Definition of suspense

Suspense is the main feature present in any thriller you will ever watch. It’s a  feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction, though. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead up to a big event or dramatic moment, with tension being a primary emotion felt as part of the situation. A well director known for his excellent use of suspense is Alfred Hitchcock, an English filmmaker and producer.

An audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen and have (or believe they have) a superior perspective on events in the drama's hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening. Suspense is what makes a thriller differ from a horror film, as thrillers' main characteristics are a good story line and suspense.

Jaws

A classic example of how affective the use of suspense is, is in the well known Jaws, when false sense of security created by the director worries the audience by building up the idea that there is a shark amongst the innocent people who are portrayed that way through the laughter and short reverse shot between small children and their parents, however in reality its not a shark at all but two children playing a prank, and once the audience are clam again the real thing hits in almost like the classic example of the boy who cried wolf. Here the suspense is created through the dramatic music and pace going from slow to fast as the man runs up to help the real people in danger.

The Uninvited Trailer

Skyline trailer - Thriller/Sci-fi

Hollow Man Trailer

Hollow Man Trailor

Thrillers Sub Genres Research

Déjà Vu

 Definition of Genre: a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particularform, content, technique, or the like: the genre of epicpoetry; the genre of symphonic music.


Any film out there would have a particular genre for instance, drama, horror, thriller etc. however with technology and audience's demands becoming harder to keep up with, the film industry has to try and include sub genres in their films in order to make them more interesting and attract audience. The genre we are focusing on is thriller, and a film that stands out as being a thriller is definitely Deja Vu. it contains the main characteristics for a thriller which are suspense and a good plot. However thriller is is not the only genre present as we have a sub genre of crime, with elements of science fiction.

Thriller Sub - Genres Research

Sub genres are second genres (that is not the main genre in the film) used in films, there can be different types of thriller sub genres like romance thrillers and action thrillers. The movie that I chose to write about is The Shining, and the sub genre used in this movie is a horror. I like how the sub genre is used because the clip shows how the young boy is scared when he stops at the door, and this gives off a horror vibe for the audience.

Thriller Sub Genres Research

I have chosen to use Enemy Of The State as my Thriller sub Genre.
A Thriller sub genre is a film that holds you in suspense whilst acting as a thriller and also offers other elements such as action, psychology, crime etc. however, Enemy of the State incorporates action, politics and crime with the thriller genre.
Enemy Of The State is a political sub genre.

Definitions of Suspense

Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction, though. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead up to a big event or dramatic moment, with tension being a primary emotion felt as part of the situation. In the kind of suspense described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, an audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen and have (or believe they have) a superior perspective on events in the drama's hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening. In broader definitions of suspense, this emotion arises when someone is aware of his lack of knowledge about the development of a meaningful event; thus, suspense is a combination of anticipation and uncertainty dealing with the obscurity of the future. In terms of narrative expectations, it may be contrasted with mystery or curiosity and surprise. Suspense could however be some small event in a person's life, such as a child anticipating an answer to a request they've made, e.g., "May I get the kitty?". Therefore, suspense comes in many different sizes, big and small.

Suspense in Jaws:

Within the film Jaws, a number of micro features are used in order to create suspense, these features consist of; mise en scene, sound, editing and camera.

The scene is set on a beach filled with people laughing and having fun which gives the audiance a sense of secuirity, relaxation and reasurance, editing is quite fast although it is not threatening or intemidating.
Music is not introduced until there is the suspition that a shark is in the water.
Camera movements are intially quite slow although when people on the beach see a fin in the water, music increases in pace and intensifies and movement becomes faster.

Suspense

Suspense

Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction, though. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead up to a big event or dramatic moment, with tension being a primary emotion felt as part of the situation. In the kind of suspense described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, an audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen and have (or believe they have) a superior perspective on events in the drama's hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening. In broader definitions of suspense, this emotion arises when someone is aware of his lack of knowledge about the development of a meaningful event; thus, suspense is a combination of anticipation and uncertainty dealing with the obscurity of the future. In terms of narrative expectations, it may be contrasted with  mystery or curiosity and surprise . Suspense could however be some small event in a person's life, such as a child anticipating an answer to a request they've made, e.g., "May I get the kitty?". Therefore, suspense comes in many different sizes, big and small.

A classic example of suspense in a thriller movie is a scene in the movie Jaws when everyone on the beach thinks there is a shark in the water. The music is fast but also eerie. And the editing is fast pace. We find out later that it was a false alarm and we (as the audience) were put into a false sense of security because the real shark later shows up.

Definitions of suspense

Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction, though. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead up to a big event or dramatic moment, with tension being a primary emotion felt as part of the situation. In the kind of suspense described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, an audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen and have (or believe they have) a superior perspective on events in the drama's hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening. In broader definitions of suspense, this emotion arises when someone is aware of his lack of knowledge about the development of a meaningful event; thus, suspense is a combination of anticipation and uncertainty dealing with the obscurity of the future. In terms of narrative expectations, it may be contrasted with mystery or curiosity and surprise. Suspense could however be some small event in a person's life, such as a child anticipating an answer to a request they've made, e.g., "May I get the kitty?". Therefore, suspense comes in many different sizes, big and small.

Suspense in Jaws:-

There are microfeatures which create the suspense in this scene which are: mise en scene, sound, camera and editing.

In Jaws people are having fun on the beach, people are laughing. This makes the audience feel reassured and relaxed. Then we hear the music beginning coming in which is kind of classical. People are splashing around in the water.
We then see the camera go under the water which is like the point of view of a shark.
The editing begins to pick up the pace when they think that a shark is in the water, this creates a sense of panic. People are rushing out of the water.
But then we realise that it is just a hoax played by kids pretending to be a shark with a cardboard fin.

Suddenly a woman screams out "shark", then the music starts to pick up speed, which shocks the viewers. The shark then attacks the man and the viewers see the camera follow a leg torn off sinking in the water.