat lady, a boy named
Alex and a dog. The camera used close-up, medium, semi-mid and long shots to show us.
The camera did this very quickly because it informs the audience that something is going
to happen and there are 3 possible victims (the ones in the water) and the “shot after shot”
technique creates “panic” to the viewers which builds suspense. The same point of view
shot is used almost all the way in Hitchcock's film Rear window. The movie is limited to
Jeff's point of view from his apartment. This builds suspense because there is a lot you
can’t see and you feel like something is going to happen and your waiting for him to spot
something interesting. In Double Indemnity Mrs. Dietrichsons was on her way to see
Walter and we -the audience- already knew that Walter's boss was there with him and him
seeing her would be a huge threat. So when she walked towards the door the director
used a wide shot of her walking down the hall and showing Walters door and an increase
in walter and his bosses sounds building even more suspense and that kept the audience
looking at the virtually empty wide shot trying to think about what she will do next and how
she will hide. This built so much suspense. Then it continued to a shot of her behind the
door as Walter holds it open and his boss walking off and the medium shot showing them
both and having the door half way through the screen as way to hide her. This made the
suspense grow more and made the audience sit at the edge of there seat and wonder if
she will be found or not.
Maryam Al-Naemi
11C
HL Film
Words: 1588
!
Color is a powerful tool is movie and when used efficiently it can be a very huge
aspect of suspense. In Alfred Hitchcocks 1975 Jaws the film started with a a black screen
which built suspense and since its a dark color it was associated with danger. The same
way the music in Jaws is connected to the appearance of the shark so is the color red. The
color red doesn’t appear anywhere in the film other than when the shark has attacked and
the pure color in the water is shown. This builds suspense in the sense that every time the
sharks approaches the audience is waiting to see the red indicating that the attack
commenced. As for in the film Rear window the color yellow was used when Lisa and Jeff
thought of the roses having something dug under them. Lisa came into Jeffs apartment
with a dress that had yellow roses on it and the entire movie didn’t have the color yellow
presented before (the same way the color red wasn’t presented in the movie Jaws other
than when something happened) that scene. Then when the yellow roses were shown
from Jeffs room it helped build suspense as Lisa and the nurse went to dig it up, as they
approached the roses the screaming yellow color built suspense as it grew in size in the
screen. Double indemnity is the weakest in the color side since it is in black and white
although lighting was used to enhance the shades of the black and white scale in order to
show suspense. For example, the first time Walter goes into Mrs. Dietrichsons house he
walks normally and when he passes the shadows of the blinds and this builds suspense
because the disturbance in clarity of how Walter looks and his expressions keeps them
wanting him to move away from this so they keep waiting. Building more and more
suspense. The three films used color to connect a center idea to the audience or keep the
tension going and build suspense.
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Maryam Al-Naemi
11C
HL Film
Words: 1588
Works Cited
"Building Suspense in Rear Window | Engaging Cinema at Tech." Engaging Cinema at Tech. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
"Film Studies: Double Indemnity." Film Studies: Double Indemnity. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
"JAKEisblogging." JAKEisblogging. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
"Jaws (1975)." Jaws. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
"A Study of Suspense: Film Narrative." A Study of Suspense: Film Narrative. N.p., n.d. Web. 27
Jan. 2013.
"Suspense in The Film Jaws." Cinemaroll RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2013.
"Suspense." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.