Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'm researching and planning how to use suspense for our film's opening. But why is suspense important? Well, suspense plays a very important role in thrillers, but especially in mysteries. And since those are our main genres, it's crucial that we know how to develop suspense effectively.
First things first,
What is suspense?
According to this super useful video I watched for my research, suspense can be defined as a state or feeling of excited or anxious anticipation about what might (or not) happen. It's the tension of waiting for something that comes from waiting for an outcome. Basically, it's a great tool for creating entertainment.
Alfred Hitchcock On Mastering Cinematic Tension
How can we create suspense?
There are many ways to do it, but here are the most common ones.
“In order to get suspense you provide the audience with a certain amount of information, and leave the rest to their own imagination”
-Alfred Hitchcock
Knowledge and information: those are key elements. We give the audience information, leading them to think that something will (or could…) happen. And if something doesn't happen it doesn't matter, because it is that waiting process that creates tension and races the audience's heart. The work is done by the mind of the viewer.
Promises: We can create suspense by making promises to our audience, things that they know will eventually come to pass. This can be done by waiting until the last minute to finally deliver on that promise. The three D's: delay, deny, deliver.
Parallel plot lines: We can also create parallel plotlines in our stories, having two or more characters that are connected in some way, heading on a collision course towards one another. We know as an audience by the information given that the characters will intersect with one another at some point, but we don't know when or where.
Hide information: Withholding information from our audience is also another way to create suspense. Secrets can also create tension in the audience. This works by giving the information to ourselves, not telling the audience in the secret.
Example, we know that the character is searching for a box. We don't know, as an audience, why he is looking for the box. But then, he finds it, and in the moment he opens, we only see his reaction, but we don't get to see what is inside the box.
There's a second blog post that's the second part of this topic, go check it out!
That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this collection of reflections.
-Dragorite
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