Is Alfred Hitchcock the master of suspense?
Alfred Hitchcock classic film “Psycho” was released in the Nineteen Sixties and it is still considered one of the pristine thrillers of all time. Hitchcock has often referred as “The master of suspense,” for the ability to create tension in an audience rather than terror in an audience. Through out the film the director use many cinematic techniques such as mise-en-scene, motifs and careful editing to create a tense atmosphere which keeps the audience in suspense.
Hitchcock effectively creates tension right from the start of the film with the way he presents the title sequence using bold contrast fonts in the starting credits. The transition between the names in the starting credits are fast and shifty, this hints that all is not what it seems. The transition also indicates the idea of a scary genre because you wouldn’t see this in a romantic comedy. The music also adds a lot of tension to the title scene from the high string played on the violin. From just watching the title sequence I am immediately put on edge due to the screeching violin and to the creepy transitions and gave the idea something away to happen.
In the parlour scene, Hitchcock creates tension from use of many different techniques. One of the techniques he uses was mise-en-scene. This is French for all on scene. This technique is smart as it illustrates a number of key aspects of film production in a single scene like lighting. In the parlour scene, the lighting plays an important part as the light reflects the personalities of Marlon and Norman. In this scene part of Norman face is shadowed and the other half lit up suggesting personalities. Another aspect that played an important part is the props in the background. When the camera is focused on Norman the props seen in the background are big bird of prey ready to attack. In the background of Marion they are bird which gets preyed upon, this shows she is an innocent nice